settler colonial studies blog

The ‘evidence’ of settler colonialism and its ‘minutes’: Julie Evans, The Ethos of the Historian: The Minutes of Evidence Project, and Lives Lived with Law on the Ground, Law Text Culture, 20, 2016, pp. 136-164.

05Mar17

Abstract: I sit writing this from Lewes, a town that nestles by the chalky edge of the Downs in Southeast England. I have come here to spend some sabbatical leave at the University of Sussex, with colleagues and friends, historians like me. We have been working together for several years on a project called Minutes of Evidence, in which we have tried to make sense of the myriad ways in which settler colonialism operated, as a matter of law and administration, across the British Empire and within individual colonies, and to consider its impacts on everyday lives and questions of justice, past and present.

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Feeling and denial; indigene and settler: Anna Cook, ‘Intra-American Philosophy in Practice: Indigenous Voice, Felt Knowledge, and Settler Denial’, The Pluralist, 12, 1, 2017, pp. 74-84

01Mar17

Access the article here.

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Recognising indigeneity (it should not depend on history): John Borrows, ‘Challenging Historical Frameworks: Aboriginal Rights, The Trickster, and Originalism’, The Canadian Historical Review, 98, 1, 2017

26Feb17

Abstract: The Supreme Court of Canada has created a narrow framework for recognizing Aboriginal and treaty rights in Canada’s Constitution by reference to historic moments of contact, assertions of sovereignty, and negotiated agreements. This approach has placed historical inquiries that search for “original” understandings at the centre of the court’s jurisprudence. This article argues that law should not be equated with history in this way. It has severely disadvantaged Indigenous peoples. As a “living tree,” Canadian constitutional law should regard the “past” as a grab bag of possibilities for present reasoning, rather than as a constraint on present developments, because they do not have analogues in a bygone era.

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A constituent capacity is resistance against both denial and co-option: Katharina Ruckstuhl, ‘”A shift in the playing field”: Indigenous sovereignty and the philosophy of Jacques Ranciѐre’, AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 2017

26Feb17

Abstract: This article considers Indigenous people as political actors in their quest for sovereignty within the liberal democracies of Canada, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the USA (the CANZUS nations). I aim to show that, despite the structures of settler colonialism that both resist and then co-opt dissent, seeking sovereignty is, as political philosopher Jacques Ranciѐre outlines, an act of Indigenous politics that challenges and shifts these structures. While the fundamental colonising logic of the nation state does not change, through the Indigenous sovereign voice, a reframed understanding of democracy is revealed which in turn creates an enlarged space for Indigenous peoples.

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Recognising indigeneity (it depends on history): Rima Wilkes, Aaron Duong, Link Kesler, Howard Ramos, ‘Canadian University Acknowledgment of Indigenous Lands, Treaties, and Peoples’, Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 54, 1, 2017, pp. 89-120

26Feb17

Abstract: At many Canadian universities it is now common to publicly acknowledge Indigenous lands, treaties, and peoples. Yet, this practice has yet to be considered as a subject of scholarly inquiry. How does this practice vary and why? In this paper we describe the content and practice of acknowledgment, linking this content to treaty relationships (or lack thereof). We show that acknowledgment tends to be one of five general types: of land and title (British Columbia), of specific treaties and political relationships (Prairies), of multiculturalism and heterogeneity (Ontario), of no practice (most of Quebec), and of people, territory, and openness to doing more (Atlantic). Based on these results, we conclude that the fluidity of acknowledgment as a practice, including changing meanings depending on the positionality of the acknowledger, need to be taken into account.

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A constituent capacity is a reclamation of sovereignty: Janique Dubois, Kelly Saunders, ‘Rebuilding Indigenous nations through constitutional development: a case study of the Métis in Canada’, Nations and Nationalism, 2017

26Feb17

Abstract: For the Métis Nation in Canada, self-government remains the ‘essence of the struggle’ for which their political leader, Louis Riel, sacrificed his life in 1885. As one of Canada’s founding peoples, the Métis have sought to reclaim their Indigenous right to self-government by establishing democratic governance bodies, enhancing their economic capacity and pursuing state recognition of their rights. In addition to these efforts, the Métis have been developing a national constitution, which is anticipated to form the basis of a government to government relationship between the Métis Nation and the Canadian state. Through a case study of the Métis, this article explores the role of contemporary constitution-building in rebuilding Indigenous nations from within and reclaiming self-government in settler societies. We conclude that the Métis Nation’s pursuit of these goals through constitutionalism will depend on its ability to build legitimacy internally amongst its citizens and externally with state decision-makers.

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Ecological imperialism is settler colonialism: Grace Moore, ‘Beasts, Birds, Fishes, and Reptiles: Anthony Trollope and the Australian Acclimatization Debate’, in Laurence W. Mazzeno, Ronald D. Morrison (eds), Animals in Victorian Literature and Culture, Palgrave, 2017, pp. 65-82

26Feb17

Abstract: This chapter considers Trollope’s examination of the tensions between indigenous and introduced species in his travelogue Australia and New Zealand (1873). Examining his engagement with “ecological imperialism,” it discusses his representation of Australian native animals, which Trollope frequently depicts as lacking in vigor, and the difficulties that they often faced when confronted with predatory species introduced from Europe. The chapter addresses what it means to be a “pest” in nineteenth-century Australia, while considering how discussions of native animals became conduits for wider debates surrounding invasion and guilt. The chapter considers the animal as a commodity, while engaging with questions of exoticism and domestication, seeking to situate Trollope in relation to the work of regional Acclimatization Societies within Australia.

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A ‘programmatic settler colonial document’: Pekka Pitkänen, A Commentary on Numbers: Narrative, Ritual, and Colonialism, Routledge, 2017

24Feb17

Description: This book provides a new reading of the biblical book of Numbers in a commentary form. Mainstream readings have tended to see the book as a haphazard junkyard of material that connects Genesis-Leviticus with Deuteronomy (and Joshua) and that has been composed at a late stage in the history of ancient Israel. In contrast, this book reads Numbers as part of a wider work of Genesis-Joshua, a carefully crafted programmatic settler colonial document for a new society in Canaanite highlands in the late second millennium BCE that seeks to replace pre-existing indigenous societies. In the context of the tremendous influence that the biblical documents have had on the world in the last two to three thousand years, the book also offers pointers towards reading these texts today.

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How exactly does colonialism contribute to indigenous (lack of) health? Yin Paradies, ‘Colonisation, racism and indigenous health’, Journal of Population Research, 33, 1, 2016, pp. 83-96

24Feb17

Abstract: In settler-colonies such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, the historical impacts of colonisation on the health, social, economic and cultural experiences of Indigenous peoples are well documented. However, despite being a commonly deployed trope, there has been scant attention paid to precisely how colonial processes contribute to contemporary disparities in health between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in these nation-states. After considering pertinent issues in defining indigeneity, this paper focuses on operationalising colonisation as a driver of indigenous health, with reference to emerging concepts such as historical trauma. Conceptualisations of coloniality vis-à-vis health and their critiques are then examined alongside the role of racism as an intersecting and overlapping phenomenon. To conclude, approaches to understanding and explaining Indigenous disadvantage are considered alongside the potential of decolonisation, before exploring ramifications for the future of settler-indigenous relations.

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On indigenous health and ongoing colonialism (introducing a special issue): Per Axelsson, Tahu Kukutai, Rebecca Kippen, ‘The field of Indigenous health and the role of colonisation and history’, Journal of Population Research, 33, 1, 2016, pp. 1-7

24Feb17

The paper is available here.

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