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On white possession and the bordered state as sites of settler colonial practice: Fiona Nicoll, ‘Interrupting White Possession and Unsettling State Borders: Expanding Frontiers of Critical Indigenous Studies’, International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 8, 1, 2015, pp. 47-59

10Jan16

Excerpt: The White Possessive showcases the unique intellectual contribution of Aileen Moreton-Robinson, both within Australia and internationally. Prising apart concepts of race, ethnicity and cultural difference, her book makes visible and accountable the patriarchal white subject of possession that subtends them. Mohawk Interruptus is a rigorous ethnographic account of the intra-subjective and inter-subjective dimensions of academic disciplines and political practices that produce and police the ‘authenticity’ of Indigenous people.


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Planning is about the future: S. Yvonne Prusak, Ryan Walker, Robert Innes, ‘Toward Indigenous Planning? First Nation Community Planning in Saskatchewan, Canada’, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 2015

08Jan16

Abstract: “Indigenous planning” is an emergent paradigm to reclaim historic, contemporary, and future-oriented planning approaches of Indigenous communities across western settler states. This article examines a community planning pilot project in eleven First Nation reserves in Saskatchewan, Canada. Qualitative analysis of interviews undertaken with thirty-six participants found that the pilot project cultivated the terrain for advancing Indigenous planning by First Nations, but also reproduced settler planning processes, authority, and control. Results point to the value of visioning Indigenous futures, Indigenous leadership and authority, and the need for institutional development.


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Comparing settler literatures: Reingard M. Nischik (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Comparative North American Literature, Palgrave, 2014

06Jan16

Abstract: This book develops a particular analytic approach to the literatures and cultures of North America, elaborating upon a transnational and at the same time comparative perspective on these countries,  an approach we may call “Comparative North American Studies” or, when focused largely on literature, as is the case in this handbook, “Comparative North American Literature.” The handbook is meant to chart relevant methodologies and major issues of Comparative North American Literature and to help this approach find its place in the ever-changing constellation of dealing with the United States and Canada and studying them across the disciplines. This recent approach to the study of the United States and Canada is presented at a time when both American Studies and Canadian Studies have been reorienting themselves, opening up in the wake of globalizing tendencies not only in economics, politics, and technology, but also in the context of literature and culture. This process has resulted in a tendency toward “transnational” (i.e., reaching beyond national borders) or sometimes even “postnational” approaches to literature (i.e., contesting the conceptual validity of nation-states in a globalized world), paying tribute to the effects of complex migratory movements as well as to national borders as a colonial overwriting of Indigenous conceptions of what is now designated as “North America.”  Since there are few methodological publications yet on Comparative North American Studies, 3 this introductory chapter will approach the topic by first embedding it into the context of American Studies, Canadian Studies, hemispheric studies, and global studies.


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Check out these very important recent instances of anticolonial work: ‘don’t be a settler’

05Jan16

One commercial is available here.

The other here.

Happy 2016 everyone,

LV.

PS: Before everyone gets back to me saying that this is actually not anticolonial work, let me say it: it actually isn’t.

PPS: Thanks to Jeffrey Ostler for his tip!


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On settler art and its histories: A very cool project

30Dec15

Access it here.


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On the (settler colonial studies-related) history of historical geography (II): Larry McCann, ‘Coming Ashore: Graeme Wynn and the Canadian Landscape’, Historical Geography, 43, 2015, pp. 188-192

30Dec15

Excerpt: The physical environment, the migration of Europeans overseas, population dynamics, ethnicity, family life, the settlement process, the waxing and waning of regional economies, the politics of dependency, the conservation of the natural environment—these are but a few of the themes that have captured the imagination of an incisive, voracious mind that is always in search of the wider landscape significance of the commonplace, and of everyday occurrences.


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On the (settler colonial studies-related) history of historical geography (I): Jane Carruthers, ‘Graeme Wynn: The Historical Geography of Environment and Empire from the Edges’, Historical Geography, 43, 2015, pp. 181-184

30Dec15

Excerpt: In reflecting on Graeme’s thinking and writing about environment and empire, we are left in no doubt of his conviction that of those human transformations he seeks to understand, the imperial period of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has been the most pivotal. The impact of British imperialism captured his imagination in the 1970s when he first set out to examine New Zealand and Australia and, since the 1980s, Canada.


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On the settler colonial politics of a particular region: Jessica R. Cattelino, ‘The cultural politics of water in the Everglades and beyond’, Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 5, 3, 2015, pp. 235–250

30Dec15

Excerpt: Since the mid-1800s, Everglades politics have been dominated by three settler imperatives: to make land agriculturally productive; to develop a permanent residential population; and, more recently, to restore the Everglades. Drainage and flood control have allowed major coastal development, cattle ranching, large-scale vegetable production, Florida citrus, and the growth of the sugarcane industry that now dominates Clewiston and surrounding areas. After a half century of efforts to restore the Everglades, it is clear to me that saving the Everglades is as much a social and cultural project as a scientific or political one.


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Studying religious settlers: Assaf Harel, “The eternal nation does not fear a long road”, PhD Dissertation, Rutgers University, 2015

30Dec15

Description: This is an ethnography of Jewish settlers in Israel/Palestine. Studies of religiously motivated settlers in the occupied territories indicate the intricate ties between settlement practices and a Jewish theology about the advent of redemption. This messianic theology binds future redemption with the maintenance of a physical union between Jews and the “Land of Israel.” However, among settlers themselves, the dominance of this messianic theology has been undermined by postmodernity and most notably by a series of Israeli territorial withdrawals that have contradicted the promise of redemption. These days, the religiously motivated settler population is divided among theological and ideological lines that pertain, among others issues, to the meaning of redemption and its relation to the state of Israel. This dissertation begins with an investigation of the impact of the 2005 Israeli unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip upon settlers and proceeds to compare three groups of religiously motivated settlers in the West Bank: an elite Religious Zionist settlement, settlers who engage in peacemaking activities with Palestinians, and settlers who act violently against Palestinians. Through a comparison of these different groups, this dissertation demonstrates that while messianism remains a central force in the realities of Jewish settlements and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it exists these days in more diversified forms than before. In addition, this ethnography illustrates how religion both underlies and undermines differences between Israelis and Palestinians and argues that local communities and religious leaders should be included in peace processes. Finally, by examining how messianic conceptions of time among different groups of Jewish settlers connect to their settlement practices, this study reveals the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be as much about time as it is about space. Accordingly, this dissertation has broader implications for understanding the contemporary role of religion and time within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the political struggles of the Middle East.


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On indigenous silences: Timothy J. San Pedro, ‘Silence as Shields: Agency and Resistances among Native American Students in the Urban Southwest’, Research in the Teaching of English, 50, 2, 2015, pp. 132-153

30Dec15

Abstract: This article discusses findings from a three-year ethnographic study of an ethnic studies course called Native American literature, which began during the passing of legislation that banned the teaching of ethnic studies in Arizona’s public and charter schools. The data analyzed here explore the ways students use silence as a form of critical literacy—or critical silent literacies—in response to racial microaggressions enacted by their peers, their teachers, or a combination of both. This framing of silence questions common assumptions that Native American students are silent because of their biological, inherent, and/or cultural “traits.” Challenging such assumptions, Native American students in this study reveal that as they attempt to voice their ideas, they are repeatedly silenced because their knowledges counter the dominant settler knowledges taught in public schools. As a result, they discuss how their silence has been used over time as a resistance strategy to shield themselves, their identities, and their family and community knowledges from dominant, monocultural knowledges with which they did not agree.


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