settler colonial studies blog

Hummusphobic gastrocolonialism: Dafna Hirsch, The Israeli Career of Hummus: Colonial Appropriation, Authenticity, and Distinction, Indian University Press, 2026

11Jan26

Description: How did an Arab dish become an Israeli culinary passion? Less than a century ago, hummus and other Palestinian staples were often met with disinterest and sometimes outright rejection among Zionist settlers. Yet for modern-day Israelis, hummus has become a dish that is both everyday and iconic, intertwined with cultural perceptions of authenticity, indigeneity, and masculinity. The Israeli Career of Hummus tracks how hummus has turned from an “Arab” or “Oriental” food into a national symbol and culinary cult in Israel. The Israeli Career of Hummus traces how hummus has turned from an “Arab” or “Oriental” food into a national symbol and culinary cult in Israel. Rather than regard culinary appropriation as a necessary outcome of land colonization, author Dafna Hirsch instead examines how changing gastronomic, economic, and political factors intersected with material and cultural production in a multilayered and socially stratified colonial context. Departing from the thesis of cultural erasure of hummus’s Arab or Palestinian provenance, Hirsch shows how the Arab identity of hummus functions as a semiotic resource, which is sometimes suppressed and at other times leveraged to lend authenticity to hummus—and thus to its consumers. Shedding new light on the sociohistorical process of culinary appropriation amidst settler colonialism and nation building, The Israeli Career of Hummus invites readers to consider the complex trajectory and multiple factors and mediators that transformed a humble staple into an emotionally charged and politically contested culinary icon.

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Physical education: Shrehan Lynch, Lisa Hunter, Carla Luguetti, Jay Laurendeau, Chen Chen, ‘Decanonise the “forefather”: Situating Muska Mosston’s Contributions to Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy within the Context of Zionist Settler Colonization of Palestine’, Journal of Emerging Sport Studies, 13, 2026

11Jan26

Abstract: Muska Mosston, renowned as a forefather of pedagogical innovation in the field of physical education and sport pedagogy, is celebrated for his Spectrum of Teaching Styles, which has permeated the field for decades. However, an examination of his biography reveals problematic ties to Zionist settler colonialism, including active participation in the dispossession and erasure of Palestinian communities. Using a decolonial lens, this paper critically interrogates the legacy of Mosston, challenging the normalisation of settler-colonial ideologies within academic discourse. In exploring Mosston’s legacy through a decolonial lens, we are also compelled to reflect: How do we engage with the work of scholars whose lives and ideologies are deeply intertwined with systems of oppression? Can we separate the value of their contributions from the oppressive systems they may have been a part of? Furthermore, we urge professional organizations and academic institutions to reflect on their complicity in idolatrizing and therefore normalizing such legacies; we suggest instead that they employ practices that uphold truth-telling, advance healing, embrace ethics and actively reduce violence. By foregrounding these self-and institutional-reflective questions, we seek to advance a more equitable, ethical and axiologically reflexive scholarly practice in physical education and the sport pedagogy community more broadly.

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Something fishy in the settler law: Roslynn Ang, ‘Refusing settler sovereignty: salmon fishing for Ainu rituals’, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2026

11Jan26

Abstract: Settler laws over Indigenous land are often an unquestioned norm, and depending on the political climate of the settler nation, some states do accommodate Indigenous access to natural resources for their cultural practices. However, what happens when Indigenous communities refuse to ask settler authorities for permission to practice their heritage? This paper examines the actions of an Ainu Ekashi (elder) who fished for salmon on the Monbetsu River for the Kamuy cep nomi, a ceremony to welcome salmon migrating upstream. While the Ainu are allowed to fish for ritual purposes, the Ekashi refused to ask the Hokkaido prefectural government for permission. Consequently, he faced criminal charges from the prefecture. His actions galvanised Ainu community members and scholar-allies across the island, raising the question of sustainability in commercial salmon fishing within Indigenous lands. I argue that the Ekashi’s refusal to obtain settler permission is an act of social justice towards the decolonisation of Indigenous lands. His action also highlights the unfinished nature of settler colonialism and its failure to represent Indigenous heritage. Consequently, political acts of refusal through the discourse of an authorised intangible heritage can be a strategy for regaining a degree of Indigenous sovereignty.

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Transnational Christian settler colonialism from a settler colony: Thandi Gamedze, Sarojini Nadar, ‘Sanctifying settler colonialism: An intersectional discursive analysis of a South-African Christian Zionist media statement’, Journal for the Study of Religion, 38, 2, 2025.

10Jan26

Abstract: This paper presents an intersectional discursive analysis of a web statement issued on January 10, 2024 by a group of selfidentified South African Christian leaders opposing the South African government’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Using a critical discourse analytic framework informed by Michel Foucault’s theorization of discourse and power, the paper examines how the statement’s pragmatic, ethical, and theological dimensions work together to encourage and legitimize support for Israel through the language of moral and spiritual authority. Across three identified fronts, the statement deploys distinctive rhetorical strategies. On the pragmatic front, it invokes national interest and religious freedom to construct a regime of ‘moral reasonableness’. On the ethical front, it appropriates feminist and liberationist vocabularies such as ‘victim blaming’ to reframe Israel as the victim and Palestine as the aggressor. On the theological front, it redeploys the language of peace characteristic of apartheidera church theology, sanctifying inaction under the guise of neutrality. Additionally, read alongside the Kairos Document of 1985, the analysis situates the 2024 statement within a changing media ecology that transforms how religious authority is produced and circulated. Whereas the Kairos Document emerged from a slow, consultative print culture rooted in collective discernment, radical pedagogy, and liberation theology, the 2024 statement belongs to the fast, affect-driven environment of digital media. Its authority derives not from theological rigor but from rhetorical immediacy and emotional resonance. Drawing on Mitri Raheb’s notion of empire’s theological ‘software’, the paper argues that the statement exemplifies how digital media now function as moral infrastructure, transforming emancipatory theologies into instruments of ideological power. In doing so, it advances scholarship on religion and media by tracing the shift from the deliberative textuality of Kairos to the affective immediacy of digital circulation, revealing how the Christian Zionist discourse in South Africa performs a distinct kind of theological labor that both mediates and moralizes empire in the 21st century.

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Affect and settlers: Kate Nash, Caitlin Mollica, Kate Senior, ‘Talking About the Voice: Everyday Political Talk About Indigenous Constitutional Recognition’, International Journal of Communication, 20, 2026, pp. 48-66

10Jan26

Abstract: In 2023, Australians went to the polls to vote on a proposal to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the national constitution through the creation of an advisory body called the Voice. The proposal was soundly defeated, raising questions about the possibility of reconciliation and Indigenous recognition. While there have been many attempts to explain the outcome, this article takes an interpersonal perspective focusing on voters’ experiences of talking about the Voice. Our aim is to contribute to studies of everyday political talk in contexts of political disagreement, considering the affective dynamics of settler colonialism. We suggest that the ability to talk constructively about the ongoing impacts of colonization and Indigenous recognition, both of which are fundamental to the broader project of reconciliation and truth telling, will require attention to questions of everyday listening in the context of settlerIndigenous relationships.

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Settler colonialism in Africa: Asafa Jalata, ‘The Political Economy of Land in Oromia and Ethiopia’, The Journal of Oromo Studies, 30 1, 2026, pp. 1-31

10Jan26

Abstract: The paper identifies and explains the landowning systems in Abyssinian (Amhara-Tigray) areas and the colonized regions, mainly Oromia. Amhara-Tigray farmers communally own land based on extended lineages. However, the Ethiopian colonial state and colonial settlers dispossessed most of the Oromo lands and reduced most Oromo and other nationalities to landless serfs (gabbars). The piece also demonstrates how the alliance of European imperialism and Ethiopian colonialism facilitated the dispossession and privatization of lands in the colonized territories, such as Oromia, and caused devastating consequences. By introducing the slogan of “Land to the Tiller,” the Ethiopian student movement and the revolutionary ruptures of 1974 facilitated the emergence of the military government, the overthrow of the Haile Selassie regime, and the “nationalization” of lands in the Ethiopian empire in 1975. Subsequent regime changes of 1991 and 2018 have enabled the new regimes to have tight control over lands and their use and facilitated the process of capital/wealth accumulation through various mechanisms at the cost of the farmers who have been exploited, impoverished, oppressed, and abused. Consequently, the land issue has remained a bone of contention, contradiction, and conflict in the Ethiopian empire, particularly Oromia. In addition, this paper explains how the neo-nafxanya government of Abiy Ahmed has targeted the Oromo farmers and herders for political repression and land dispossession. Historical and comparative methods were used in this study.

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The Arctic imperialist scramble and the Indigenous people who live there: Carin Holroyd, Ken Coates (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of Arctic Policy and Politics, Second Edition, Palgrave, 2025

08Jan26

Description: The Arctic that emerged over the past forty years became one of the most innovative policy environments in the world. The region developed impressive systems for intra-regional cooperation, responded to the challenges of rapid environmental change, empowered and engaged with Indigenous peoples, and dealt with the multiple challenges of natural resource development. The second edition of The Palgrave Handbook on Arctic Policy and Politics draws on scholars from many countries and academic disciplines to focus on the central theme of Arctic policy innovation and political action. The portrait that emerges from these chapters is of a complex, fluid policy environment, shaped by internal, national and global dynamics and by a wide range of political, legal, economic, and social transitions. In this second edition, all chapters have been revised, updating the volume with the latest research and analysis especially on the changing geo-political situation since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the election of Donald Trump. New chapters explore post-secondary education and the future of work in the Circumpolar North. The Arctic is a complex political place and is on the verge of becoming even more so due to Russian militarism, increasing Chinese engagement and the cascading effects of rapid climate change. Effective, proactive and forward-looking policy innovation will be required if the Far North is to address its challenges and capitalize on its opportunities. The Arctic has become, ironically, “hot” in political terms, presenting escalating challenges for Arctic peoples and nations seeking to respond to political agendas that increasingly emerge from outside the region.

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Humans and animals in the settler frontiers: Eeva Kuikka, Human-Animal Relations in the Indigenous Literatures of the Soviet North, Palgrave, 2026

08Jan26

Description: This open access book examines how Indigenous authors from the Soviet North reflect the impact of Soviet settler colonialism on Indigenous communities in the region through literary engagement with human–animal relations. Careful analyses of works by Iurii Rytkheu (Chukchi), Anna Nerkagi (Nenets), and Eremei Aipin (Khanty) address the authors’ responses to Soviet colonialism and forced assimilation, as well as the ways in which these processes altered Indigenous cultures and conceptualizations of nature and non-human animals. The book situates Indigenous authors and their texts within the cultural, political, and ideological context of the Soviet Union, while simultaneously drawing on a broad array of theoretical frameworks – posthumanism, new materialism, and postcolonial criticism – to guide its analysis. The wealth of theoretical perspectives makes the book of interest to scholars and students in Soviet literary studies, Russian and Eurasian studies, Indigenous studies, environmental humanities, human-animal studies, and Arctic Studies. In the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the emerged call to decolonize Russian and Eurasian studies, Human-Animal Relations in the Indigenous Literatures of the Soviet North offers a timely and necessary re-evaluation of Russia’s colonial history in the Arctic region.

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Liberia as a settler polity: Franka Vaughan, Settler Colonialism in Liberia: Disavowal of the Marginalised and Contemporary Citizenship Debates in Post-War Liberia, Springer, 2026

08Jan26

Description: This book is a retelling of the history of Liberia’s formation through the lens of settler colonial theory to understand the antagonisms that continue to shape contemporary citizenship debates. It discusses Liberia as representing an interesting puzzle on the distinction between settler colonialism and postcolonialism. While Liberia is often heralded as one of two African countries that were never colonised, this book presents the country as a unique settler state established by free and formerly enslaved Black Americans, who, the author argues, were settler-colonists despite their positioning as Black people in the slaveholding regime. The book, therefore, complicates conventional perspectives by unravelling Liberia’s settler colonial “present”, highlighting the persistent impact of historical structures on the contemporary socio-political landscape. It shows that when the Black Americans dispossessed and marginalised the Africans they met upon arrival in Liberia, they established the antagonisms and enduring unequal structures that continue to shape citizenship and identity debates in the post-war era. By exploring Liberia’s contemporary and contentious discourse on dual citizenship, the book delves into the nuanced terrain of claims and counterclaims surrounding proposed changes to the country’s citizenship laws.

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Settlers having fun: Judy Davidson, Matt Ormandy, ‘Stolen land for private clubs: leisure, land use, and climate coloniality along the kisiskâciwani-sîpiy’, Leisure Studies, 2025

08Jan26

Abstract: Western leisure studies scholars are beginning to grapple with how leisure practices have emerged through and continue to act as technologies of settler colonialism. In North America, one of the most iconic markers of settler leisure is membership in private sports clubs. Constituted through white wealth, these spaces provide respite for the propertied elite on stolen land. Using archival documents, this paper critically assesses three private sports clubs that lease public land in the river valley in amiskwaciwâskahikan (nêhiyawak/Cree for Beaver Hills or what is now known as Edmonton, Alberta in Canada): the Highlands Golf Club, the Royal Mayfair Golf Club, and the Royal Glenora Club. In so doing, we explore questions about space and land, namely how the kisiskǎciwan-sîpî/North Saskatchewan river valley has been used for these particular leisure pursuits. Detailing the historical development and ongoing flourishing of these exclusive enclaves provides a Foucaultian genealogical case study to engage in structural critical conversation about how elite leisure social organisations are deeply imbricated in climate coloniality and the climate change crisis in the Canadian context. We conclude by discussing contemporary examples of Indigenous ‘placekeeping’ practices along the kisiskǎciwan-sîpî in Edmonton.

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