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Settlers easily kill for that one thing: Robert M. Owens, Killing over Land: Murder and Diplomacy on the Early American Frontier, University of Oklahoma Press, 2024

02May25

Description: In early America, interracial homicide—whites killing Native Americans, Native Americans killing whites—might result in a massive war on the frontier; or, if properly mediated, it might actually facilitate diplomatic relations, at least for a time. In Killing over Land, Robert M. Owens explores why and how such murders once played a key role in Indian affairs and how this role changed over time. Though sometimes clearly committed to stoke racial animus and incite war, interracial murder also gave both Native and white leaders an opportunity to improve relations, or at least profit from conflict resolution. In the seventeenth century, most Indigenous people held and used enough leverage to dictate the terms on which such conflicts were resolved; but after the mid-eighteenth century, population and material advantages gave white settlers the upper hand. Owens describes the ways settler colonialism, as practiced by Anglo-Americans, put tremendous pressure on Native peoples, culturally, socially, and politically, forcing them to adapt in the face of violence and overwhelming numbers. By the early nineteenth century, many Native leaders recognized that, with population and power so heavily skewed against them, it was only practical to negotiate for the best possible terms; lex talionis justice—blood for blood—proved an unrealistic goal. Consequently, Indigenous and white leaders alike became all too willing to overlook murder if it led to some kind of gain—if, for instance, justice might be traded for financial compensation or land cessions. Ultimately, what Owens analyzes in Killing over Land is nothing less than the commodification of human life in return for a sense of order—as defined and accepted, however differently, by both Native and white authorities as the contest for land and resources intensified in the European colonization of North America.


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Marxism and settler colonialism: Lorenzo Veracini, ‘The Long March To This Place?’ Arena Quarterly, 21, 2025

01May25

Excerpt: This article engages with this critique, outlines a protracted tradition of Marxian, Marxist and communist reflection on settler colonialism, notes that analyses of settler colonialism and class are not mutually exclusive, and argues that settler-colonial studies is ‘indigenous’ to Marxism and socialist traditions.


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Teaching against settler colonialism: H. Came, V. Kerrigan, K. Gambrell, T. Simpson, M. Goza, ‘Unravelling colonial education: from Dazzling White to Deliberately Decolonised and supporting the case for Indigenous universities’, Whiteness and Education, 2024

01May25

Abstract: Western universities continue to produce ethnic inequities in educational outcomes within settler colonial contexts. Juxtaposed are Indigenous and tribal universities, producing thousands of graduates despite a challenging environment. This conceptual paper critically examines teaching practices to encourage reflection and action from white and/or racialised teachers. Drawing on the lived experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous teachers from Aotearoa, Australia, and the United States, this paper articulates a double spiral of teaching practice drawing on anecdotal and research evidence. The spiral spins, forward and back, from Dazzling White to Off-White Aspirations, Culturally Safe, Intentionally Anti-Racist to Deliberately Decolonised. We use the holistic measurement of what one may feel, hear, and see in these classrooms to illustrate the dimensions. To address educational disparities in Western academia, we encourage non-Indigenous educators to develop their racial literacy. Furthermore, we support the recognition and investment in Indigenous universities where Indigenous peoples are more likely to thrive.


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Podcasting against settler colonialism: Vicki Kerrigan, ‘Defining narrative change: a case study of the decolonising podcast Ask the Specialist: Larrakia, Tiwi and Yolŋu stories to inspire better healthcare’, Media Practice and Education, 26, 1, 2025, pp. 58-76

01May25

Abstract: Mainstream media in countries like Australia often perpetuate dominant narratives rooted in settler-coloniser culture, legitimising existing power dynamics and reinforcing inequities. However, in recent decades as the media landscape has fragmented, control over the dominant narrative has loosened and independent podcasters have emerged as powerful agents of narrative change. Narrative change is an emerging field of action research that has grown from social justice activists who believe that personal stories have the power to shift hearts, heads and eventually policies that maintain inequities. However narrative change as a concept is undefined in peer-reviewed literature. Drawing inspiration from Critical Race Theory and Freirean pedagogy, this paper argues key tenets from these two decolonising theories to be considered foundational to narrative change. By examining the utilisation of ‘counterstories’ and ‘problem-posing education’, the paper aims to provide insights into how podcasters can effectively foster intimacy between First Nations peoples and White Australians and change the narrative settler colonisers have perpetuated. To explore these concepts a podcast titled Ask the Specialist: Larrakia, Tiwi and Yolŋu stories to inspire better healthcare will be presented as a case study.


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The Indigenous child / Indigenous land nexus in settler colonialism: Abram J. Lyons, Claudette Grinnell-Davis, ‘Indigenous children and the settler’s pursuit of land: tracing structural colonialism through the child welfare system’, Journal of Public Child Welfare, 2025

29Apr25

Abstract: Indigenous Children in the United States have disproportionately experienced child welfare involvement since the early 20th century. State-sanctioned child removals occur within a broader historical pattern of US-Indigenous policies aimed at erasing Indigenous Peoples to acquire land. Although the child welfare system was not explicitly designed for that purpose, its outcomes nonetheless perpetuate erasure by reproducing Euro-American norms. This study explores the significance of the child welfare abolition movement for Indigenous Children using a Critical Indigenous theoretical framework. It concludes that structural colonialism is reflected within child welfare and emphasizes the importance of Tribal self-determination in policy recommendations or decisions.


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Metereological settler colonialism: Nadezhda Mamontova, ‘Governing the unstable: Colonial atmospheres, ‘weathering’ Indigenous, and the colonisation of polar air in the Soviet Arctic’, Political Geography, 119, 2025, #103331

29Apr25

Abstract: This paper explores the role of polar meteorological stations in Soviet colonial ambitions during the Arctic geopolitical competition of the 1920s and 1930s, examining their enduring legacies in contemporary Russian Arctic policy. Amidst growing geopolitical interest in the Arctic, these stations became essential tools for asserting territorial sovereignty, collecting data crucial to the development of the Northern Sea Route, and consolidating Soviet control over Arctic frontiers. This research argues that these stations, functioning as instruments of state power, enabled the Soviet regime to extend its territorial claims and political reach over land, resources, and Indigenous populations in this remote region. The paper also investigates how Soviet racialised ideas about Indigenous resilience to harsh Arctic conditions were exploited to justify settler-colonial policies and control over the Arctic environment. In particular, it examines how Soviet authorities framed Indigenous peoples as naturally adaptable to extreme climates, exploiting their perceived resilience to support state-led territorial consolidation and the expansion of state control. The research situates Soviet meteorological governance within the broader context of Soviet settler-colonial policies, which sought to transform nomadic Indigenous lifestyles into permanent settlements aligned with Soviet visions of a ‘fixed’ Arctic, characterised by a stable and predictable atmosphere. Finally, the paper demonstrates how Soviet meteorological governance played a crucial role in conceptualising the Arctic as a space not only to be physically occupied but also to be weathered and controlled, highlighting the continuity between the Soviet Arctic doctrine of the 1930s and contemporary Russian Arctic policy, in which Indigenous peoples are once again perceived as particularly well-suited to climate change.


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Picturing settler landscapes: Christabel Devadoss, ‘Landscape Photography, National Parks, and Settler Colonial Nationalism’, GeoHumanities, 2025

29Apr25

Abstract: Research has been critical of photography as a patriarchal and colonial tool while also focusing on representation of outdoor spaces as white. While research has examined patriarchy and colonialism in visual historical practice, it has not explicitly addressed the connections between US landscape photography and the foundations of national parks and public lands. This paper discusses how photography, not just as art but as a representational practice, intersects with nationalism in settler colonial spaces and subsequently impacts public imagination and participation in such places. Framing of national lands concurrently impacts the field of landscape photography and shapes societal expectations of visual ownership in the US. Drawing from public sources like the National Park Service (NPS) signage and websites, historical representation, and visual public media on the US National Parks (like PBS), I demonstrate how national park visual discourses, past and present, intricately intertwine with (white) nationalist imaginings that intersect with settler colonial ideologies, impacting the historical and current practice of US landscape photography.


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The pain of settler colonialism: David K Jones, Rebecca M. Mowat, Gwyn N. Lewis, Catherine M, Cook, ‘Improving outcomes from pain management programmes in Aotearoa New Zealand: listening to the voices of Māori’, AlterNative, 2025

29Apr25

Abstract: There are inequities for Māori (Indigenous peoples of New Zealand) in relation to chronic pain, including a disproportionate prevalence of chronic pain, a greater impact of pain, and reduced long-term benefit from chronic pain services. This likely arises from impacts of colonisation and racism within health services. The study aimed to determine the experience of Māori who had attended a 3-week pain management programme in Aotearoa New Zealand. Six participants were interviewed regarding their experiences of attending the programme, and the data analysed using thematic analysis. Five themes were developed: Lost and alienated, Manaakitanga (kindness, respect, care) created a supportive environment; Education enables mana āhua ake (personal autonomy); Whanaungatanga (relationship) is valued; and Where is the tikanga (Māori protocols)? The programme provided respectful care that facilitated participants to make their own health care choices. However, the lack of tikanga and Māori health views meant the programme was experienced as medical and Western-oriented.


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The Paine of settler colonialism: Anthony Dean Rizzuto, ‘Paine and Race: Ideologies of Racial Liberalism and Settler Colonialism in the Founding of the United States’, Early American Studies, 23, 2, 2025, pp. 177-214

29Apr25

Abstract: Thomas Paine has long been heralded as a voice of universal egalitarianism. That representation proceeds from wishful misattributions of antislavery writings and concerted misreadings of the existing archive that continue to this day. Building on insights from critical race theory, Black Marxism, settler colonial theory, and Indigenous studies, this article reveals a consistent pattern of white supremacy in Paine’s published writings. It argues that the emerging Republic defined itself as foundationally white against Black and Indigenous others, and that Thomas Paine was instrumental in this process. The article begins by delineating the systematic scholarly misrepresentation of Paine on the subject of race. It then provides a brief overview of his career in a transatlantic eighteenth-century frame, and proceeds to a radically new reading of Common Sense. It culminates with a reinterpretation of the racial ideology of Paine’s archive. A coda considers the significance of this argument in the current conjuncture.


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The settler art of anthropology: Martin Crevier, ‘Anthropology and Settler Nationalisms in the Art of Emily Carr, Irma Stern, and Margaret Preston’, The Journao of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 2025

29Apr25

Abstract: South African Irma Stern (1894–1966), Canadian Emily Carr (1871–1945), and Australian Margaret Preston (1875–1963) all attained iconic status as artists in their respective countries. Early appraisers commended their incorporation of Indigenous and Black peoples in a national modernist canon through the use of post-impressionistic sensibilities. Despite notable similarities in biography, vision and oeuvre, these three artists have yet to be considered together in a comparative and connected mode. This article links their careers, ideas and concomitant emergence by focusing on their common and concurrent engagement with the science of Anthropology. All three absorbed and shared anthropologically-inflected conceptions of the ‘Other’. By distilling Anthropology’s discourses for popular audiences, they served as transmission belts between science and the public. They spread theories of racial typologies, of degeneration, of culture and of Indigenous disappearance. Modern art, via Anthropology, thus served as an interface through which Indigenous populations were appropriated and incorporated within nationalisms across Britain’s empire of settlement.


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