settler colonial studies blog

Settler colonialism’s structures: Robert Flahive, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, Modernist Architecture, and Contemporary Architectural Preservation: Remaking the Past, Preserving Power, Routledge, 2025

01Apr25

Description: This book examines the afterlives of the built environment produced through early 20th century settler colonialism. The author analyses contemporary architectural preservationists’ narrative strategies to remake the histories of what were designed as racialized “European” zones – in opposition to “Indigenous” zones – as part of the documentation, preservation, and addition to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The book analyses the making of ‘white cities’ through ethnographic methods with local architectural preservationists and primary sources, such as World Heritage Committee meeting notes and World Heritage List nomination files and inscription materials, for the preservation of Asmara, Brasília, Casablanca, Rabat, and Tel Aviv. This volume is aimed at scholars and students interested in the politics of the built environment, spatial politics, urban studies, architectural history, international relations, urban geopolitics, settler colonialism, international organizations, and the politics of commemoration.

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Settler colonial solidarities in far away places: Thomas M. Larkin, ‘”Whiteness”, Prejudice, and the Consolidation of an Anglo-American Elite in Nineteenth-Century Hong Kong’, Itinerario, 2025

01Apr25

Abstract: Americans living in nineteenth-century Hong Kong and China’s treaty ports encountered a contradiction. The British dominated elite foreign society, their political, social, and cultural agendas often setting the pace for life within the community. But as citizens of a country that had recently wrested its independence from its one-time imperial overlord, Americans arriving in China were ostensibly averse to imperialism and the culture of empire. They maintained a belief that theirs was a benevolent republic that championed international amity and self-determination. Still, as Elisa Tamarkin notes, if Americans were wary of the British Empire, many found the spectacle of it appealing—a tendency evident in Hong Kong and the foreign enclaves along China’s coast. Americans eager to enter elite foreign society proclaimed newfound sympathies for British belligerence in China, in turn developing increasingly prejudiced opinions about their Chinese neighbours and staff. Their derisive expressions of racial difference reinforced efforts to reconcile Anglo-American cultural incongruities. Such sentiments reflect the entangled processes through which extraimperial groups such as Americans fashioned themselves as members of the colonial elite. I argue that through such processes, the British and Americans subordinated national rivalry in the interest of entrenching racial divisions between white and non-white communities.

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Petitioning beyond the settlers: Darren Reid, ‘”A Scheming Unprincipled Native and Notorious Mischief Maker”: The 1882 Ngāpuhi Petition to Queen Victoria and Settler Disinformation in the Late Nineteenth-century British Empire’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 2025

30Mar25

Abstract: In light of the inability of most late-nineteenth-century Indigenous petitions to the British Crown to achieve their stated objectives, many historians conclude that the rise of settler self-government precluded imperial intervention in settler affairs. Consequently, Indigenous petitions to the British government in the late nineteenth century are often portrayed as futile anachronisms from an earlier phase of imperial administration. However, using Māori and settler correspondence relating to the Ngāpuhi petition and delegation to London in 1882, this article demonstrates that neither Māori petitioners, the New Zealand government, nor the British government were overly concerned with the rights of responsible government when contemplating responses to the petition. Instead, this article contends that the primary consideration for all three parties was whether the grievances proclaimed within the petition were accurate, and that the failure of the petition had more to do with the petitioners’ credibility than Britain’s right to interfere in New Zealand. It is argued that Indigenous petitioners moved between government, newspapers, and imperial humanitarian networks in pursuance of the credibility that could prove the legitimacy of their grievances in the face of disinformation campaigns launched against them by settler governments. I suggest that the importance of credibility over the rights of responsible government illuminates the liminality of the late nineteenth century, when the division of sovereignty between the empire and its settler colonies was unstable and Indigenous issues were more likely to be decided by the power of persuasion and the manipulation of facts than by formal and stable jurisdictional boundaries.

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Settler colonial Epilepsy? Ngaire F. Keenan et many al, ‘Epilepsy in the Indigenous peoples in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA: a systematic scoping review’, Lancet, 13, 4, 2025

30Mar25

Abstract: Background: Indigenous peoples have inequitable health access and outcomes yet are under-represented in health research and policy. The Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and other Neurological Disorders 2022–2031 highlights Indigenous peoples as high priority groups. We aimed to provide a summary of existing knowledge regarding epilepsy among Indigenous peoples in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA (CANZUS). Methods: In this systematic scoping review, we searched Embase, MEDLINE, APA PsychInfo, Cochrane, Scopus, CINAHL databases and grey literature for reports published in any language between Jan 1, 1985, and April 16, 2023, using search terms related to seizures, epilepsy, and Indigenous peoples. Studies were assessed independently by three reviewers. Articles including epilepsy data in an Indigenous group were included. Articles were excluded if they combined Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples as one population or if the outcomes did not include a separate analysis by Indigenous group. Case reports were also excluded. We extracted data on epilepsy epidemiology, access to health care, treatment, and health outcomes in Indigenous people. The methodological quality of studies was assessed through a methodological appraisal and an Indigenous perspective appraisal. Findings: Our search identified 2037 studies, of which 42 peer-reviewed articles and nine grey literature reports met inclusion criteria: these studies were in Canada (n=3), Australia (n=17), New Zealand (n=9), and the USA (n=22). With the exception of Māori children in New Zealand, who seem to have similar rates of epilepsy to children of European ancestry, the incidence and prevalence of epilepsy seemed to be higher in Indigenous peoples in these regions than non-Indigenous populations. In the included studies, Indigenous peoples showed a higher number of epilepsy hospital presentations, decreased access to specialists, decreased access and longer waits for antiseizure medication, and increased prescriptions for enzyme-inducing antiseizure medications when compared with non-Indigenous peoples. In Australia, the number of disability-adjusted life years among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with epilepsy was double that for non-Indigenous people with epilepsy. Mortality rates for Indigenous peoples with epilepsy in New Zealand and Australia were higher than in non-Indigenous people with epilepsy. Interpretation: Although Indigenous people from CANZUS have unique cultural identities, this review identified similar themes and substantial disparities experienced by Indigenous versus non-Indigenous people in these nations. Concerningly, there were relatively few studies, and these were of variable quality, leaving substantial knowledge gaps. Epidemiological epilepsy research in each specific Indigenous group from CANZUS countries is urgently required to enable health policy development and minimise inequity within these countries.

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Settler colonial and genocidal: Tayseer Abu Odeh, Shahd Dibas, ‘Zionist Settler-Colonialism and the Logic of Genocide in Gaza: A Conversation with Professor Avi Shlaim’, Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies, 24, 1, 2025, pp. 17-36

30Mar25

Excerpt: Let me turn now to the war in Gaza. By my count, this is the seventh Israeli military assault on the people of Gaza since the unilateral disengagement in 2005. The first assault was Operation Cast Lead of December 2008. But what is happening in Gaza today is different. Israel is raining down death and destruction on Gaza on an unprecedented scale. What is happening today is genocide in Gaza and the intensified ethnic cleansing of the West Bank under the dark shadow of this war.

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De Gaulle’s logic of elimination: Naime Benmerabet, ‘De Gaulle’s Doctrine of “Elimination” Through “Integration” in Algeria: the Case of “The Constantine Plan” and the Fiasco of French Settler Colonial Society’, Elkhitab, 20, 1, 2025, pp : 549-568

30Mar25

Abstract: The article scrutinizes France’s policy of elimination through integration in Algeria in De Gaulle’s Address on “The Constantine Plan” (Oct. 3, 1958). Utilizing Settler Colonialism theory, the article analyzes the Address to reveal that French settler colonial enterprise in Algeria hinged on the integration of Algerians to erase them culturally and hence ensure the survival of its settler colonial society. To this end, France resorted to improving the economic, social and cultural conditions of the Algerians and lulled them to believe in the equality between Muslims and Europeans to ultimately accept French sovereignty. The study concludes that De Gaulle’s objective of integrating Algerians into the European society was a desperate attempt by the French military and political elites to stymie the decolonization of Algeria.

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Municipal settler colonialism: Himmat Zoubi, ”48 Palestinian Creatives: Fostering Emancipation, Imagining Decolonialism’, Palestine/Israel Review, 2025

30Mar25

Abstract: Haifa or Hayfa (Hayfa is the transliteration of Haifa’s Arabic name. This article uses the term to distinguish between pre-1948 Hayfa and post-occupation Haifa [April 1948 onwards].), historically a vibrant Palestinian city, has undergone significant transformations under settler-colonialism. This article explores contemporary manifestations of the municipal settler-colonialism of Haifa, where Zionist territorial dominance is advanced under the guise of urban development, erasing the Palestinian history and identity of the city. Despite efforts to de-Palestinize Haifa, however, a Palestinian cultural scene flourished there during the 2010s and early-2020s, fostering an urban subjectivity that counters the settler-colonial narrative and challenges ongoing practices of erasure. Through an analysis of cultural initiatives and grassroots movements, the article demonstrates how ’48 Palestinian creatives (The term ’48 Palestinians refers to those Palestinians who remained within the borders of the State of Israel after 1948 and their descendants.) navigate contradictions, reclaim Palestinian spaces within what are now Israeli cities, and envision social and political emancipation. By conceptualizing these dynamics as a “non-state cultural ecosystem,” this article highlights the interconnections between cultural production and political activism, emphasizing how these relationships confront both settler-colonial erasure and neoliberal cultural commodification. Within this cultural ecosystem, ’48 Palestinian creatives have thus resisted settler-colonialism and proposed a decolonial future by embedding their struggle within boarder global discussions of art, culture, and resistance.

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The origins of settler violence: F. Evan Nooe, ‘”It’s in the Blood”: Settler Family Memories of Native Violence in the American South’, History & Memory, 37, 1, 2025, pp. 164-193

28Mar25

Abstract: This article analyzes how settler families in the US South constructed, propagated and perpetuated memories of Indigenous dispossession across generations, portraying themselves as both victims and heroes in the violent expulsion of the region’s Native people. Stories of Native American raids on settler households captivated regional attention and were retold in printed newspapers, memoirs, regional histories, and monuments. By the end of the nineteenth century, descendants leveraged recirculated printed accounts of their ancestors’ victimization to confirm family lore and memorialize conquered land in the name of righteous vengeance. By selectively remembering settler family origins as beginning with Native aggression, white descendants framed violence against Native peoples as defensive and fueled the erasure of Native identities, ethnicities and the historic claims of Native Southerners to the American South.

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The knots of settler colonialism: Belle Selkirk, ‘Untying settler-colonial knots in Australian Psychology, New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 54, 1, 2025, pp. 60-70

28Mar25

Abstract: This reflexive paper is written from the positionality of an Indigenous psychologist in response to the majority-Australia vote against constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the National Referendum, October 14th, 2023. I utilise the Net Metaphor conceptual tool offered by Jongbloed, Hendry, Behn Smith, and Gallagher Kʷunuhmen to articulate settler-colonialism in Australian psychology. Through the net metaphor, I describe the Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project and my reflexive experience of psychologyactivism in untying settler-colonial knots in Australian psychology. I juxtapose my positionality and experience against the failed Referendum and the implications for Australian psychology. Finally, this paper finishes with reflections of how the discipline can engage in collective activism necessary for addressing settler-colonial knots in psychology’s spheres of influence.

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Repenting for settler colonialism: Michael Mawson, ‘Challenges for Theology in Settler Colonial Contexts’, Modern Believing, 66, 2, 2025

28Mar25

Abstract: This article reflects on some challenges for Christian theology in New Zealand and similar settler colonial contexts. In particular, it explores ways in which Christians can begin acknowledging and addressing the entanglements of Christianity with settler colonialism and its violence. The first section briefly outlines the project of settler colonialism, drawing on key insights from settler colonial studies. The second section examines ways in which Christian theology has actively contributed to this project. The third section indicates some typical strategies that Christians employ to avoid acknowledging this situation. Finally, the article suggests how practices of repentance can assist with the work of repair.

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