Settler colonialism

Settler colonialism is a distinct form of colonialism. In settler colonial societies, settlers come to stay and impose their sovereignties and lifestyles. It puts in place a long-lasting oppressive structure that seeks to erase Indigenous governance, economies and knowledge systems. Settler colonialism is different from exploitation colonialism in that it involves a logic of replacement of Indigenous Nations by colonial governments. Settler colonialism rests on the domination of settlers over Indigenous people and, among settlers, of European settlers over non-European settlers. The domination of European settlers over non-European settlers and the elimination of Indigenous people through either genocide or assimilation take place simultaneously. Settlers do not benefit equally from settler colonialism: some have come from a position of power and privilege in their own country, others have themselves been colonised or marginalised in their homeland. Ethnic background, skin colour, gender and class also affect which settlers benefit the most from stolen Indigenous lands and waters. Yet, the settler colonial system gives privileges to settlers regardless of their status; the privilege of occupying Indigenous lands and benefiting from such dispossession. 

Settler colonialism has been an important feature of British and Spanish colonialisms (the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Chile…) but has also been implemented by France in Algeria and Kanaky (New Caledonia). The proportion that the settler population came to represent in those societies vary. Yet, most of them continue to be characterised by the political and economic domination of settlers. 

Settler colonialism brings more challenges to the issue of settler decolonisation. Most settler colonial societies have struggled to achieve real decolonisation. Most of these societies were considered decolonised once they became self-governing nation states. Yet, self-governance rarely returned political powers into the hands of the colonised, Indigenous people. It transferred power to the local settler population instead (Algeria – whose independence resulted in settler evacuation – is amongst the exceptions). According to the historian Bouda Etemad, settler colonial structures continued and European settlers ‘maintained themselves at the top of the social and political hierarchy”, so that “in all those cases, ‘decolonisation’ marks the triumph of European colonisation”. The US Declaration of Independence (1776), the Canadian Confederation (1867), and the Federation of Australia (1901) for instance all reflected the maintenance of settler-dominated structures. Depending on the aftermath of the current crisis in Kanaky (New Caledonia), the territory might follow that same path, if Kanak sovereignty is not recognised and Indigenous forms of governance not implemented.