Deathscapes of Settler Colonialism: The Necro-Settlement of Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada

Adam J Barker

doi:10.1080/24694452.2017.1406327

Abstract

This article considers the influence of burials and memorials to colonial soldiers from an earlier era on contemporary social and cultural landscapes in Canada. Through the example of a landscape centered on Smith's Knoll, a burial ground for war dead from the British-American War of 1812, it explores the process of necro-settlement: the strengthening of settler colonial claims to land based on the development of complex, meaning-laden landscapes of dead and memory. This article consists of three parts: The first situates geographical studies of deathscapes alongside theories about settler colonialism through intersecting discourses of land use. The second includes a settler colonial microhistorical geography of Smith's Knoll and the local deathscape that surrounds it. The third section draws on this case study to reveal new perspectives on the role of burial and memorial in settler colonial place-making and the erasure of Indigenous histories and peoples.

Highlights

In 1889, in the town of Saltfleet – a hamlet on the shores of Lake Ontario, Canada, later renamed Stoney Creek – a local farmer ploughing his field turned up a number of longdead bodies
I seek to demonstrate how my own settler community attaches to the place of Stoney Creek in part through the materialisation of a complex deathscape – a landscape marked by cemeteries, burial sites, and memorials to the dead – that both reflects and reinforces settler colonialism’s claims to land and belonging
Settler colonialism as a distinct formation and practice is premised on the imposition of a false temporal barrier dividing two periods: before settlement, a state defined by terra nullius and terrifying wilderness; and after settlers arrive with their intent to stay,i bringing with them ‘civilisation’ and new practices of land use

Summary

Introduction

In 1889, in the town of Saltfleet – a hamlet on the shores of Lake Ontario, Canada, later renamed Stoney Creek – a local farmer ploughing his field turned up a number of longdead bodies. I seek to demonstrate how my own settler community attaches to the place of Stoney Creek in part through the materialisation of a complex deathscape – a landscape marked by cemeteries, burial sites, and memorials to the dead – that both reflects and reinforces settler colonialism’s claims to land and belonging. Settler colonialism as a distinct formation and practice is premised on the imposition of a false temporal barrier dividing two periods: before settlement, a state defined by terra nullius and terrifying wilderness; and after settlers arrive with their intent to stay,i bringing with them ‘civilisation’ and new practices of land use This is a false temporal barrier, existing only in the perception of colonisers and newcomers, and it is troubled by an undeniable fact: the land was not empty prior to colonial incursion, but was occupied by many sophisticated Indigenous societies. I sketch out the importance of understanding transfer through necro-settlement

Method and Framework

Conclusion