Histories of Settler Colonialism: Considering New Currents

Abstract

In April 2016, historian Jerry Bannister posted an entry on the Acadiensis blog entitled “Settler Colonialism and the Future of Canadian History.” This well circulated piece summarizes a broader conversation about changing public, political, and scholarly understandings of Canada. In Bannister’s view, the increasing prominence of settler colonial approaches has brought historians and others to a significant “tipping point” or a “larger cultural shift” towards envisaging Canada as a settler colonial place. In making this point, Bannister references the rise and consolidation of settler colonial studies as an international scholarly field. In the past six years, in particular, scholars have defined, theorized, and investigated settler colonialism as a distinct and enduring mode of domination. Rooted especially in analyses of settler texts, this work focuses on identifying distinguishing characteristics of settler colonialism, including a specific concern for the dispossession and disappearance of Indigenous peoples, the long-term settlement of (favoured) newcomers, and the establishment of new political orders and settler sovereignty.1 Reflecting on the possibilities of this work for Canadian historians, Bannister concludes that “settler colonialism is where the academic winds are blowing.”2