Settler Colonialism, Genocides, and the History of Decolonisation (Part Two)

Or, why the Julia Set is a better guide to history than a two-dimensional map

There is a difficult concept that I have not yet fully addressed in my deep dives into decolonisation and the end of empires: Settler Colonialism.

This concept, settler colonialism, is central to post-colonial studies. Indeed, settler colonial studies is a defined sub-field in the academy. Outside the academy, the term is deployed by commentators critical of Israel and Zionism, as they define it, as a “settler colonial project” undertaken by an apartheid state that espouses racism and practises genocide. Sometimes they use the term with conceptual rigour, and sometimes as a word weapon.

The difficulty that has deferred my reflections on settler colonialism is that, despite its common authority with many, I do not like the idea. Even though the idea emerged specifically from the historical experience of Australia. Even though I crossed paths in my youth with one of its most influential and passionate theorists, Patrick Wolfe.

Settler colonialism is the topic of this essay that combines my monthly Long Read on decolonisation and final essay on the book of the month, Mark Mazower, On Antisemitism.

Please join me this Sunday morning 31 May (10:00 AM Eastern Australian time +10 UTC) for my monthly World History Book Club Live Call.

We will discuss Mazower, On Antisemitism, and any issue you would like to raise from my writing and conversations this month.

I have sent details of the call to all paid subscribers and will do so again before Sunday.

Become a paid subscriber now and both join me on the call and read on about how I conceive settler colonialism in the long history of decolonisation. And listen to the voiceover of this Long Read.