· Chart the logics of settler colonialism and white supremacy (racism) described by
these authors (one group for each of the following): Smith, Saranillio, Fujikane.
· Chart the relationships between the following terms, in Wolfeʻs usage: mass murders, genocide, logic of elimination, settler colonialism. Some questions to help you out: What is
the meaning of genocide and why does Wolfe argue against the use of the term
“cultural genocide”? What is the difference between settler colonies and
extractive colonies? How does this relate to the specific operation of genocide
in settler colonies?
We will then be looking at how these issues play out on the ground in different contexts, and I would like you all to draw on your own prior knowledge and experience. In small groups...
· Think
of a place you have lived in, visited or studied that can be described as a settler
colony. Talk about and diagram in some way the dynamics of race and
indigeneity. (How are different groups racialized? How do these racializations
interface with settler colonial projects/logics? What is the role of the state
in this process? What is the role prominent institutions within civil society
play?)
Moreton-Robinson, “Imagining the Good Indigenous Citizen”
ReplyDeleteSmith, “Three Pillars of White Supremacy”
Both articles offer interesting and useful frameworks to think about settler colonialism and white supremacy. Both seem to argue for the indigenous not to use the colonial power’s system because it can always be used against them in their fight for liberation, or the collective fight against hegemonic oppression. What I like about Smith’s article is that it promotes regional cooperation amongst Pacific Islanders.
Moreton-Robinson borrows Foucault’s ideas about race and war, and bio power to explain the use of rights and the juridical system by the Australian government to dominate and subjugate the indigenous people of the land. She argues that citizen rights are used as a weapon against the indigenous natives by the “patriarchical white sovereignty to let live and make live”. Moreton-Robinson emphasize the “discourse of indigenous pathology”, a discourse of negative qualities attributed to the indigenous group to legitimize the Australian government’s claim. The “patriarchical white sovereignty” then uses the discourse of indigenous pathology to gain support from its white citizens.
Smith’s article, “Three Pillars of White Supremacy” offers a framework that indigenous groups and oppressed groups can use to better their fight against the hegemonic colonial power, and not fall into the system of white supremacy. The first Pillar, Slavery/Capitalism sets the black man at the bottom, and groups with lighter skin would have a higher status than the black man. The second pillar, Genocide/Colonialism states that the indigenous must disappear, and must continue to disappear in order for the non-native to claim rights to the land and resources. The third pillar, Orientalism/War shows that inferior groups like the indigenous and people of color can be imagined as a threat, or terrorist to the empire state. The second part of the article deals with heteropatriarchy, which Smith claims, “is the building block of the US empire”. It is a binary system that excludes other possibilities and diversity.