Amy Fung: Is Settler Colonialism Just Another Study of Whiteness?

Settler colonial studies is merely another study of whiteness, and settler identity should not be constrained to a racial identity. Settler colonial theories began with Indigenous women, rather than white men. Once taken over by white men, at least in the forefront of the discipline, settler colonial studies shifted from studying the histories of violence to feelings, history and entitlements of white settlers, erasing Indigenous knowledge, politics and experiences. Funding and publishing bodies have historically supported settler academic journals over Indigenous ones, furthering centering the study of whiteness. Importantly, settlers are those who occupy and benefit from the theft of Indigenous land, meaning settlers are not only white colonizers. Colonization would not have been possible without the labour of minoritized groups and non-white groups face continued “perpetual foreignness.” Settler is an economic identity, given that those who are complicit in colonization are those who participate in capitalism and benefit from land theft. To unbecome settler requires allowing oneself to be changed by the knowledge of violence, loss and the mourning of the imagined settler state, not paralyzed by it. Settlers should take up an ethical standpoint led by Indigenous practices and understandings of settler colonialism and their complicity in it, viewing themselves as uninvited guests on the land.