Relating Indigenous and Settler Identities ― Beyond Domination

In this era of recognition and reconciliation in settler societies indigenous peoples are laying claims to tribunals, courts and governments and reclaiming extensive territories and resource rights, in some cases even political sovereignty. But, paradoxically, alongside these practices of decolonization, settler societies continue the work of colonization in myriad everyday ways. This book explores this ongoing colonization in indigenous-settler identity politics in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. These four are part of the 'Post-British World' and share colonial orientations towards indigenous peoples traceable to their European origins. The book identifies a shared settler imaginary that continues to constrain indigenous possibilities while it fails to deliver the redemption and unified nationhood settler peoples crave. Against this colonizing imaginary this book argues for the need for a new relational imaginary that recognizes the autonomy of indigenous ways of being, living and knowing.

Avril Bell is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at The University of Auckland, New Zealand. She specializes in settler identities and the relationships between settler and indigenous peoples, particularly in relation to New Zealand society. Her work addresses the ongoing legacies of colonization and practices of decolonization.