Colonialism
Colonialism is the physical practice of acquiring or occupying land in another country.
This section on Colonialism will present the main points from SOCY 235 Week 4 Lecture 1.
The Metropole
The Metropole is a central territory or state that exercises control over a colonial empire.
Power is exerted from the metropole to the periphery through terrirtorial, economic, and political means
Colonialism via Loomba (2002)
Involves:
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Warfare
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Enslavement
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Genocide
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Explotation
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Restructuring
The conquest and control of other people's land, labour, and resources
Loomba (2002) states that dictionary definitions of colonialism present a "sanitized" version of colonialism. Loomba calls for definitions which explain its impact on indigenous peoples, and their land, labour, and resources. Colonial encounters have never been peaceful and always include exploitation, warfare, enslavement and genocide.
Colonialism and the Rise of Capitalism
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Colonialism was central to the development of global capitalism.
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Modern colonialism reorganized colonized economies, integrated them into global trade systems, and ensured profits flowed back to Europe.
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This led to European industrial growth and to underdevelopment in colonized regions.
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Colonialism acted as the "midwife" of European capitalism.
Loomba (2002) states: colonialism and colonial domination existed long before Europe - Aztecs, Incas, Chinese imperialism - but modern European colonialism is historically different due to its ties to capitalism, which the other cultures were not.
Colonialism and Settler Colonialism
Lorenzo Varcini, a historian and professor at Swinburne University of Technology’s Institute for Social Research, explains:
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Colonialism and settler colonialism are structurally different
but intertwined, and must be analytically disentangled to
understand power, resistance, and decolonization properly
Canadian Colonialism
- (1500s) Early Canadian colonialism was true colonialism - focused on the exploitation of goods. Huge involvement of indigenous peoples and their knowledge (via trade and partnership).
- (1600s) Large shift where colonial citizens (settlers) begin arriving in large numbers to settle the lands, establish territories, and dispossess indigenous people of their lands and replace them.
Canada's settler-colonialism didn't end with its independence; independence strengthened colonial influence and power.
A key player is the Hudson's Bay Company.
Hudson's Bay controlled travel and trade, and assisted the British in establishing further rule, particularly by pushing indigenous peoples off their lands before selling it to the Canadian government.
Colonialism vs. Settler Colonialism - Expanded
Exaltation - Sunera Thobani (Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada 2007)
Description:
The process through which certain people are elevated as citizens embodying the nation's highest values, while others (Indigenous peoples, immigrants, and racialized outsiders) are positioned as lacking those qualities.
Decolonizing Anti-Racism
In a 2005 article titled "Decolonizing Anti-Racism" published by Crime and Social Justice Associates, Bonita Lawrence and Enakshi Dua highlight that:
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Most antiracist theory and practice ignores Indigenous people and ongoing colonialism.
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Antiracism focuses almost entirely on racism experienced by people of colour through immigration, exclusion, and discrimination
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This framework treats Canada as a multicultural nation rather than a settler colonial state built on stolen Indigenous land
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Indigenous sovereignty, land dispossession, and colonial violence are erased from antiracist politics
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Anti racism must be decolonized, it must directly confront settler colonialism, and it must center Indigenous lived experiences.
Critiques of Anti-Racism and Postcolonialism
Treating colonialism as a historical past
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Anti-racism often frames colonialism as something that happened long ago, instead of an ongoing structure.
Treating immigration as the primary mode of racial domination
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Anti racism in Canada focuses on racism faced by immigrants and racial
minorities but ignores the fact that Canada is built on stolen Indigenous land.
Erasing Indigenous sovereignty
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Critical anti racism must center Indigenous sovereignty, land restitution, and
the ongoing reality of settler colonialism.
Decolonizing Anti-Racism
Racism Without Attention to Land
Mainstream antiracism often focuses on citizenship, institutional discrimination, and representation in media and culture.
But racism has a material foundation: it is fundamentally tied to the land dispossession of Indigenous peoples and ongoing territorial occupation by the settler state.
Decolonized antiracism centers colonialism as the foundation
Emphasizes:
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Indigenous land dispossession as ongoing, not historical
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Territorial occupation by the settler state
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Indigenous sovereignty and nationhood
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The role of settlers (white and racialized) in colonial structures