Settler Colonialism

 Settler colonialism is when a people invades a space where humans already existed and attempts to displace them entirely, with the end goal of taking over the land. We see two phases of settler colonialism in the books There There and The Secret River. The former details life for those who were displaced long ago. There are lasting and detrimental effects of colonialism and they are clear in the novel. Some examples include identity crises, lack of government care for certain displaced races, and lack of infrastructure to support a healthy community. In The Secret River, we see settler colonialism as it is taking place. The British came to Sydney, Australia, in order to create more space. However, they disregarded the people already living there. Though we hear tales of aggressive retaliation from the aboriginals, we have yet to see any form of violence. The Australian native peoples simply seem to want to maintain possession of the land they live on. From the lecture, I learned about the blatant disregard the American government had for people who were different from themselves. They did not view them as human. The Indian Termination Act is especially horrifying. The government decided that certain tribes just did not exist, so they made them move and sold their land for profit. It baffles me how humans can look at another human (we all look more or less the same), and decide that they are less than. I am not sure where the rest of The Secret River will go, but I hope there is a compromise of peace that is maintained between the colonizers and the aboriginals. 


Comments

  1. Javier MartinezJanuary 17, 2022 at 10:53 PM

    Hey Jojo. I like how you pointed out we "hear tales of aggressive retaliation from the aboriginals, but we have yet to see any form of violence." After reading the way some of the characters would talk about the Indians, so many of their tales seemed to be nothing more than for show. It makes me think about how narratives are often portrayed in these ways that are exaggerated, or really don't represent reality, and how often these are used as a means of justifying terrible actions.

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