Decolonization and Unsettling Settler Privilege
Corey Snelgrove, a settler student doing his Master’s degree in the fantastic IGOV program at the University of Victoria, began compiling a list on Twitter of short articles, mostly blogs, which are written by non-Indigenous writers and which examine the task of unsettling settler colonialism for the goal of decolonization, or as Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox wrote – “co-existence through co-resistance.” For your weekend (and hopefully further) reading, here are five short articles on settler solidarity with Indigenous struggles and decolonization, in no particular order.
- Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox’s “#IdleNoMore: Settler Responsibility for Relationship“
- Harsha Walia’s “Decolonizing Together: Moving Beyond a Politics of Solidarity toward a Practice of Decolonization“
- Eric Ritskes’ “The Terms of Engagement with Indigenous Nationhood“
- Scott Morgensen’s “Un-Settling Settler Desires“
- Beenash Jafri’s “Privilege vs. Complicity: People of Color and Settler Colonialism“
This is a great starting point for anyone interested in the issue and a great resource for instructors or teachers who are looking to introduce the topic to their students.
Do you have any other short articles or suggestions for this list?
Decolonization 
If you check out the DividedNoMore blog, you might find some interesting settler comments that might connect to your theme of ‘Unsettling Settler Privilege.’
Here is another resource you might find interesting: http://lateralloveaustralia.com/2013/03/14/the-unravelling-of-a-colonized-mind-by-jana-rae-yerxa/comment-page-1/
This is one of the best articles I’ve read: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/6453/what-is-settler-colonialism
The Settler Within: Truth telling, Indian Residential Schools, & Reconciliation in Canada by Dr. Paulette Regan is a life-transforming non-fiction work, describing the process by which the settler majority in Canada can be unsettled by bearing witness to the stories of survivors of the Indian Residential School System. She suggests that telling these stories & preparing themselves ready to do so is the work the Indigenous Peoples of Canada had & have to do & that bearing witness through deep listening to their humanity with open minds, hearts, & spirits leads the descendents of the original settlers to become unsettled about our position of privilege, gained at the expense of Canada’s First Peoples. Dr. Regan argues that it is now time for non-Indigenous Canadians to do our work of preparing ourselves to see the truth of the devastating effects on both Indigenous Canadians & ourselves created by the Canadian colonial attitudes that led to the Indian Residential School System i the first place. We need to take on the work of personal decolonisation in order to build right relationship with our Indigenous sisters & brothers. I was part of a group that just wrapped the book study of this work this week. We are all feeling that we have been transformed by reading & sharing this book.