Depuis près de 50 ans, les Inuit du Nunavik désirent accéder à l’autonomie gouvernementale afin de répondre à leurs besoins, qui sont différents de ceux du reste du Québec. Faisant partie des droits qui leurs sont reconnus par l’Organisation des Nations-Unies depuis 2007, et malgré le fait que le Canada et le Québec prônent l’établissement d’une relation de Nation à Nation avec les Autochtones, le chemin des Nunavimmiut—les habitants du Nunavik—vers l’autonomie gouvernementale est parsemé d’obstacles. La marge de manœuvre de ces derniers face à cette autonomie fut juridiquement encadrée par la signature, en 1975, de la Convention de la Baie-James et du Nord québécois. Les Inuit du Nunavik, s’ils font maintenant partie de la « société moderne », voyaient traditionnellement leur société régie par des normes dans lesquelles s’inscrivait les relations de pouvoir qui assuraient non seulement la survie, mais aussi l’harmonie, le bien-être et la transmission des savoirs. Il s’agit donc de comprendre de quelle manière la modernité, sous l’impulsion du colonialisme de peuplement et ses relations de pouvoir, a influencé ces structures sociales. Ces transformations, un processus qui est dynamique, participent à redéfinir dans un premier temps l’identité des Inuit, et dans un deuxième temps la forme de leur projet d’autonomie gouvernementale. / For nearly 50 years now, the Nunavik Inuit wish to insure their development with a form of self-government that can better reflect their identity and meet their needs. Indigenous self-government has been recognized as a right by the United Nations Organization since 2007, and although Canada and Quebec preach for the establishment of a Nation to Nation relationship with Indigenous People, we have no choice but to note the numerous challenges faced by the Nunavimmiut—the people from Nunavik—on the road to self-governance. The flexibility of the latter has been legally framed by the Bay-James and Northern Quebec Agreement, signed in 1975. The Nunavik Inuit, now part of the "modern society", traditionally relied on standards in which the power relationships were not only ensuring their survival, but were also maintaining the harmony, the welfare and the transfer of knowledge from one generation to another. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the ways in which modernity, fueled by settler colonialism and its power relationships, are redefining these social structures. These transformations are a dynamic process and are redefining the identity of the Nunavik Inuit, as well as their approach to self-governance.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to critically examine the relationship between the Swedish state and the indigenous Sámi people, with special attention to land-use conflicts. Throughout history, the Swedish state has subjected the Sámi people to severe violations of their human and indigenous rights, such as forced relocation and land acquisition. Because of the historical context, and because it has been used in previous research on the Swedish-Sámi situation, the thesis uses settler colonial theory. The method is Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA) on communicative events from the government, state-owned forest enterprises and Sámi actors. Three research questions guided the analysis: 1) How does the proposed law of consultations describe the possibility for Sámi influence? 2) Are the state owned forestry enterprises reproducing settler colonial power structures in Sápmi? 3) How do Sámi actors describe the state’s forest politics? The conclusions were that it is uncertain if the proposed law of consultations satisfies requirements of free and prior informed consent (FPIC) as they are formulated in international law. Furthermore, the state-owned forestry enterprise Sveaskog reproduces settler colonial structures with some of their statements, for example by relating to state ownership of land that was stolen from Sámi people as unproblematic. Lastly, Sámi actors mostly portray the state’s forest politics in a negative light, emphasizing how the space for reindeer husbandry is shrinking due to irresponsible forestry methods.

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This dissertation is an intervention aimed primarily at the field of Canadian Political Science, but informed by engagements with Indigenous Studies, literatures on racial capitalism, and Global Histories. The overarching aim of the project is to provide a theoretical framework by which to study multi-scalar struggles taking place within and against the Canadian state from an explicitly anti-imperialist perspective. The insights of this project should also be of interest to the broad left, both in Canada and beyond. The dissertation begins with a call to situate the Canadian state, and its practice of “settler imperialism” as part of multi-scalar system of global racial capitalism. Key to understanding this is the mobilization of Stuart Hall’s concept of the “historical bloc” as a tool to grasp political mediations, and to refuse the too-easy analytical reification of structures or their practices of difference making. Part two of the dissertation interrogates the politics of solidarity “from below” by engaging “activist archives,” composed of “allyship toolkits,” zines, and pamphlets. These activist archives reveal two (at least analytically) distinct theories of change operating through the discourses of allyship and decolonization. While to differing degrees, they point to the work of politics below the state. In the case of “allyship” discourses this dissertation finds a normative individualism and an understanding of power as an object rather than something collectively exercised, leading to a charity model where solidarity is seen as an external relationship. In contrast, the decolonization literature understands how solidarity can proceed from an interested position towards building a relationship of shared concern, it substitutes a deference model for one defined by “relational autonomy” in the process of “worldmaking.” The final portion of this dissertation makes an in- depth case-study of Indigenous-led opposition to the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline project. Tracing out a number of strategies of hegemony, counter-hegemony, and grassroots struggles, the aim is to show a number of interrelated sites and tactics of anti-imperialist struggle grounded in a defence of both shared place and the self-determination of Indigenous nations. / Graduate / 2023-08-25

There has been a rise in Right-wing extremism (RWE) mobilizing within what is known as the setter-colonial state of Canada, with some groups espousing values and narratives grounded in White nationalist ideology which have led to instances of violence and harm against community members. These incidents of harm and violence occur in the context of the Canadian state's claims to inclusive multiculturalism, civility and benevolence. While there are many looking into the presence of RWE groups to document their existence, mobilizing patterns and tactics, very little analysis exists that offers a deep analysis into these groups and situates their political ideology within the broader context of the Canadian state’s governance logics. Therefore, to push the discussion on this topic further, this project looks at the specific case of the Canadian Nationalist Front's (CNF), a White nationalist group in Canada, and unpacks the discourse shared on their blog. Through dissecting the CNF's blogpost with a theoretical framework of analysis that moves beyond understanding this group as merely a fringe group which holds fundamentally different values than the Canadian state, I make links to the existing literature that demonstrates the parallels between the two. I argue that the racialized governance logics of White nationalist groups, like the CNF, are also shared in the settler-colonial logics of the Canadian state's border governance strategies. Further, I highlight the ways in which groups like the CNF ground their movements in the superiority of Whiteness, while using the state's claims of inclusivity and multiculturalism to justify their entitlement to hold these exclusionary ideologies while presenting themselves as victims of those that they "Other". Finally, I contextualize their discourse within the context of neoliberalism, which has intensified the harms of racial capitalism in a way that has also impacted the White working class and allowed groups like the CNF to use economic grievances to mobilize their movements.

Mon mémoire porte sur les représentations des Premiers Peuples dans les manuels scolaires d’histoire francophones, produits et utilisés au Québec entre 1920 et 1960, avec une attention particulière portée à ceux destinés aux jeunes du primaire. Cette recherche est au croisement des études sur le colonialisme québécois, de l’histoire de l’enfance et de l’étude des représentations. Plusieurs théories émanant des études visuelles, de l’altérité et des performances studies sont aussi mobilisées dans mon étude des manuels scolaires d’histoire. En se positionnant à l’intersection de cette mosaïque d’historiographies et d’approches conceptuelles, mon mémoire répond aux questions suivantes : comment sont représentés les Premiers Peuples au Canada dans les manuels d’histoires francophones produits entre les années 1920 et 1960 et dans quelle mesure ces représentations sont en rupture avec la période précédente ? Comment sont mobilisées ces représentations dans l’imaginaire colonial québécois ? De quelle manière est reçue, appropriée et performée l’image coloniale de l’« Indien imaginaire » par les enfants ? Mon étude vient compléter une historiographie qui couvrira, dès lors, toute l’histoire des représentations des Premiers Peuples dans les manuels scolaires d’histoire depuis les débuts de l’instruction publique au Québec. Le premier chapitre explore trois champs historiographiques sur lesquels mon mémoire s’appuie : l’histoire des enfants, le colonialisme d’occupation et les représentations des Premiers Peuples dans la culture populaire nord-américaine. Les chapitres deux et trois sont consacrés, dans l’ordre, à l’analyse des manuels scolaires d’histoire produit entre 1920 et 1950 et ceux entre 1950 et 1960. Je démontre que la figure de l’Indien est mobilisée par les auteurs des manuels des années 1920-1950 pour justifier la dépossession et les violences coloniales du passé, notamment par l’utilisation d’arguments politiques, moraux et généalogiques. Dans la série de manuels des années 1950, nettement plus nationaliste, les auteurs reprennent ces mêmes idées en appuyant toutefois plus fortement sur l’idée de la « mission civilisatrice » au point de nettoyer le récit historique québécois de sa violence originelle. De plus, j’établis que ces manuels montrent la prolongation du colonialisme dans le présent. Les Premiers Peuples ne disparaissent plus du récit après la Conquête, contrairement à ce qui était le cas dans les manuels d’histoire avant 1950, mais ils sont toujours sujets à un discours colonial qui les dénigre, les invisibilise et tente de justifier la dépossession de leurs terres. / My master’s thesis examines the representations of First Peoples in French-language history textbooks produced and used in Quebec between 1920 and 1960, with a particular focus on those intended for elementary school children. This research is at the crossroads of studies on Quebec colonialism, childhood history and the study of representations. Several theories emanating from visual studies, othering and performance studies are also mobilized in my study of history textbooks. By positioning itself at the intersection of this mosaic of historiographies and conceptual approaches, my master’s thesis answers the following questions: how are the First Peoples in Canada represented in French-language history textbooks produced between the 1920s and the 1960s and to what extent are these representations at odds with the previous period? How are these representations mobilized in the Quebec colonial imagination? How is the colonial image of the ‘imaginary Indian’ received, appropriated and performed by children? My study contributes to a historiography exploring history of representations of the First Peoples in history textbooks since the beginning of public education in Quebec. The first chapter explores three historiographical fields on which my dissertation draws: children's history, settler colonialism, and representations of First Peoples in North American popular culture. Chapters two and three are devoted, in order, to the analysis of history textbooks produced between 1920 and 1950 and those between 1950 and 1960. I show that the figure of the Indian is mobilized by the authors of the first period’s textbooks to justify the dispossession and colonial violence of the past, notably through the use of political, moral and genealogical arguments. In the latter period’s, more nationalistic series of textbooks, the authors reiterate these same ideas, but with a stronger emphasis on the idea of the ‘civilizing mission’ to the point of cleansing the Quebec historical narrative of its original violence. Furthermore, I argue that these textbooks show the continuation of colonialism in the present. First Peoples no longer disappear from the narrative after the Conquest, as was the case in history textbooks before 1950, but they are still subject to a colonial discourse that denigrates and invisibilizes them, while attempting to justify the dispossession of their lands.

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This dissertation examines how institutions and individuals navigate the histories of racial difference and settler colonialism by focusing on architectural preservationists' explanations of what are referred to as white cities. Through dialogue between architectural history, international relations, and critical heritage studies, I map the making and remaking of the histories of white cities, or what were designed as "European" zones – in opposition to "Indigenous" zones – that brought together modernist architecture, white supremacy, early twentieth-century European settler colonialism, and architectural preservation. My focus on preservationists' narrations of these white cities extends interdisciplinary work charting their historical production from a group of scholars focusing on the relationship of architecture in the production of domination in European colonialism. My work extends this scholarship by shifting to preservationists' narrations of white cities through the question: how do preservationists remake the histories of racial difference and settler colonialism that underpinned the production of white cities? In this dissertation, I argue that preservationists remake the histories of racial difference and settler colonialism that produced white cities by relying on what I refer to as didactic narratives to legitimate preservation interventions. Preservationists use these didactic narratives to reframe white cities as part of national histories, the universalism of the World Heritage List, and the history of the modernist movement in architecture and planning. My argument advances by showing preservationists' appropriations of the didactic narratives in the World Heritage List inscription materials for White City of Tel Aviv (2003), Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: A Shared Heritage (2012), and Asmara: A Modernist African City (2017) and through ethnographic fieldwork with local preservationists in Casablanca and Tel Aviv. To frame these analyses, I map the institutional changes within the UNESCO World Heritage Committee that sought greater legitimacy by expanding the typological and geographical scope of the World Heritage List. To do so, the institution enlisted the International Committee for the Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites, and Neighborhoods of the Modern Movement (DOCOMOMO-International) to recraft the criteria to include twentieth-century modernist architecture onto the List. However, DOCOMOMO promoted a particular way of interpreting white cities through the didactic narratives that led to the proliferation of white cities on the World Heritage List. By charting the different ways that preservationists appropriate the didactic narratives in the World Heritage List materials and in the text of semi-structured interviews and from participant observation, I show how the intersecting power structures of white supremacy and settler colonialism that were embedded in the production of white cities are adapted by preservationists in the co-constitution of international institutions, disciplinary knowledge, and individual subject positions. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation considers how the histories of race and colonialism are narrated by architectural preservationists. I do so by focusing on preservationists' narrations of white cities, "European" enclaves designed in opposition to "Indigenous" zones in early 20th century settler colonialism. By focusing on the preservation of what were designed as racialized spaces, I explore how these histories of racial difference and colonialism are mediated by forms of knowledge, institutions, and individuals. Yet it is the focus on preservationists that I detail how preservationists silence, downplay, or mobilize the histories of white cities through three different narrative tropes of national histories, the universalism of the World Heritage List, and modernist movement architecture and design. I show how these narrative tropes justify preservation interventions while making some histories more accessible and others less so. To analyze how preservationists remake the histories of white cities, I map the creation and transformations of the primary international preservation organization, the World Heritage List. These institutional changes led to the addition of white cities in Asmara, Rabat, and Tel Aviv based on preservationists' adaptations of the three narrative tropes. I then show how these same narrative tropes are appropriated by local preservationists to remake the histories of race and colonialism in white cities. By drawing attention to the ways that the histories of race and colonialism are remade through the intersections of individuals, institutions, and forms of knowledge, the project shows how knowledge on the modernist movement is implicated in the constitution of power in the World Heritage List and in consolidating privileged subject positions. Moreover, my analysis opens up questions on the co-constitution of institutions, forms of knowledge, and individual subject positions. Lastly, the analysis demonstrates that individuals have the potential to challenge – rather than to uphold – the constellations of power etched into white cities. I show one instance of architectural preservationists challenging these structures of power in the preservation effort of Les Abattoirs in Casablanca in 2009-2013.

This dissertation is broadly concerned with the relationship between democracy and race in the United States federal government. To analyze this problem, I rely on archival research from the 1967-8 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (commonly known as the Kerner Commission, after chairperson Governor Otto Kerner) to examine how the discussion and management of hundreds of so-called "race riots" in the summer of 1967 both challenges civil disobedience and embodies structural racism. Employing a content analysis of the final 425-page Kerner Commission government report, I assess the categorization, labeling, and language used to describe and document the hundreds of "race riots" and related state violence through acts of police misconduct that engulfed the country in the summer of 1967. I rely heavily on the report and background research itself, as well as major books related to race riots and presidential commissions, such as Anthony Platt's 1971 The Politics of Riot Commissions and Steven Gillon's 2018 Separate and Unequal. I incorporate theories of exit and the entitlement to rights advanced in literature by scholars like Jennet Kirkpatrick, James C. Scott, and Hannah Arendt. This dissertation is concerned with the relationship between morality and civic participation in democratic politics. I analyze Christopher Kutz's book Complicity: Ethics and Law for a Collective Age to delve into the ramifications of democracy and US citizenship being considered a kind of "collective project" and further contemplate what obligations and implications exist for citizens in US democracy against racial injustice. Since the Kerner Commission coincided with the rise of "law and order" politics in the nation's political vernacular, it represents a unique opportunity to witness an ideological shift toward a Garrison state and neoliberal ethos, both of which undermine the country's espoused democratic values, resting on the grammar of equality and justice for all. The Kerner Commission can provide valuable lessons in studies of political domination that remain pertinent to overcoming oppression and injustice today. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation is broadly concerned with the relationship between democracy and race in the United States federal government. American democracy espouses moral virtues related to freedom and justice for all, and yet structural racism remains pervasive in how the government operates. To analyze this problem, I rely on archival research from the 1967-8 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (commonly known as the Kerner Commission, after chairperson Governor Otto Kerner) to examine how the discussion and management of hundreds of so-called “race riots” in the summer of 1967 both challenges civil disobedience and embodies structural racism. I rely heavily on the report and background research itself to do a content analysis. I also use major books related to race riots and presidential commissions, such as Anthony Platt’s 1971 The Politics of Riot Commissions and Steven Gillon’s 2018 Separate and Unequal. Given that this dissertation is concerned with how morality shapes civic participation in democratic politics, I analyze Christopher Kutz’s book Complicity: Ethics and Law for a Collective Age. Since the Kerner Commission coincided with the rise of “law and order” politics in the nation’s political vernacular, it represents a unique opportunity to witness an ideological shift toward a Garrison state and neoliberal ethos, both of which undermine the country’s espoused democratic values, resting on the grammar of equality and justice for all. Individual advocates as well as scholars can learn valuable lessons from the Kerner Commission about oppression and injustice in today’s society.

Modern political and market structures have normalized colonial violence into economic and social realities, while imperial powers still dictate modes of labor and resources extraction that benefit them in the present, but send the physical world hurtling into a future of crisis. Justifying this activity are Western mindsets based in rational exclusivity, which fail to recognize the constructed elements of their reality, instead subjugating and historicizing those with different ontological perspectives. In particular, Western logics have persecuted indigenous populations and their cultural connection to ancestral homelands in order to appease colonial paranoia and reassert exclusive claim to stolen land. This is not materially, ethically, or spiritually sustainable. This thesis examines the ways in which colonial and indigenous ontologies interact in the past, present, and future through identifying the reality-shaping narrative phantasies which shape encounters surrounding land. Phantasies of land and the ecosystems humans are a part of are especially central to how individuals and societies relate to the self, as well as human and non-human others. Through an analysis of the 1843 Thomas Gregory-Pamunkey petitions over claims to the Pamunkey reservation land, this thesis studies how colonial and indigenous phantasies of land interact. It demonstrates that the colonial inability to recognize personal and cultural phantasies often leads to conflict, but an ability to recognize the power of narrative and communicate through alternative ontologies than one's own can lead to successful communication and meaningful relationships, ones which can help those with settler backgrounds to live more ethically and support indigenous resurgence. This thesis offers a theoretical, historical, and practical guide to begin the process of unsettling the self by way of recognizing the constructed narrative phantasies settlers have been accustomed to interpreting the world through, and reflects on ways for settlers to move forward by engaging with land-based ontologies. / Master of Arts / Modern political and market structures have normalized colonial violence into economic and social realities, while imperial powers still dictate modes of labor and resources extraction that benefit them in the present but send the physical world hurtling into a future of crisis. Justifying this activity are Western mindsets based in rational exclusivity, which fail to recognize the constructed elements of their reality, instead subjugating and historicizing those with different perspectives. In particular, Western logics have persecuted indigenous populations and their cultural connection to ancestral homelands in order to appease colonial paranoia and reassert exclusive claim to stolen land. This is not materially, ethically, or spiritually sustainable. This thesis examines the ways in which colonial and indigenous ontologies interact in the past, present, and future through identifying the reality-shaping narratives which shape encounters surrounding land. Stories of land and the ecosystems humans are a part of are especially central to how individuals and societies relate to the self, as well as human and non-human others. Through an analysis of the 1843 Thomas Gregory-Pamunkey petitions over claims to the Pamunkey reservation land, this thesis studies how colonial and indigenous narratives of land interact. It demonstrates that the colonial inability to recognize personal and cultural narratives often leads to conflict, but an ability to recognize the power of stories and communicate through alternative worldviews than one's own can lead to successful communication and meaningful relationships, ones which can help those with settler backgrounds to live more ethically and support indigenous resurgence. This thesis offers a theoretical, historical, and practical guide to begin the process of unsettling the self by way of recognizing the constructed narratives settlers have been accustomed to interpreting the world through, and reflects on ways for settlers to move forward by engaging with land-based worlviews.