Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event

by Patrick Wolfe

This work analyzes the politics of anthropological knowledge from critical perspective that alters existing understandings of colonialism. At the same time, it produces fresh insights into the history of anthropology. Organized around a historical reconstruction of the great anthropological controversy over doctrines of virgin birth, the book argues that the allegation a great deal about European colonial discourse and little if anything about indigenous beliefs. By means of an Australian example, the book shows not only that the alleged ignorance was an artefact of the anthropological theory that produced it, but also that the anthropology was an artefact of the anthropological theory that produced it, but also that the anthropology concerened has been closely tied into both the historical dispossesion and the continuing oppresion of native peoples. The author explores the links between metropolitan anthropological theory and local colonial politics from the 19th century up to the present, settler colonialism, and the ideological and sexual regimes that characterize it.

Genres: Anthropology, History, Nonfiction, Sociology, Politics, Academic

246 pages, Hardcover

First published December 22, 1998

About the author

Patrick Wolfe (1949 – 2017) was an Australian historian and scholar who made significant contributions to several academic fields, including anthropology, genocide studies, indigenous studies, and the historiography of race, colonialism, and imperialism. He is often credited with establishing the field of settler colonial studies.

Reviews

[Morgan]

This is NOT a work of theory. It is a discourse analysis very similar to Said's Orientalism, as Wolfe makes perfectly clear right at the beginning: "This book's object of analysis is anthropological discourse." (p. ix) It is not a theorization of settler colonialism as a distinct mode of domination. Apparently the book didn't even get the 'Settler Colonialism' part of the title until the publisher requested it right at the end of the writing process. ('Patrick Wolfe's Dialectics,' p. 256) So don't go into this book expecting an early equivalent of Settler Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview. It was never meant to be that.

If you're interested in Wolfe's theoretical work I would instead recommend focusing on 'Nation and MiscegeNation,' which is where this book takes its theoretical portions from, and of course 'Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native.’ Consider also 'Purchase by Other Means' (my personal favorite piece of his – it’s really well-written!) and this interview.

[Persy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“People do not give up places where their old people are buried, where they have been born and bred for generations, where they’ve lived, where their gods are.”

Wolfe proves himself to be an expert in his field with understandable and thought-provoking discourse on settler colonialism.

He explores the far-reaching aspects of colonialism from a global view, rather than just the US view to which I’m accustomed.

A little dry in some areas, but overall very insightful.