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Settler Colonial City: Racism and Inequity in Postwar Minneapolis
Revealing the enduring link between settler colonization and the making of modern Minneapolis
Colonial relations are often excluded from discussions of urban politics and are viewed instead as part of a regrettable past. In Settler Colonial City , David Hugill confronts this culture of organized forgetting by arguing that Minnesota’s largest city is enduringly bound up with the power dynamics of settler-colonial politics. Examining several distinct Minneapolis sites, Settler Colonial City tracks how settler-colonial relations were articulated alongside substantial growth in the Twin Cities Indigenous community during the second half of the twentieth century—creating new geographies of racialized advantage. Studying the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis in the decades that followed the Second World War, Settler Colonial City demonstrates how colonial practices and mentalities shaped processes of urban reorganization, animated non-Indigenous “advocacy research,” informed a culture of racialized policing, and intertwined with a broader culture of American imperialism. It reveals how the actions, assumptions, and practices of non-Indigenous people in Minneapolis produced and enforced a racialized economy of power that directly contradicts the city’s “progressive” reputation. Ultimately, Settler Colonial City argues that the hierarchical and racist political dynamics that characterized the city’s prosperous beginnings are not exclusive to a bygone era but rather are central to a recalibrated settler-colonial politics that continues to shape contemporary cities across the United States.
Colonial relations are often excluded from discussions of urban politics and are viewed instead as part of a regrettable past. In Settler Colonial City , David Hugill confronts this culture of organized forgetting by arguing that Minnesota’s largest city is enduringly bound up with the power dynamics of settler-colonial politics. Examining several distinct Minneapolis sites, Settler Colonial City tracks how settler-colonial relations were articulated alongside substantial growth in the Twin Cities Indigenous community during the second half of the twentieth century—creating new geographies of racialized advantage. Studying the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis in the decades that followed the Second World War, Settler Colonial City demonstrates how colonial practices and mentalities shaped processes of urban reorganization, animated non-Indigenous “advocacy research,” informed a culture of racialized policing, and intertwined with a broader culture of American imperialism. It reveals how the actions, assumptions, and practices of non-Indigenous people in Minneapolis produced and enforced a racialized economy of power that directly contradicts the city’s “progressive” reputation. Ultimately, Settler Colonial City argues that the hierarchical and racist political dynamics that characterized the city’s prosperous beginnings are not exclusive to a bygone era but rather are central to a recalibrated settler-colonial politics that continues to shape contemporary cities across the United States.
- GenresHistory
216 pages, Paperback
Published November 23, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 11, 2021
Excellent, thought-provoking analysis, primarily of the Indigenous history in Mpls' Phillips neighborhood, tied to larger ideas about inequity and the ways that settler colonial violence isn't a thing of the past, but is constantly reproduced to affect the present. One interesting chapter deals with white liberal groups who sincerely attempted to redress Indigenous poverty, but their dedication to mainstream ideals kept them from digging into the real causes of the problems they lamented. This all seems really relevant to the contemporary situation, as does the chapter on policing in Southside areas, which could describe my own Midwestern town: Indigenous people consistently policed for public intoxication while the behavior of similarly intoxicated white people in perceived "upscale" areas is ignored. Thoroughly footnoted but not off-putting academic, I recommend it, especially for anyone with a connection to Minneapolis.
September 10, 2024
A great premise that I was really excited about, but most of the times it falls flat on run of the mill academic interventions. The introduction started off strong and then unfortunately falls short in a way that demonstrates Hugill’s primary issue. For a book titled “settler colonial city,” it’s a bit ironic to me that Hugill essentially argues that settler colonial theory is weak and incompatible because the academics he's read have misunderstood the framework. Hugill’s research and evidence is solid enough, though he’s not presented any new groundbreaking research on south Minneapolis activism or communities. So the book should be judged primarily in its analysis. Which ranges from lukewarm, to half baked academic abstractions. Most of the time it feels as though Hugill is 75% of the way there, but due to his lack of any coherent epistemology, he misses the material underpinnings. The authors downfall is that he is steeped in the web of post-modern liberal academia that envisions itself outside of the critiques of neoliberalism it presents in its writings. This is a decent history book on south Minneapolis, but the analysis of that history is underwhelming at best.
October 6, 2022
assigned in my international studies senior seminar. compelling read that situates minneapolis as a hub in an ongoing colonial project--on this continent and others.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews