Settler colonialism distinct from colonialism
What makes settler colonialism distinct from colonialism? What does settler colonialism look like in Hawaiʻi?
Settler Colonialism vs. Colonialism: Key Differences
While both settler colonialism and colonialism involve the domination of one group over another, there are crucial differences in their goals, methods, and long-term impacts. Here's a breakdown:
Colonialism:
- Focus: Primarily resource extraction and economic exploitation.
- Methods: Indirect or direct control of territory through political and economic power, with local populations often relegated to subordinate roles in labor or administration.
- Long-term impact: Exploitation of resources and wealth transfer to the colonizing power, leaving colonized societies often underdeveloped and facing political and economic instability.
- Focus: Permanent displacement and replacement of indigenous populations on their land for settlement by immigrants from the colonizing power.
- Methods: Direct occupation and dispossession of land, often through violence and cultural suppression. Aim to erase or marginalize indigenous cultures and identities.
- Long-term impact: Physical and cultural erasure of indigenous populations, creation of a settler society with ongoing power imbalances and social inequalities.
- Land dispossession: The Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown in 1893, and indigenous Hawaiians were systematically dispossessed of their land through government policies and private land grabs. Over 90% of land in Hawaiʻi is now owned by non-Hawaiians, largely descendants of American and European settlers.
- Loss of sovereignty: The Hawaiian Kingdom lost its independence and became a territory and then a state of the United States. Indigenous Hawaiians remain politically marginalized with limited self-determination.
- Cultural marginalization: Hawaiian language and culture were suppressed through policies like mandatory English-language education. The cultural landscape reflects settler dominance, with indigenous practices often relegated to tourism or folklore.
- Ongoing disparities: Indigenous Hawaiians face higher rates of poverty, health problems, and incarceration compared to the predominantly white settler population.