In this episode, I’m joined by Sai Englert, lecturer in the political economy of the Middle East at Leiden University’s Institute for Area Studies, to talk about the frequently invoked (but less frequently understood) concept of settler colonialism. We explore the nuances of what the term ‘settler colonialism’ really means, as well as how this phenomenon has historically manifested and continues to manifest in different contexts—from North America to Palestine and beyond. We also discuss the framework for understanding settler colonialism that Sai puts forth in his book Settler Colonialism: An Introduction, and how this framework overlaps with and differs from dominant understandings of this crucial concept.

Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Washington, D.C. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.

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Sources and helpful links:

• Sai Englert — Settler Colonialism: An Introduction (Pluto Press, 2022)


• Sai Englert, Michal Schatz, and Rosie Warren (eds.) — From the River to the Sea: Essays for a Free Palestine (Verso Books, 2023)


• Sai’s lecture at the Socialism 2024 conference in Chicago, IL


• Patrick Wolfe — Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native (Journal of Genocide Research, 2006)


• Arghiri Emanuel — White-Settler Colonialism and the Myth of Investment Imperialism (New Left Review, May/June 1972)


• Gerald Horne — The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America (New York University Press, 2014)


• Ho Chi Minh — Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (September 1945)


• Massimiliano Tomba — Insurgent Universality: An Alternative Legacy of Modernity (Oxford University Press, 2019)


• Nick Estes — Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (Verso, 2019)


• Mahmood Mamdani — When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda (Princeton University Press, 2001)


• Mahmood Mamdani — Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities (Harvard University Press, 2020)


• Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang — Decolonization is Not a Metaphor (Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 2012)


• Zapatista National Liberation Army — Fifth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle (July 1998)

Social links:

Return to Bandung:

• Twitter: twitter.com/returntobandung


• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/returntobandung/

Pranay Somayajula:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/p_somayajula


• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/


• Website: https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/


• Substack: https://www.culture-shock.xyz/