“Let’s help our own:” Humanitarian compassion as racial governance in settler colonialism

Authors

  • Carmela Murdocca York University

Keywords:

Humanitarian governance, settler colonialism, Indigenous, Syrian refugees, Canada, Gobernanza humanitaria, colonialismo de asentamiento, indígenas, refugiados sirios, Canadá

Abstract

This article explores narratives of humanitarian compassion as rendered intelligible through the relational intersecting concerns about Syrian refugees and the suicide crisis in the Indigenous community of Attawapiskat, Ontario. Fuelled by a combination of anti-refugee rhetoric, racism and ongoing colonialism experienced by Indigenous people and communities, public and media discourse reveals how humanitarian governance is constitutive of the genealogy of settler colonialism. I suggest that examining the political genealogy of humanitarian governance in white settler colonialism assists in revealing the centrality of racial colonial violence in producing public and media discourse that is contingent upon the relational currencies of anti-refugee rhetoric, racism and humanitarian compassion. As expressions of a grammar of racial difference in liberal settler colonialism, these discourses ultimately reveal how racial colonial violence is constituted through the genealogy of humanitarianism.

Este artículo examina las narrativas de compasión humanitaria entendidas a través de las preocupaciones interseccionales de relación sobre los refugiados sirios y la crisis de suicidios en la comunidad indígena de Attawapiskat, Ontario. Alimentado por una combinación de retórica antirrefugiados, racismo y colonialismo persistente experimentado por los pueblos indígenas, el discurso público y mediático revela que la gobernanza humanitaria es constitutiva de la genealogía del colonialismo de asentamiento. Propongo que un examen de la genealogía política de la gobernanza humanitaria en el colonialismo de asentamiento blanco ayuda a revelar la centralidad de la violencia colonial racial en la producción de un discurso público y mediático que es contingente a la moneda de cambio relacional de la retórica racista y antirrefugiados y de la compasión humanitaria. Como expresiones de la gramática de la diferencia racial en el colonialismo liberal del asentamiento, estos discursos finalmente revelan cómo la violencia colonial racial se constituye a través de la genealogía del humanitarismo.

Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1067

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How to Cite

Murdocca, C. (2020) “‘Let’s help our own:’ Humanitarian compassion as racial governance in settler colonialism”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 10(6), pp. 1270–1288. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/1111 (Accessed: 29 May 2023).

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 6 (2020): Governing the Political: Law and the Politics of Resistance

Section

Thematic Articles

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