Everything about Colonialism
Control by distant groups
Colonialism is the practice of extending and maintaining political, social, economic, and cultural domination over a territory and its people by another people in pursuit of interests defined in an often distant metropole, who also claim superiority. While frequently an imperialist project, colonialism functions through differentiating between the targeted land and people, and that of the colonizers. Rather than annexation, this typically culminates in organizing the colonized into colonies separate to the colonizers' metropole. Colonialism sometimes deepens by developing settler colonialism, whereby settlers from one or multiple colonizing metropoles occupy a territory with the intention of partially or completely supplanting the existing Indigenous peoples, possibly amounting to genocide. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: ColonialismA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Risk and the future of AI: Algorithmic bias, data colonialism, and marginalizationInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: The Martian ChroniclesThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Settler colonialism and the elimination of the nativeCited 4,573 times
- Go sideways: ColonizationA closely related topic
- Go sideways: Analysis of European colonialism and colonizationA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun The seizure of geographical area to extract its natural resources or exploit the labor of the indigenous peoples to remotely benefit a distant country.
Noun The subjugation of a weaker country, population, or people by a dominant country, population, or people.
Noun Any form of foreign influence seen as undesirable.
Noun A colonial word, phrase, concept, or habit.
🗂️ The subject at a glance
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native
An Indigenous Feminist's Take On The Ontological Turn: ‘Ontology’ Is Just Another Word For Colonialism
Data Colonialism: Rethinking Big Data’s Relation to the Contemporary Subject
Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement
Settler Colonialism, Ecology, and Environmental Injustice
Decolonizing Feminism: Challenging Connections between Settler Colonialism and Heteropatriarchy
Being Indigenous: Resurgences against Contemporary Colonialism
Digital colonialism: US empire and the new imperialism in the Global South
🆕 Influential since 2022
Risk and the future of AI: Algorithmic bias, data colonialism, and marginalization
More than a metaphor: ‘climate colonialism’ in perspective
Naturalized alien floras still carry the legacy of European colonialism
The impact of colonialism on policy and knowledge production in International Relations
'Care and Maintenance': Indigeneity, Disability and Settler Colonialism at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, 1902-1934
📚 Books worth reading
The Martian ChroniclesRay Bradbury · 1950
The heart of the matterGraham Greene · 1948
Damnés de la terreFrantz Fanon, Frantz Fanon · 1961
The Naked SunIsaac Asimov · 1954
The Stars, Like DustIsaac Asimov · 1951
Publications. I.F. Calendars, etc. Calendars of State Papers. d. 1Public Record Office · 1860
Red MarsKim Stanley Robinson · 1992
DragonsdawnAnne McCaffrey · 1988
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
🔗 Related topics
- Colonization Colonization or colonisation is defined as "the act or process of sending people to live in and govern another country". The term "colonization" is sometimes…
- Analysis of European colonialism and colonization Western European colonialism and colonization was the Western European policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over other societies…
- Settler colonialism Settler colonialism is a process by which settlers exercise colonial rule over a land and its indigenous peoples, transforming the land, and eliminating…
- Imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and…
- History of colonialism Colonialism is a phenomenon that has occurred throughout human history across the world. Colonies were established by many prominent ancient and medieval…
- Colonisation of Africa External colonies were first founded in Africa during antiquity. Ancient Greeks and Romans established colonies on the African continent in North Africa…
- Economic imperialism Economic imperialism is the foreign control of assets and decisions, even when such control exists in practice but not in law. It can occur in both informal…
- Nordic colonialism Nordic colonialism is a subdivision within broader colonial studies that discusses the role of Nordic nations in achieving economic benefits from outside…