The Myths and Institutional Structures that Maintain Settler Colonialism in the United States

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the phenomena of settler colonialism. Building on the existing literature that has examined settler society through various independent lenses, this paper examines the linkages between them. Using a methodology that employs the concept of the rhizome from psychoanalytic postmodern studies informed by the implications of positive feedback loops from climatological studies, this paper examines the existing literature on the myths and institutions created by settler colonialism to expose linkages that are mutually reinforcing between them. First the paper defines settler colonialism by juxtaposing it with other forms of administrative colonialism, and ultimately defines it as a one-way trip by a group of settlers to a new territory with the express purpose of possessing the lands and resources of the new territory. After defining settler colonialism and the myth of the Indian that it created, the paper goes on to examine some of the areas that are fundamental and intrinsically linked within the institutional structure. The paper focuses specifically on the areas of law and policy, science, education, and language to illustrate how each of these institutions functioned synergistically to promote the overall strategy of settler society to dispossess Indigenous lands and resources. By examining the existing work of multiple authors, the paper demonstrates that each of these tactics functioned much like a rhizome of irises in a flower bed to propagate the settler society throughout the lands of the Native Peoples. The paper concludes by arguing that the explication of the linkages are necessary to formulate strategies that can combat settler colonialism and move to a postcolonial world.