Rita Dhamoon

University of Victoria, Political Science, Faculty Member

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Radhika Desai

University of Manitoba

Andreas Umland

National University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy"

Giulia Sissa

Ucla

Helene Landemore

Yale University

Jodi Dean

Hobart & William Smith Colleges

Harris Mylonas

The George Washington University

Heidi Jane Smith

Universidad Iberoamericana - Mexico

Nicola Lupo

LUISS Guido Carli

Max Abrahms

Northeastern University

Juraj Marušiak

Slovak Academy of Sciences

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Papers by Rita Dhamoon

Security Warning: Multiculturalism Alert!

The politics of cultural contestation

This Red Line Goes Straight to your Heart by Madhur Anand

The Goose, Sep 1, 2021

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Sikhs and Multiculturalism

Routledge eBooks, May 9, 2023

Journeys of intersectionality

Routledge eBooks, Feb 8, 2023

Identity/Difference Politics

Unsettling settler colonialism

Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 2014

Our goal in this article is to intervene and disrupt current contentious debates regarding the pr... more Our goal in this article is to intervene and disrupt current contentious debates regarding the predominant lines of inquiry bourgeoning in settler colonial studies, the use of ‘settler’, and the politics of building solidarities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Settler colonial studies, ‘settler’, and solidarity, then, operate as the central themes of this paper. While somewhat jarring, our assessment of the debates is interspersed with our discussions in their original form, as we seek to explore possible lines of solidarity, accountability, and relationality to one another and to decolonization struggles both locally and globally. Our overall conclusion is that without centering Indigenous peoples’ articulations, without deploying a relational approach to settler colonial power, and without paying attention to the conditions and contingency of settler colonialism, studies of settler colonialism and practices of solidarity run the risk of reifying (and possibly replicating) settler colonial as well as other modes of domination.

Formations of Settler-Colonialism: Nonwhite migrants, Indigenous peoples, and Settler Nation-Building

Abstract will be provided by author.

Decolonizing Sikh Studies : A Feminist Manifesto

n celebrating the epistemological reform and empowerment of non-white peoples in the academy, we ... more n celebrating the epistemological reform and empowerment of non-white peoples in the academy, we propose a manifesto that seeks to dislodge the complacencies within Sikh Studies and within Sikh communities, and invite non-Sikhs to engage with radical Sikhi social justice. By dwelling at feminist intersections of postcolonial studies, decolonial studies, and decolonization studies, we are inspired to share the radical possibilities of Sikh Studies, and we also urge Sikh Studies and Sikh people to inhabit an explicit political orientation of insurrection and subversion. Importantly, such a feminist decolonial orientation may well hold promise for other fields of study on the margins as well. In particular, we foreground eight points of action: gendering Sikh Studies; de-policing intimate desire and the diversity of relationships; disrupting Eurocentric knowledge production; de-territorializing diasporas; challenging caste politics; disrupting Islamophobia; undoing our roles in contemp...

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Democracy, accountability and disruption

Metaphoric Representations of Women of Colour in the Academy: Teaching Race, Disrupting Power

confining and, although unspoken, omnipresent. We conclude that naming these issues of power is a... more confining and, although unspoken, omnipresent. We conclude that naming these issues of power is a means of politicizing and contextualizing our work, developing critical pedagogical practices, and identifying institutional changes that may mitigate the additional labour that nonwhite faculty undertake in teaching difficult topics of race. This was the first class that challenged my knowledge. Every other class … has offered me information. (student interview)

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Relational Othering: critiquing dominance, critiquing the margins

Politics, Groups, and Identities

ABSTRACT In this paper, I propose a critical approach that attunes attention to networks that con... more ABSTRACT In this paper, I propose a critical approach that attunes attention to networks that connect forms and degrees of Othering, refusals of Otherness, and formations of dominance. I call these networks processes of “relational Othering.” Drawing from anti-racist praxis, critical race feminism, Indigenous studies, and postcolonial theory, I propose three lines of inquiry to critically track relational Othering. I then apply the tool of relational Othering to a contemporary case study of the relations between particular Indigenous nations, Chinese temporary workers, and the Canadian state over liquefied natural gas development. This case study illustrates that relational Othering provides a way to evaluate multiple systems of rule and control that operate for the purposes of variously governing subjugated Others.

Sexual Justice / Cultural Justice

Identity/difference politics: how difference is produced, and why it matters

Choice Reviews Online

theoretical, conceptual, and political tools would bring to light my own lived experiences as wel... more theoretical, conceptual, and political tools would bring to light my own lived experiences as well as those of Others? This book represents some of my thinking about these questions. When I returned to the academy after several years away, I hoped that theory would help me heal and comprehend what was happening around me. And it has, to some extent at least. But mainstream discourses on liberalism, multiculturalism, and diversity have not provided me with complete or satisfactory answers. On the contrary, they have closed doors for me. Despite the burgeoning literature on radicalizing inclusion, individual and collective identities, and the accommodative role of the state, the focus in mainstream contemporary political theory is almost exclusively on culture, ethnicity, and language, not on racism, colonialism, patriarchy, class difference, or privilege. To my mind, this diminishes an analysis of power, for power has been significant in determining my social and political relations, contexts, and positions, as well as those of others. Other theories, particularly those developed in the fields of feminist and gender theory, cultural studies, and post-colonial, anti-colonial, anti-racist, and critical race studies, are better equipped to answer many of my questions. These fields encompass self-reflexive writings from many people marked as Other and, on a practical and discursive level, tend to directly problematize the existing social order. By drawing on theories and concepts within and beyond political theory, this book represents some of my interventions in the very discourses that frame an understanding of my social identity and social location, as well as that of others-namely, the politics of identity/ difference.

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Re-presenting Genocide: The Canadian Museum of Human Rights and Settler Colonial Power

The Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, 2016

In settler societies like Canada, United States, and Australia, the bourgeoning discourse that fr... more In settler societies like Canada, United States, and Australia, the bourgeoning discourse that frames colonial violence against Indigenous people as genocide has been controversial, specifically because there is much debate about the meaning and applicability of genocide. Through an analysis of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, this paper analyzes what is revealed about settler colonialism in the nexus of difficult knowledge, curatorial decisions, and political debates about the label of genocide. I specifically examine competing definitions of genocide, the primacy of the Holocaust, the regulatory role of the settler state, and the limits of a human rights framework. My argument is that genocide debates related to Indigenous experiences operationalize a range of governing techniques that extend settler colonialism, even as Indigenous peoples confront existing hegemonies. These techniques include: interpretative denial; promoting an Oppression Olympics and a politics of distanci...

Unsettling settler colonialism: The discourse and politics of settlers, and solidarity with Indigenous nations

Decolonization Indigeneity Education Society, Sep 29, 2014

Our goal in this article is to intervene and disrupt current contentious debates regarding the pr... more Our goal in this article is to intervene and disrupt current contentious debates regarding the predominant lines of inquiry bourgeoning in settler colonial studies, the use of 'settler', and the politics of building solidarities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Settler colonial studies, 'settler', and solidarity, then, operate as the central themes of this paper. While somewhat jarring, our assessment of the debates is interspersed with our discussions in their original form, as we seek to explore possible lines of solidarity, accountability, and relationality to one another and to decolonization struggles both locally and globally. Our overall conclusion is that without centering Indigenous peoples' articulations, without deploying a relational approach to settler colonial power, and without paying attention to the conditions and contingency of settler colonialism, studies of settler colonialism and practices of solidarity run the risk of reifying (and possibly replicating) settler colonial as well as other modes of domination.

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Cultural' versus 'Culture': Locating Intersectional Identities and Power

communitarianism to situate the importance of culture. Although they come from different traditio... more communitarianism to situate the importance of culture. Although they come from different traditions of liberalism and indeed present distinct visions of diversity, both have advanced the discourse of liberal multiculturalism as the dominant site for theorizing identity/difference within political theory. It is the common and salient features of their approaches to 'culture' that I focus on in this section. Kymlicka and Taylor employ culture as a code for speaking of ethnic groups, historical nations and linguistic minorities, all of which tend to be conflated. For Kymlicka culture is a primary good, a resource that provides a context of choice. He states that culture "refers to the distinct customs, perspectives , or ethos of a group of association" (1995: 18), but then stipulates that he will use 'culture' to refer to national and ethnic differences in which culture is synonymous with a nation or a people (1995: 18). He advocates a notion of societal culture "which provides its members with meaningful ways of life across a full range of human activities… encompassing both public and private spheres" (1995: 76). He, however, limits culture to groups that are territorially concentrated and share a common language (i.e. Aboriginals and French-Canadians living in Quebec), and polyethnic minorities whose members are assumed to share language, history and a broad belief system. For Taylor, culture exists prior to primary goods, in which cultural survival is a vital human need (1994b: 26). Taylor argues that through other-understanding it is possible to gain awareness of what is valuable to each other's culture, as well as a critical perspective of our own culture. He contends that it is not possible to fully know others, but that through dialogue and exchange it becomes possible to respect other cultures. Although Taylor does stipulate a definition of 'culture', like Kymlicka he also focuses on the Quebec and Aboriginal people as ethnic minorities and nations (1992: 52-55). 2 The conflation of 2 The threat to the liberal state of Canada was concrete at the time both Kymlicka and Taylor wrote. Kymlicka's Multicultural Citizenship was published in 1995 and Taylor published collected essays on Canadian unity (Reconciling the Solitudes) in 1993. Both were preoccupied by issues of self-determination

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Comments on Ange-Marie Hancock's Solidarity Politics for Millennials

Politics, Groups, and Identities, 2013

Gal, Susan, and Gail Kligman. 2000. The Politics of Gender after Socialism. Princeton, NJ: Prince... more Gal, Susan, and Gail Kligman. 2000. The Politics of Gender after Socialism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Gross, Barry. 1977. Reverse Discrimination. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus. Khanna, Ranjana. 2001. “Ethical Ambiguities and the Specters of Colonialism: Futures of Transnational Feminism.” In Feminist Consequences: Theory for a New Century, edited by Elisabeth Bronfen and Misha Kavka, 101–125. New York: Columbia University Press. Smith, Anne Marie. 2007. Welfare Reform and Sexual Regulation. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

Considerations on Mainstreaming

This article identifies five key considerations for adopting and mainstreaming intersectionality:... more This article identifies five key considerations for adopting and mainstreaming intersectionality: the language and concepts that are used; the complexities of difference and how to navigate this complexity; the choice of focusing on identities, categories, processes, and/or systems; the model that is used to explain and describe mutually constituted differences; and the principles that determine which interactions are analyzed. The author argues that in the process of mainstreaming intersectionality, it is crucial to frame it as a form of social critique so as to foreground its radical capacity to attend to and disrupt oppressive vehicles of power. Keywords intersectionality, feminism, matrix, critique Over recent decades, the study of multiple, co-constituted differences has taken a strong hold in strands of femi-nism under the rubric of intersectionality. Intersectional-ity, as Ange-Marie Hancock (2007, 63) recently noted, is not simply a normative-theoretical argument but also a ...

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Beyond Inclusion Politics: Reconstituting the Political Order

This is a draft. Please do not quote without author’s permission. Comments welcome.

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Security Warning: Multiculturalism Alert!

The politics of cultural contestation

This Red Line Goes Straight to your Heart by Madhur Anand

The Goose, Sep 1, 2021

Download

Sikhs and Multiculturalism

Routledge eBooks, May 9, 2023

Journeys of intersectionality

Routledge eBooks, Feb 8, 2023

Identity/Difference Politics

Unsettling settler colonialism

Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 2014

Formations of Settler-Colonialism: Nonwhite migrants, Indigenous peoples, and Settler Nation-Building

Abstract will be provided by author.

Decolonizing Sikh Studies : A Feminist Manifesto

Download

Democracy, accountability and disruption

Metaphoric Representations of Women of Colour in the Academy: Teaching Race, Disrupting Power

Download

Relational Othering: critiquing dominance, critiquing the margins

Politics, Groups, and Identities

Sexual Justice / Cultural Justice

Identity/difference politics: how difference is produced, and why it matters

Choice Reviews Online

Download

Re-presenting Genocide: The Canadian Museum of Human Rights and Settler Colonial Power

The Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, 2016

Unsettling settler colonialism: The discourse and politics of settlers, and solidarity with Indigenous nations

Decolonization Indigeneity Education Society, Sep 29, 2014

Our goal in this article is to intervene and disrupt current contentious debates regarding the pr... more Our goal in this article is to intervene and disrupt current contentious debates regarding the predominant lines of inquiry bourgeoning in settler colonial studies, the use of 'settler', and the politics of building solidarities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Settler colonial studies, 'settler', and solidarity, then, operate as the central themes of this paper. While somewhat jarring, our assessment of the debates is interspersed with our discussions in their original form, as we seek to explore possible lines of solidarity, accountability, and relationality to one another and to decolonization struggles both locally and globally. Our overall conclusion is that without centering Indigenous peoples' articulations, without deploying a relational approach to settler colonial power, and without paying attention to the conditions and contingency of settler colonialism, studies of settler colonialism and practices of solidarity run the risk of reifying (and possibly replicating) settler colonial as well as other modes of domination.

Download

Cultural' versus 'Culture': Locating Intersectional Identities and Power

Download

Comments on Ange-Marie Hancock's Solidarity Politics for Millennials

Politics, Groups, and Identities, 2013