HIST327 - Settler Colonies in Indigenous Lands

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

Settler colonial nations are being increasingly held to account for their past treatment of Indigenous peoples. Historians have a role to play in helping explain the history of settler colonialism and its ongoing legacy for Indigenous peoples. This unit explores the patterns of settler colonial societies and their interactions with Indigenous peoples in southern Africa, New Zealand, the United States of America and Canada. Students will consider the oppression of Indigenous peoples and the removal of their access to land and resources, as well as the responses of Indigenous peoples, including methods of resistance and self-determination and the marks which settler colonialism has left on the present. Applying the methods of social and cultural historians, students will look at a range of fascinating resources, analyse competing interpretations, debate questions relating to historical sources and Indigenous agency. They will interpret and reflect on relevant historical debates and develop their own evidence-based narrative or argument.

The aim of this unit is to equip students with a broad global and comparative framework for considering the spread of settler societies and their interactions with Indigenous peoples and cultures from the 1400s to recent history.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Discuss broad and deep theoretical and factual knowledge of settler colonialism and Indigenous lands, and apply this to a variety of key conceptual approaches historians use to shape and debate interpretations of the past (GA1, GA2, GA5, GA6) 

LO2 - Explain ideas and concepts to a specified audience using audio, digital, oral, visual or written form as appropriate (GA9) 

LO3 - Locate, evaluate and appropriately reference a variety of primary and secondary materials and use them to sustain a nuanced evidence-based narrative or argument (GA3, GA8, GA10) 

LO4 - Critically analyse historical evidence, synthesise scholarship and changing representations of the past according to the methodological and ethical conventions of the discipline through an independently formulated research task related to current historical debates (GA3, GA7, GA9, GA10) 

LO5 - Interpret and reflect on key historical theories and concepts and relate them to real-world situations/case studies relevant to the history of settler colonialism and Indigenous peoples over time (GA4, GA5, GA6). 

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics for this unit examine critical themes relating to the history of settler colonialism in Indigenous lands in southern Africa, Canada, New Zealand and the United States from the 1400s through to recent history. 

Specific topics may include: 

• Indigenous worlds 
• European expansion 
• First contacts and Indigenous responses 
• Religion, missionaries and the assault on culture and belief 
• The processes of conquest, resistance, collaboration and acculturation 
• Settler supremacy and Indigenous adaptation 
• Treaties, assimilation, self-determination and reconciliation 
• Australian connections 
• The structures of settler colonialism and their impacts on the present 

The unit will also cover active history theory and techniques, including advanced techniques in locating and using primary and secondary sources and historical approaches in research and analysis used by social and cultural historians. 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This 10 credit-point unit embraces active learning through the delivery of face-to-face classes which involve activities that allow students to: 

1. gain a deeper understanding of the course content. These activities, including reading, writing, discussion and problem-solving, encourage students to analyse, synthesise and evaluate class content. A case study approach is also used, allowing students to explore the real-world applicability of what they have learnt.  
2. develop and hone skills fundamental to the discipline of history. Students are encouraged to develop independent skills in locating; reading and analysing sources; consider different approaches to the past and the dynamics of historical and historiographical debate, and employ active research techniques into their own research and analysis 

This unit has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy. The learning and teaching and assessment strategies include a range of approaches to support your learning such as lectures, tutorials, reading, reflection, discussion, film screenings, skills workshops, and assignments etc. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

Indigenous perspectives are embedded within the assessments, requiring students to engage with Indigenous-created historical accounts, sources and narratives. The assessment tasks are scaffolded so that students develop historical skills and knowledge progressively. 

The knowledge development task helps to build student knowledge of the history of settler colonialism and Indigenous lands, introducing them to the key conceptual approaches which historians have used when considering this topic. It also further develops their skills in locating, analysing and synthesizing primary and secondary source materials. It may take a variety of forms, including a quiz or short answer response. This task assesses learning outcomes 1-3. 

Students then move onto assessment 2, the analytical task. This task builds on the knowledge and techniques developed during the investigative task and requires students to critically analyse historical evidence and scholarship in light of current historical debates. The forms this assessment may take include a project proposal, quiz, journal or short essay. This task assesses learning outcomes 1- 4. 

Finally, the third assessment, the research task, draws together the skills and knowledge developed over the semester to bring together a sustained and nuanced evidence-based research argument relating to the shifting patterns of settler colonialism in Indigenous lands. This task is likely to take the form of a written essay and assesses learning outcomes 2- 5. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Anderson, Atholl, Judith Binney, and Aroha Harris. Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History. Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 2015. 

Atuahene, Bernadette. We Want What's Ours: Learning from South Africa's Land Restitution Program. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. 

Belmessous, Saliha, ed. Native Claims: Indigenous Law Against Empire, 1500-1920. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. 

Dion, Susan D. Braiding Histories: Learning from Aboriginal Peoples’ Experiences and Perspectives. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2009. 

Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States. Vol. 3. Boston: Beacon Press, 2014. 

Hamilton, Carolyn, Bernard Mbenga, and Robert Ross. The Cambridge History of South Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge Univesity Press, 2010. 

Hill, Gord. 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance. 2nd edition, Chicago: PM Press, 2010. 

King, Thomas. A short history of Indians in Canada: Stories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013. 

Maaka, Roger, and Chris Andersen, eds. The Indigenous Experience: Global Perspectives. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2006. 

Neu, Dean E and Therrien, Richard. Accounting for Genocide: Canada's Bureaucratic Assault on Aboriginal People. New York: Zed Books, 2003.