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Settler‐colonialism's anti‐social contract The Wiley Invited Lecture at the 2019 annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers
Author(s) -
Mann Geoff
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the canadian geographer / le géographe canadien
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.35
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1541-0064
pISSN - 0008-3658
DOI - 10.1111/cag.12645
Subject(s) - solidarity , acknowledgement , social contract , legitimacy , politics , shadow (psychology) , corporate governance , political science , political economy , colonialism , sociology , law , economics , management , computer security , psychology , computer science , psychotherapist
Contemporary liberal governance requires constant access to a historical “reset” button, a simultaneous acknowledgement and disavowal of history. This is especially so in times of emergency or crisis; we are, supposedly, “all in this together.” The political economic institutions that facilitate this false solidarity—the anti‐social contract—range from the mundane to emergency measures, but they share an origin in, and gain their legitimacy from, a key mechanism of liberal social life: contract. If contracts “settle” the past, what can build solidarity in the shadow of a past that cannot be settled?