The world turned inside out: Global history of a political idea

Abstract

Many would change worlds rather than change the world. In the face of growing contradictions, moving somewhere else often sounds appealing. The settlement of communities in ‘empty lands’ somewhere else was often proposed as a solution. Building on a growing body of transnational and interdisciplinary research on the political imaginaries of settler colonialism as a specific mode of domination, this paper uncovers an autonomous, influential, and coherent political tradition – a tradition still relevant today - and outlines the global history of a political idea (and its failure).

About the speaker

Lorenzo Veracini is Associate Professor in history and politics at Swinburne’s Institute for Social Research. His research focuses on the comparative history of colonial systems and settler colonialism. Dr Veracini has authored publications including Israel and Settler Society (2006), Settler Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview (2010), and The Settler Colonial Present (2015). He has also co-edited the Routledge Handbook of the History of Settler Colonialism (2016) and is Editor in Chief of Settler Colonial Studies.