Settler colonialism and political theory

Today the term ‘settler colonialism’ and its associated theoretical frameworks hold obvious significance. The notion of settler colonialism now serves frequently as a lens for critical political and social thought in the humanities and social sciences and outside the academy in social movements. The laser focus on the politics of erasure ought to be impossible to evade, by dint of its gruesome salience to the continuing live-streamed Israeli genocide of Gazans and the Palestinian people since the 7 October 2023 Hamas incursion into the Gaza Envelope. Of late, right-wing activists have even slotted the notion of settler colonialism in as their next target for classroom bans, calling it ‘Critical Race Theory 2.0’ (Rufo, 2024 ; Lair, 2025 ). In doing so, they aim to build on the Biden and now-Trump administration repression of movements and academic work opposing Israel’s relentless assault on civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. The fact of erasure must itself be erased.