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Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition
Over the past forty years, recognition has become the dominant mode of negotiation and decolonization between the nation-state and Indigenous nations in North America. The term “recognition” shapes debates over Indigenous cultural distinctiveness, Indigenous rights to land and self-government, and Indigenous peoples’ right to benefit from the development of their lands and resources.
In a work of critically engaged political theory, Glen Sean Coulthard challenges recognition as a method of organizing difference and identity in liberal politics, questioning the assumption that contemporary difference and past histories of destructive colonialism between the state and Indigenous peoples can be reconciled through a process of acknowledgment. Beyond this, Coulthard examines an alternative politics—one that seeks to revalue, reconstruct, and redeploy Indigenous cultural practices based on self-recognition rather than on seeking appreciation from the very agents of colonialism.
Coulthard demonstrates how a “place-based” modification of Karl Marx’s theory of “primitive accumulation” throws light on Indigenous–state relations in settler-colonial contexts and how Frantz Fanon’s critique of colonial recognition shows that this relationship reproduces itself over time. This framework strengthens his exploration of the ways that the politics of recognition has come to serve the interests of settler-colonial power.
In addressing the core tenets of Indigenous resistance movements, like Red Power and Idle No More, Coulthard offers fresh insights into the politics of active decolonization.
In a work of critically engaged political theory, Glen Sean Coulthard challenges recognition as a method of organizing difference and identity in liberal politics, questioning the assumption that contemporary difference and past histories of destructive colonialism between the state and Indigenous peoples can be reconciled through a process of acknowledgment. Beyond this, Coulthard examines an alternative politics—one that seeks to revalue, reconstruct, and redeploy Indigenous cultural practices based on self-recognition rather than on seeking appreciation from the very agents of colonialism.
Coulthard demonstrates how a “place-based” modification of Karl Marx’s theory of “primitive accumulation” throws light on Indigenous–state relations in settler-colonial contexts and how Frantz Fanon’s critique of colonial recognition shows that this relationship reproduces itself over time. This framework strengthens his exploration of the ways that the politics of recognition has come to serve the interests of settler-colonial power.
In addressing the core tenets of Indigenous resistance movements, like Red Power and Idle No More, Coulthard offers fresh insights into the politics of active decolonization.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published August 15, 2014
162 people are currently reading
5421 people want to read
About the author
Glen Sean Coulthard
3 books58 followersGlen Coulthard (PhD – University of Victoria) is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and an associate professor in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program and the Department of Political Science. Glen has written and published numerous articles and chapters in the areas of Indigenous thought and politics, contemporary political theory, and radical social and political thought. He lives in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories.
Glen’s book, Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition (University of Minnesota Press), was released in August 2014 to critical acclaim. His co-edited book, Recognition versus Self-Determination: Dilemmas of Emancipatory Politics, was released in spring 2014 by UBC Press. He and Dr. Dory Nason were also featured contributors to the groundbreaking anthology, The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement (ARP Books), which was released to great acclaim in March 2014.
Glen’s book, Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition (University of Minnesota Press), was released in August 2014 to critical acclaim. His co-edited book, Recognition versus Self-Determination: Dilemmas of Emancipatory Politics, was released in spring 2014 by UBC Press. He and Dr. Dory Nason were also featured contributors to the groundbreaking anthology, The Winter We Danced: Voices from the Past, the Future, and the Idle No More Movement (ARP Books), which was released to great acclaim in March 2014.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
August 13, 2014
This is one of the most important and ground-breaking books on Indigenous politics I have ever read, and it’s one of handful of books I’ll read over and over. Red Skin, White Masks interrogates the state’s continued structural commitment to Indigenous dispossession and self-determination by critiquing recognition-based approaches to reconciliation. But Coulthard doesn’t stop there. By bringing forth new interventions to the works of Marx and Fanon rooted in Indigenous understandings, Red Skin, White Masks shatters the core assumptions of mainstream Aboriginal politics and the politics of recognition. Through his brilliant multi-faceted analysis, Coulthard charts a clear course towards just relations between Canada and Indigenous nations outside the political strategies of the past. More importantly Red Skin, White Masks resonates with me as an Indigenous woman. It is challenging, illuminating and filled with the same hope that comes with every great book of revolutionary politics. This book will change the way you think about colonialism, decolonization and resurgence, and the world will be better place for it.
September 17, 2017
“For Indigenous nations to live, capitalism must die. And for capitalism to die, we must actively participate in the construction of Indigenous alternatives to it.”
September 8, 2024
yellowknife king
October 2, 2020
4/5stars
Informative, a bit dense and not the most accessible piece. Read alongside “Paying the Land” by Sacco for my Master’s Graphic Narrative class.
Informative, a bit dense and not the most accessible piece. Read alongside “Paying the Land” by Sacco for my Master’s Graphic Narrative class.
June 8, 2021
Quite some time ago I worked for the NZ Government on its Treaty settlements addressing Māori grievances arising from colonial and continuing breaches of the Treaty signed in 1840 between Māori and the British. For the most part my work dealt with ‘cultural’ aspects of the settlements (in the jargon of the day): this meant I worked on things like recognition of interests in historic sites, place name changes and so forth – my not-so-inner historian-cum-anthropologist got to grapple with issues and questions that fascinate me.
Yet there were big parts of this work that seemed to sustain rather than change the unbalanced Māori-state relationship. Few of even the most important historic sites were returned to Māori ownership (cemeteries/urupā were the major exception); in almost every case Māori place names were added to settler namings, with the colonial name first – there were a couple of exceptions and a few cases where the colonial name so offensive that it was replaced. Sure, there was land transfer with some innovative aspects of title developed that were designed to protect it as collectively owned – but the fundamental settler colonial relationships remained unchanged. This is not to understate the importance of this work: it was clear to me that especially for the old people I tended to work with – the holders of ‘traditional knowledge’ – this recognition was of the utmost importance, but I could never escape the feeling that there were conversations going on we weren’t (and shouldn’t be) party to about the inadequacies of our approach.
I tell this story to show how subtle are the colonial politics of ‘recognition’, and to indicate some of the ways that colonial states operate to inoculate themselves and their regimes of Power against any fundamental change in the place and status of Indigenous peoples. This is precisely the problem Glen Sean Coulthard explores in the fabulous, if in places demanding, exploration of the politics of Indigeneity in settler colonial regimes. One of the key points that underpins his analysis is that settler colonial regimes are distinctive because the dispossession usually associated with colonialism is both continuous and continuing, whereas discussions of colonialism often locate it as ‘back then’.
This accentuation of the continuing character of colonial dispossession allows him to unpack one the key motifs in many discussions of colonial orders, including in the economies and socio-cultural character of metropolitan states, as ‘primitive accumulation’. That is to say, the notion that one of the key ways capitalist relations and systems developed was uncompensated theft of formerly communal land and resources and their conversion to commodified forms. We see this in the enclosure of common lands in Europe and in the assertion of ‘ownership’ of lands by settlers through and explicit or implicit assertion of colonies as terra nullius, but we also see it in the claim to a right to exploit minerals and Indigenous scientific and medical knowledge through, for instance, patent rights. These are not only things that happened before ‘independence’ but are continuing. This critique of the approaches to ‘primitive accumulation’ (or as David Harvey calls it, ‘accumulation by dispossession’) is a rich and powerful rethinking of a set of ideas building on analyses by Marx, and forms the first aspect of Coulthard’s critique of struggles and relations within settler colonial systems.
The second part of his analysis turns on how, in this continuing state dynamic, the politics of recognition sustain rather than subvert that state. Here he shifts his focus from these ideas developed from Marx to look to a vital aspect of Hegel’s late 18th century work on the master/slave relationship read through a lens provided by Franz Fanon, especially in Black Skin, White Masks. This approach allows Coulthard to explore what he calls the ‘psycho-affective’ relations of colonialism that make the Power regime of the settler colonial state seem not only natural but correct. Yet it is here, in this sense of the ‘natural’ that he also sees hope, in cases where this internalised colonial recognition becomes the basis for Indigenous self-assertion and action that prioritises Indigenous ways and forms to develop a path to decolonisation.
It is a demanding and philosophically rich analysis blending ideas and approaches from Marx, Hegel and Fanon with Indigenous thinkers such as Taiaiake Alfred, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Bonita Lawrence and Patricia Monture into a rich and insightful understanding not only of the ways that colonial states effectively incorporate Indigenous peoples into their Power regimes and protect their interests, but also into what is distinctive about contemporary settler colonial regimes as continuous and continuing. Crucially, he does not develop this as an intellectual ‘thought piece’ but as grounded in recent and contemporary struggles in the lands claimed by Canada (contemporary, recognising that I am a bit late to this, and the book was written in 2013), often drawing on the experiences of his own Dene nation, Yellowknife Dene. This means that although the case is philosophically and theoretically complex it is well explained and elucidated through clear illustrative discussion.
Furthermore, and drawing again on Fanon, Coulthard suggests ways to step beyond the path to decolonisation opened up by the critical exploitation of ‘recognition’ to draw up some characteristics of what a decolonial world might look like. He is too smart to be too programmatic, but does posit five theses on tactics, place, gender, political economy and the state tracing the outlines of a decolonial order. In doing so he also grounded these theses in continuing struggles, making good use of the Idle No More movement as the base for this thinking. What is more, although Canadian-based it seems to me (as perhaps my opening anecdote suggests) that the analysis is fairly readily transferable to other settler colonial regimes.
This sat in my ‘to-read’ pile for much longer than it should have which perhaps only heightened the sweet sense of insight from this sharp, insightful, important piece of work. This is a vital contribution to an increasingly exciting and dynamic field, it demands we rethink major aspects of analyses and practice and merits regular revisits.
Yet there were big parts of this work that seemed to sustain rather than change the unbalanced Māori-state relationship. Few of even the most important historic sites were returned to Māori ownership (cemeteries/urupā were the major exception); in almost every case Māori place names were added to settler namings, with the colonial name first – there were a couple of exceptions and a few cases where the colonial name so offensive that it was replaced. Sure, there was land transfer with some innovative aspects of title developed that were designed to protect it as collectively owned – but the fundamental settler colonial relationships remained unchanged. This is not to understate the importance of this work: it was clear to me that especially for the old people I tended to work with – the holders of ‘traditional knowledge’ – this recognition was of the utmost importance, but I could never escape the feeling that there were conversations going on we weren’t (and shouldn’t be) party to about the inadequacies of our approach.
I tell this story to show how subtle are the colonial politics of ‘recognition’, and to indicate some of the ways that colonial states operate to inoculate themselves and their regimes of Power against any fundamental change in the place and status of Indigenous peoples. This is precisely the problem Glen Sean Coulthard explores in the fabulous, if in places demanding, exploration of the politics of Indigeneity in settler colonial regimes. One of the key points that underpins his analysis is that settler colonial regimes are distinctive because the dispossession usually associated with colonialism is both continuous and continuing, whereas discussions of colonialism often locate it as ‘back then’.
This accentuation of the continuing character of colonial dispossession allows him to unpack one the key motifs in many discussions of colonial orders, including in the economies and socio-cultural character of metropolitan states, as ‘primitive accumulation’. That is to say, the notion that one of the key ways capitalist relations and systems developed was uncompensated theft of formerly communal land and resources and their conversion to commodified forms. We see this in the enclosure of common lands in Europe and in the assertion of ‘ownership’ of lands by settlers through and explicit or implicit assertion of colonies as terra nullius, but we also see it in the claim to a right to exploit minerals and Indigenous scientific and medical knowledge through, for instance, patent rights. These are not only things that happened before ‘independence’ but are continuing. This critique of the approaches to ‘primitive accumulation’ (or as David Harvey calls it, ‘accumulation by dispossession’) is a rich and powerful rethinking of a set of ideas building on analyses by Marx, and forms the first aspect of Coulthard’s critique of struggles and relations within settler colonial systems.
The second part of his analysis turns on how, in this continuing state dynamic, the politics of recognition sustain rather than subvert that state. Here he shifts his focus from these ideas developed from Marx to look to a vital aspect of Hegel’s late 18th century work on the master/slave relationship read through a lens provided by Franz Fanon, especially in Black Skin, White Masks. This approach allows Coulthard to explore what he calls the ‘psycho-affective’ relations of colonialism that make the Power regime of the settler colonial state seem not only natural but correct. Yet it is here, in this sense of the ‘natural’ that he also sees hope, in cases where this internalised colonial recognition becomes the basis for Indigenous self-assertion and action that prioritises Indigenous ways and forms to develop a path to decolonisation.
It is a demanding and philosophically rich analysis blending ideas and approaches from Marx, Hegel and Fanon with Indigenous thinkers such as Taiaiake Alfred, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Bonita Lawrence and Patricia Monture into a rich and insightful understanding not only of the ways that colonial states effectively incorporate Indigenous peoples into their Power regimes and protect their interests, but also into what is distinctive about contemporary settler colonial regimes as continuous and continuing. Crucially, he does not develop this as an intellectual ‘thought piece’ but as grounded in recent and contemporary struggles in the lands claimed by Canada (contemporary, recognising that I am a bit late to this, and the book was written in 2013), often drawing on the experiences of his own Dene nation, Yellowknife Dene. This means that although the case is philosophically and theoretically complex it is well explained and elucidated through clear illustrative discussion.
Furthermore, and drawing again on Fanon, Coulthard suggests ways to step beyond the path to decolonisation opened up by the critical exploitation of ‘recognition’ to draw up some characteristics of what a decolonial world might look like. He is too smart to be too programmatic, but does posit five theses on tactics, place, gender, political economy and the state tracing the outlines of a decolonial order. In doing so he also grounded these theses in continuing struggles, making good use of the Idle No More movement as the base for this thinking. What is more, although Canadian-based it seems to me (as perhaps my opening anecdote suggests) that the analysis is fairly readily transferable to other settler colonial regimes.
This sat in my ‘to-read’ pile for much longer than it should have which perhaps only heightened the sweet sense of insight from this sharp, insightful, important piece of work. This is a vital contribution to an increasingly exciting and dynamic field, it demands we rethink major aspects of analyses and practice and merits regular revisits.
Read
February 25, 2023This is a very concise and clear reinterpretation of Marx+Fanon to articulate a decolonial future precipitated both on Indigenous self-making (a communal turning-inwards) and a revaluation of how to approach Indigenous-SettlerState discourse, which has not historically been carried on out on equal grounds. I like Coulthard's structuring of the book and its archive- how he reads recent events in Canada through a Marxist-Fanon lens as mentioned above. I especially liked how he seized upon Fanon's commentary on resentment (against Nietzsche's ressentiment) and laid out the political value of that emotional capacity/drive in chapter four. Chapter three and its mediating on anti- vs pro- essentialist claims with regards to Native Women's rights as gendered-individuals vs. rights as Native-community members was interesting, but I'm not sure I'm totally sold on Coulthard's concluding argument there that we should look at essentialist claims based on if they naturalize oppression or resistance. It feels a little simplistic. The book as a whole is a strong body of work, but I somewhat wish that there was less at-length quotations from Fanon/Hegel/Sartre.
February 20, 2018
I really want this to be a 4.5 stars, and the reason it's not five probably has to do more with my own inability to understand Marx and Fanon than the book itself. This was a really great and oddly smooth read, especially once I got out of the introduction where Coulthard lays out the heavy theoretical work and really gets into the meat of the book. Each chapter is laid out really neatly, which I appreciate a lot as a graduate student, and though Coulthard's argument is pretty heavy in both marxist and psychoanalytic theory, I did not ever feel frustrated with what the book was saying. This is a really key book to read for thinking about Indigenous politics and relationships to settler states, and manages to feel super grounded at all times. I really recommend this for anyone thinking about other modes of interactions!
March 17, 2025
An incredibly important book to read as someone from a settler colonial country, but also for anyone interested in colonial theory. Coulthard engages with ideas from Hegel, Marx, and Fanon to show how reconciliation in Canada has taken on a temporal character where the state aims to process the legacy of past abuses, neglecting the persisting abusive colonial structure itself. He shows how Canada has shifted from a colonial project aiming to assimilate Indigenous people, to a colonial project centred on the recognition of Indigenous people, which is depoliticized and ultimately serves the interests of colonial powers. In this way settler colonialism doesn’t persist solely from its repressive or violent features, but also from its ability to make settler colonialism seem natural.
He highlights the fundamental role capitalism plays in continuing colonial subjugation in Canada through primitive accumulation, which undermines the autonomy of Indigenous populations and is crucial to the maintenance of settler colonialism- “the state insisted that any institutionalized accommodation of Indigenous cultural difference be reconcilable with one political formation—namely, colonial sovereignty—and one mode of production—namely, capitalism”.
Overall, I should have read this book years ago…
He highlights the fundamental role capitalism plays in continuing colonial subjugation in Canada through primitive accumulation, which undermines the autonomy of Indigenous populations and is crucial to the maintenance of settler colonialism- “the state insisted that any institutionalized accommodation of Indigenous cultural difference be reconcilable with one political formation—namely, colonial sovereignty—and one mode of production—namely, capitalism”.
Overall, I should have read this book years ago…
June 14, 2024
Red Skin, White Masks is an honestly genius work by Glen Sean Colthard. Building a conversation between Marx, Fanon, and the Canadian indigenous struggle, he analyzes historical, psychological, political, and philosophical arguments against liberal politics of "recognition" and provides his own arguments against the continued dependance on the Canadian state in favour of an indigenous resurgence.
This book both taught me new things about the struggle of indigenous people in Canada, as well as reframed things I thought I had a grasp on. It tackles counterarguments with concise brevity, including an argument against vulagar Marxist reductionism that should be the final argument that understanding settler colonialism is essential to understanding capitalist oppression in North America.
I'll also add that, as a queer person, the philosophical and psychological analysis of a the self actualization of community was really insightful, and I think anyone of any margenalized community will come away from Coulthards reading of Fanon with new understanding.
I can't recommend this book enough for anyone looking to learn more about the relationship between the colonial Canadian state and the indigenous people of Turtle Island. Despite being a decade old, it rings more true than ever.
This book both taught me new things about the struggle of indigenous people in Canada, as well as reframed things I thought I had a grasp on. It tackles counterarguments with concise brevity, including an argument against vulagar Marxist reductionism that should be the final argument that understanding settler colonialism is essential to understanding capitalist oppression in North America.
I'll also add that, as a queer person, the philosophical and psychological analysis of a the self actualization of community was really insightful, and I think anyone of any margenalized community will come away from Coulthards reading of Fanon with new understanding.
I can't recommend this book enough for anyone looking to learn more about the relationship between the colonial Canadian state and the indigenous people of Turtle Island. Despite being a decade old, it rings more true than ever.
April 4, 2023
Heavy with the academic language, though very transparent as to form. The author advocates for, and suggests how to, adapt Marxism so it is relevant to Indigenous struggle. But they rely on a distorted version of Marxism in order to draw these conclusions. Not content to insist that Marxism needs to be adapted the author also unfairly uses citations and quotes from Marx in an attempt to justify their belief that Marxist analysis must be adapted to be relevant to indigenous struggle. Two stars as opposed to one because they also assert that direct action, eg. rail blockades, etc, are positive expressions of resistance, not just negative actions meant to interdict economic activity.
December 19, 2018
I admit that the first chapter was a drag for me and felt quite theoretical. I feel like without some background knowledge this book could be difficult to grasp. That said it was a very interesting and smooth read after that. The author really goes into details to explain and support his views without being repetitive. What I liked the most was that it offered a "different" view and challenged the current state of affairs. I also quite enjoyed the fact that the book drew knowledge from other indigenous writers, philosophers and intellectuals. Definitely would recommend!
January 24, 2020
Good message. Giving three stars because I really don’t think it’s accessible to the lay public and if we want to begin movements for rupturing the colonial system, this kind of message needs to be heard outside the walls of the academy.
September 27, 2024
There is no work with more explanatory power when it comes to the basic dynamics of Canadian politics, in the broadest sense, in the 21st century.
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April 10, 2025phew (I very much recommend reading this book)
June 29, 2017
Compelling arguments and examples to transform the reality.
“…those struggling against colonialism must ‘turn away’ from the colonial state and society and instead find in their own decolonial praxisthe source of their liberation.”
our cultural practices have much to offer regarding the establishment of relationships within and between peoples and the natural world built on principles of reciprocity and respectful coexistence…the ethic of reciprocity and sharing underlying Dene understandings of their relationship with land…this relational conception of identity was nonnegotiable…it also demanded that we conduct ourselves in accordance with certain ethico-political norms(:) sharing, egalitarianism, respect…obligations…
“the reason the Crown agreed to get into the land-claims business in the first place was to ‘extinguish the broad and undefined rights and title claims of First Nations
Any visit to the North will unequivocally demonstrate the degree to which state and industry have been able to coopt the discourse of ‘sustainable’ to push their shared vision of economic development.”
…a sign of our critical consciousness,of our sense of justice and injustice, and of our awareness and unwillingness to reconcile ourselves with a structural and symbolic violence that is still very much present in our lives.”
“because colonialism tends to solidify its gains by normalizing the injustices it has perpetrated against the colonized population through a direct attack on the integrity of precontact history and culture, it follows that strategies that attempt to break the stranglehold of of this subjection through practices of cultural self-affirmation can play an important role in anticolonial struggle as long as they remain grounded and oriented toward a change in the social structure of colonialism itself.”
“the practices are directly undertaken by the subjects of colonial oppression themselves and seek to produce an immediate power effect: second they are undertaken in a way that indicates a loosening of internalized colonialism, which is itself a precondition for any meaningful change; and third, they are prefigurative in the sense that they build the skills and social relationships(including those with the land) that are required…
society, including indigenous society and particularly Indigenous men, stop collectively conducting ourselves in a manner that denigrates, degrades, and devalues the lives and worth of Indigenous women in such a way that epidemic levels of violence are the norm in too many of their lives.
…a resurgent politics of recognition that seeks to practice decolonial, gender-emancipatory, and economically nonexploitive alternative structures of law and sovereign authority grounded on a critical refashioning of the best of Indigenous legal and political traditions.
“…those struggling against colonialism must ‘turn away’ from the colonial state and society and instead find in their own decolonial praxisthe source of their liberation.”
our cultural practices have much to offer regarding the establishment of relationships within and between peoples and the natural world built on principles of reciprocity and respectful coexistence…the ethic of reciprocity and sharing underlying Dene understandings of their relationship with land…this relational conception of identity was nonnegotiable…it also demanded that we conduct ourselves in accordance with certain ethico-political norms(:) sharing, egalitarianism, respect…obligations…
“the reason the Crown agreed to get into the land-claims business in the first place was to ‘extinguish the broad and undefined rights and title claims of First Nations
Any visit to the North will unequivocally demonstrate the degree to which state and industry have been able to coopt the discourse of ‘sustainable’ to push their shared vision of economic development.”
…a sign of our critical consciousness,of our sense of justice and injustice, and of our awareness and unwillingness to reconcile ourselves with a structural and symbolic violence that is still very much present in our lives.”
“because colonialism tends to solidify its gains by normalizing the injustices it has perpetrated against the colonized population through a direct attack on the integrity of precontact history and culture, it follows that strategies that attempt to break the stranglehold of of this subjection through practices of cultural self-affirmation can play an important role in anticolonial struggle as long as they remain grounded and oriented toward a change in the social structure of colonialism itself.”
“the practices are directly undertaken by the subjects of colonial oppression themselves and seek to produce an immediate power effect: second they are undertaken in a way that indicates a loosening of internalized colonialism, which is itself a precondition for any meaningful change; and third, they are prefigurative in the sense that they build the skills and social relationships(including those with the land) that are required…
society, including indigenous society and particularly Indigenous men, stop collectively conducting ourselves in a manner that denigrates, degrades, and devalues the lives and worth of Indigenous women in such a way that epidemic levels of violence are the norm in too many of their lives.
…a resurgent politics of recognition that seeks to practice decolonial, gender-emancipatory, and economically nonexploitive alternative structures of law and sovereign authority grounded on a critical refashioning of the best of Indigenous legal and political traditions.
September 11, 2016
I thought that this book was so insightful that I had to seek the author out, take a class by him, and host a podcast interviewing him. The book is a very careful reading of Fanon, Marx, and a few other revolutionary thinkers in the context of Canada's colonialism against indigenous people. On the latter, the author is incredibly well-informed. The result is a very deep, concisely argued, and brilliant book. There are several extremely important indigenous intellectuals coming up, more all the time, and Coulthard is one of them. I am working my way through others that he references in this book.
October 12, 2025
USRA read!! phenomenal and remarkably thorough in its critique of recognition based indigenous justice movements, but had to be 4 stars cause it is DENSE and not one I’d recommend if you’re newer to political theory.
still, a big thank you to coulthard for upholding and defending the emancipatory potential of indigenous subjects’ anger and rage!! fuck ya + really impressive work with fanon and marx
still, a big thank you to coulthard for upholding and defending the emancipatory potential of indigenous subjects’ anger and rage!! fuck ya + really impressive work with fanon and marx
June 7, 2016
Read this book if you want a contemporary application of Marxist and Fanonian theories within an Indigenous-State, Settler-Colonial context. It will give you a powerful critique of 'the politics of recognition' and a very relevant theoretical framework for any works that are decolonising in its efforts.
November 19, 2022
everyone, read it pleaseeee. used a research project as an excuse to read this. the best use of Fanon I’ve seen. ok and of course, Coulthard’s appropriation of Marx’s primitive accumulation is really illuminating. if you read anything from this, read the third and last chapter.
*when I finally have time, whenever that will be, I'm gonna give this the dedicated read it deserves
*when I finally have time, whenever that will be, I'm gonna give this the dedicated read it deserves
May 23, 2018
Through a recovered analysis of Marx's Primitive Accumulation and Frantz Fanon, Coulthard argues against the liberal framing that continues to rhetorically colonize First Nations in Canada.
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December 16, 2023The book is at it's best when Coulthard is engaging with a close reading of Fanon contrasted against normative attitudes towards indigenous struggle within contemporary political philosophy. Not only is it true that anger and resentment can be catalysts for political action, any sort of backlash based on a quasi-Nietzschean critique of resentment is intellectually dishonest if not transparently reactionary. The master only has the need for the slave to work, not to be recognised, etc. In addition, I learned a lot about the legal precedent regarding indigenous rights in Canada, and a number of landmark cases that Coulthard lays out in detail. The empirical contribution alone is something that expanded my knowledge in an area that was sorely lacking.
Nevertheless, the book left me wanting in many key areas. I found Coulthard's actual political prescriptions very lacking, which to me felt like a major letdown. For one, I think Coulthard's engagement with Marxism is rather shallow, and the positions he criticises of the so-called 'left-materialists' are incredibly vague. I'd much rather have had a chapter engaging with the class struggle within indingeous groups, as by Coulthard's admission, some groups have orientated themselves towards corporatism viewing it necessary to have a stake in capital for the purposes of protecting their political interests. At the same time however, one wonders who foots the bill at the end of the day, since I am not convinced that the change in attitude Coulthard attributes to this pivot in indingeous politics in the late 90s comes out of a change in discourse, but out of the real economic factors that the global market was facing at the time that squeezed smaller capitals and emboldened bigger capitals such as the fossil fuel industry to more aggressively pursue profits by cutting deals. Furthermore, the concluding chapter on Idle No More feels like it's aimed at liberal scholars rather than at the general public, in terms of actually mobilising indigenous struggle. Although Coulthard gestures at the various ways in which the indigenous struggle in Canada varies depending on the group in question, there is little provided to better understand it beyond headline-grabbing cases where particulars are discussed, but without the more in-depth historical analysis I'd have wanted such as, for example, what informed the Oka Crisis to escalate the way that it did in comparison to other historical standoffs with the Federal government in terms of how it mobilized the local indigenous communities. Coulthard describes it as a fait accompli, but there are no doubt valuable tactical insights to be gained.
I'll also add that the proposals that Coulthard considers radical are rather anaemic, and amount to little other than a form of Market Socialism or Titoism. At its worst, I get the feeling that Coulthard really wants to bracket off the general struggle of the working class as one social struggle among many that the indigenous struggle would be an important part of, though as part of some general emancipatory project. To me, that is selling the history of class struggle among indigenous groups in Canada short, and ignores historical instances such as the Fisheries Strikes in B.C. in the early 20th Century, which demands a greater engagement of the intersection of class and indigenous groups.
There is also another pernicious element in the chapter on gender, where Coulthard lays out what I can only describe as a reactionary position towards the repatriation of indigenous women regarding a set of landmark cases. The argument that reservations are stretched too thin economically to support a hypothetically indefinite influx of single women with children resembles too closely the anti-refugee sentiment in the US and the EU for me to entertain intellectually, and I think severely undermines the chapter as a whole, which otherwise tries to honestly engage with the negative effects of colonialism on gender dynamics within indigenous groups, and how it can shape political action in turn.
Nevertheless, the book left me wanting in many key areas. I found Coulthard's actual political prescriptions very lacking, which to me felt like a major letdown. For one, I think Coulthard's engagement with Marxism is rather shallow, and the positions he criticises of the so-called 'left-materialists' are incredibly vague. I'd much rather have had a chapter engaging with the class struggle within indingeous groups, as by Coulthard's admission, some groups have orientated themselves towards corporatism viewing it necessary to have a stake in capital for the purposes of protecting their political interests. At the same time however, one wonders who foots the bill at the end of the day, since I am not convinced that the change in attitude Coulthard attributes to this pivot in indingeous politics in the late 90s comes out of a change in discourse, but out of the real economic factors that the global market was facing at the time that squeezed smaller capitals and emboldened bigger capitals such as the fossil fuel industry to more aggressively pursue profits by cutting deals. Furthermore, the concluding chapter on Idle No More feels like it's aimed at liberal scholars rather than at the general public, in terms of actually mobilising indigenous struggle. Although Coulthard gestures at the various ways in which the indigenous struggle in Canada varies depending on the group in question, there is little provided to better understand it beyond headline-grabbing cases where particulars are discussed, but without the more in-depth historical analysis I'd have wanted such as, for example, what informed the Oka Crisis to escalate the way that it did in comparison to other historical standoffs with the Federal government in terms of how it mobilized the local indigenous communities. Coulthard describes it as a fait accompli, but there are no doubt valuable tactical insights to be gained.
I'll also add that the proposals that Coulthard considers radical are rather anaemic, and amount to little other than a form of Market Socialism or Titoism. At its worst, I get the feeling that Coulthard really wants to bracket off the general struggle of the working class as one social struggle among many that the indigenous struggle would be an important part of, though as part of some general emancipatory project. To me, that is selling the history of class struggle among indigenous groups in Canada short, and ignores historical instances such as the Fisheries Strikes in B.C. in the early 20th Century, which demands a greater engagement of the intersection of class and indigenous groups.
There is also another pernicious element in the chapter on gender, where Coulthard lays out what I can only describe as a reactionary position towards the repatriation of indigenous women regarding a set of landmark cases. The argument that reservations are stretched too thin economically to support a hypothetically indefinite influx of single women with children resembles too closely the anti-refugee sentiment in the US and the EU for me to entertain intellectually, and I think severely undermines the chapter as a whole, which otherwise tries to honestly engage with the negative effects of colonialism on gender dynamics within indigenous groups, and how it can shape political action in turn.
July 25, 2024
I liked this less than I’d hoped. I was looking for a cohesive argument, one that stood on its own, but I found it to be rather disjointed and overly concerned with tracing lineages of thought rather than doing something with it. For example, chapter 3 was aimed primarily at engaging with Benhabib, who I wasn’t familiar with, and I didn’t feel like a case was made for why this particular scholar was engaged with, rather than a broader argument for how gender should figure into indigenous liberation. Chapter 5 was almost entirely Sartre’s philosophical development, particularly with respect to negritude, and what Fanon drew from Sartre, and provided relatively little insight into the overall arc of the book. Chapters 2 and 4 I found to be more relevant and better developed, providing crucial context into the recent indigenous movements, and theory around reconciliation.
The central organization of the book is to take on liberal notions of “recognition” (a foe I am fully on board with attacking), but it does a bit of sleight of hand, associating this form of recognition with Hegel’s theory of recognition, and then presenting Fanon’s engagement with Hegel as a critique of Hegel (and therefore of the liberal notion of recognition). In my reading of Fanon, I see his application of the Lord/Bondsman dialectic as one quite close to Hegel’s. Brandon Hogan has an excellent argument for this reading in Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies (2018). Briefly, that top-down liberation efforts, in which the “lord” does not also change to recognize the values of the “bondsman” are doomed to fail, that it isn’t real recognition. Still, in arguing with myself while reading the book, I nonetheless got some value from reading this.
The "5 theses on Indigenous Resurgence and Decolonization", making up the final third of the Conclusion chapter, had some promise but was overall too brief. I was already on board with these arguments, and the author's treatment of them was too brief (and even timid) to provide additional ammunition or resources. It might have made for a more cohesive argument if the book was structured around these theses.
The central organization of the book is to take on liberal notions of “recognition” (a foe I am fully on board with attacking), but it does a bit of sleight of hand, associating this form of recognition with Hegel’s theory of recognition, and then presenting Fanon’s engagement with Hegel as a critique of Hegel (and therefore of the liberal notion of recognition). In my reading of Fanon, I see his application of the Lord/Bondsman dialectic as one quite close to Hegel’s. Brandon Hogan has an excellent argument for this reading in Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies (2018). Briefly, that top-down liberation efforts, in which the “lord” does not also change to recognize the values of the “bondsman” are doomed to fail, that it isn’t real recognition. Still, in arguing with myself while reading the book, I nonetheless got some value from reading this.
The "5 theses on Indigenous Resurgence and Decolonization", making up the final third of the Conclusion chapter, had some promise but was overall too brief. I was already on board with these arguments, and the author's treatment of them was too brief (and even timid) to provide additional ammunition or resources. It might have made for a more cohesive argument if the book was structured around these theses.
November 15, 2022
I’m meh about the concept of grounded normativity but this book is pretty great. I learned a lot about Dene organizing and theorizing in the 70s/80s and use the book in classes to teach Marx on primitive accumulation, Hegel and Fanon on recognition and to think through culture as vehicle for decolonization.
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December 23, 2020It was a really good book.
August 15, 2022
Supplementary reading for one of my theses. In short, fantastic. RTC or maybe not.
December 1, 2023
An absolute game-changer for me. Such a powerful and insightful work––I'll be coming back to this for years.
April 11, 2024
pure bars
March 26, 2022
Coulthard has a really great understanding of the lived experiences of indigenous people, and the theoretical implications of those experiences. The focuses on ideas such as 'resentment' are very powerful, and the way Coulthard attempts to reframe primitive accumulation (and their belief that Marx was aware to some of the flaws of his earlier works towards the end of his life, partially due to the method of theorising Marx used) are both unique and useful.
June 8, 2021
Coulthard’s critique of contemporary indigenous political rhetoric, traces the shift, over the generations, from its focus on ownership, land and the conceptualisation of Indigenous life to one more in line with state recognition and accommodation. In doing so, he touches several domains of the current state of recognition politics juxtaposed with permutations of covert settler-colonialism which are universally tactile. His intervention derives its vigour from not merely an analytic critique of how liberal politics works to defuse resistance against settler colonialism, but also from its unapologetic advocacy for anti-colonial outrage. It describes an incisively critical profile of settler-colonialism, at once indicting its reproductions and demanding a grounded normativity. Red Skin White Masks, the book, serves as both a critical interrogation and affirmative negation of settler colonialism and capitalism that hooks its claws into the heart of contemporary “Aboriginal” respectability politics that have emerged synonymous with state-based reconciliation and rehabilitation. Re-reading Marx’s accumulation thesis, as Markus pointed out, with an anticolonial lens, in context as Coulthard, may alert us to the fact that capitalism and settler colonialism are not things and events, respectively, but ongoing “social relations”, characterised by perpetual dispossession.
Coulthard draws on Fanon’s contributions to map an understanding of colonial subjectivity or the, “specific modes of colonial thought, desire and behaviour that implicitly or explicitly commit the colonised to the types of practices and subject positions that are required for their continued domination” (16). He believes that contemporary Canadian politics of reconciliation and recognition contribute to this colonial subjectivity among Indigenous peoples and, in particular implicating the writings of Charles Taylor and Anishinaabe scholar Dale Turner. The former has been an influential figure in liberal and communitarian circles, pushing the politics of recognition in Canada, while the latter encourages increased, albeit cautious, Indigenous engagement with the state. Coulthard writes that while Taylor’s approach might mitigate, “some of the effects of colonial-capitalist exploitation and domination, it does little to address their generative structures” (35). Coulthard also argues that Turner underestimates the transformative power of state discourses in these engagements (45-47), following Nadasdy’s concern that framing Indigenous claims in the language of the settler state may ultimately undermine those original claims and Indigenous worldviews (78). This is illuminating given the thesis that runs across multiple themes discussed in the book which I restate: colonialism’s desired future is the transformation of Indigenous anticolonial resistance into the colonial subject’s resistance of the self, to disposes the self of any resentment toward material and psychic deprivation.
Coulthard draws on Fanon’s contributions to map an understanding of colonial subjectivity or the, “specific modes of colonial thought, desire and behaviour that implicitly or explicitly commit the colonised to the types of practices and subject positions that are required for their continued domination” (16). He believes that contemporary Canadian politics of reconciliation and recognition contribute to this colonial subjectivity among Indigenous peoples and, in particular implicating the writings of Charles Taylor and Anishinaabe scholar Dale Turner. The former has been an influential figure in liberal and communitarian circles, pushing the politics of recognition in Canada, while the latter encourages increased, albeit cautious, Indigenous engagement with the state. Coulthard writes that while Taylor’s approach might mitigate, “some of the effects of colonial-capitalist exploitation and domination, it does little to address their generative structures” (35). Coulthard also argues that Turner underestimates the transformative power of state discourses in these engagements (45-47), following Nadasdy’s concern that framing Indigenous claims in the language of the settler state may ultimately undermine those original claims and Indigenous worldviews (78). This is illuminating given the thesis that runs across multiple themes discussed in the book which I restate: colonialism’s desired future is the transformation of Indigenous anticolonial resistance into the colonial subject’s resistance of the self, to disposes the self of any resentment toward material and psychic deprivation.
October 17, 2020
Coulthard offers a unique and compelling argument that Indigenous people in Canada should shift their focus from gaining "recognition" from the settler colonial government to focus instead on self-determination and self-recognition outside the terms set by the Canadian government. Looking over the history of negotiations between the Canadian government and First Nations groups since the 1960s, Coulthard shows that in virtually every instance, the Canadian government has set the terms under which "recognition" of Indigenous rights will occur--and those terms are consistently set in the interests of preserving settler access to Indigenous lands. Although First Nations groups have repeatedly couched their demands in terms of land restoration, the Canadian government has successfully shifted the terms to issues of cultural preservation and autonomy (though this autonomy is always subject to restrictions and violations by settler governments and/or capitalist development). Further, Coulthard points out that by directing the focus of Indigenous rights campaigns toward recognition by the settler government, it serves to strengthen the Canadian government's position as the legitimate authority, rather than a government founded on the theft of Aboriginal land.
Instead of seeking "recognition" of First Nations claims, Coulthard argues that Indigenous Canadians should focus on separating themselves from the matrices of settler colonialism and capitalism and instead re-assert the legitimacy of their own traditions, modes of life, and forms of governance. This turning inward and finding value within Indigenous traditions will work to undo some of the psychological harm done by settler colonialism with its long traditions of violence, coercion, cultural genocide, sexism, stereotyping, etc. Here Coulthard follows Franz Fanon, who describes the internalization of the logic of colonialism within the colonized subject. By rejecting the logics of colonialism and asserting the legitimacy of their own cultural practices, colonized peoples can begin moving beyond the internalized sense of inferiority. In asserting the legitimacy of Indigenous practices, First Nations peoples also must assert their rights to land because Indigenous life is deeply located in specific places and relationships to those places (places broadly conceived to include not only geography, but flora, fauna, waterways, natural life, etc. all of which are understood to exist in reciprocal relationships of obligation and support with Indigenous peoples). Because Indigenous traditionis premised on this reciprocal relationship to the land, it is necessary that Canad return control of traditional homelands to First Nations groups. In order to achieve this, Coulthard argues that it is insufficient to negotiate with the Canadian government (because of the reasons summarized above) and so forms of direct action are needed.
Instead of seeking "recognition" of First Nations claims, Coulthard argues that Indigenous Canadians should focus on separating themselves from the matrices of settler colonialism and capitalism and instead re-assert the legitimacy of their own traditions, modes of life, and forms of governance. This turning inward and finding value within Indigenous traditions will work to undo some of the psychological harm done by settler colonialism with its long traditions of violence, coercion, cultural genocide, sexism, stereotyping, etc. Here Coulthard follows Franz Fanon, who describes the internalization of the logic of colonialism within the colonized subject. By rejecting the logics of colonialism and asserting the legitimacy of their own cultural practices, colonized peoples can begin moving beyond the internalized sense of inferiority. In asserting the legitimacy of Indigenous practices, First Nations peoples also must assert their rights to land because Indigenous life is deeply located in specific places and relationships to those places (places broadly conceived to include not only geography, but flora, fauna, waterways, natural life, etc. all of which are understood to exist in reciprocal relationships of obligation and support with Indigenous peoples). Because Indigenous traditionis premised on this reciprocal relationship to the land, it is necessary that Canad return control of traditional homelands to First Nations groups. In order to achieve this, Coulthard argues that it is insufficient to negotiate with the Canadian government (because of the reasons summarized above) and so forms of direct action are needed.
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