Returning to totality: Settler colonialism, decolonization, and struggles for freedom

A unifying feature of the most prominent social movements that emerged in the 2010s is their dissatisfaction with explaining injustices on a case-by-case basis. In Canada, movements against settler colonialism express a similar orientation. This elicits a return of totality thinking, which enables one to grasp the connections between what appears as isolated or fragmented moments that in fact constitute and are constituted by a larger whole. Drawing on Marxist and Indigenous theorists, we reconstruct an approach to totality and a conceptualization of settler colonialism as a totality. Through an immanent reading of John Borrows' approach to decolonization, we justify the importance of this concept for politicizing the persistence of unfree forms of interdependence. Finally, just as individual struggles point toward the totality, totality thinking draws attention to the unity-in-separation of different struggles, enabling a politics of immanent universalism as an alternative to both abstract universalism and particularism.

Automated summary

A unifying feature of prominent social movements in the 2010s is their dissatisfaction with explaining injustices on a case-by-case basis. This has led to the revival of totality thinking, which allows for understanding the connections between seemingly isolated moments that are actually part of a larger whole. By drawing on Marxist and Indigenous theorists, the concept of totality and settler colonialism as a totality are reconstructed. Through an examination of John Borrows' approach to decolonization, the importance of this concept in politicizing unfree forms of interdependence is justified. Finally, totality thinking highlights the unity-in-separation of different struggles, fostering a politics of immanent universalism as an alternative to both abstract universalism and particularism.