Isopolitics, deep colonizing, settler colonialism

This essay contributes to interdisciplinary reflection on settler colonialism and decolonization by proposing an analysis of two characteristic traits of the 'settler colonial situation': isopolitics and deep colonizing. The first section outlines isopolitical relations as an alternative possibility to sustained colonial domination on the one hand, and internationally recognized independence within an international system of formally independent polities on the other. The second section concentrates on deep colonizing, a notion that upsets traditional amelioristic narratives emphasizing progressive processes culminating in the acquisition of social and political rights for colonized and formerly colonized peoples. Appraising concomitantly an isopolitical imaginary that persists in the present and the dynamics of deep colonizing, and, more generally, focusing on the (im)possibility of decolonization in settler colonial settings, can help reframing received narratives of decolonization.