Colonialism And The Settler-Colonial Theory

Colonialism and the imperialistic mindset are common themes in the study of history, whether the peoples, cultures, and nations being studied were the colonizers or the colonized. The classic colonial strategy has always been seen as using and draining the colonized for markets and resources in order to sustain the largest profit margin, but an alternative theory, dubbed Settler-Colonial Theory, has more recently been expounded upon to provide a different point of view. This second take on colonialism claims that there have been imperial-style governments that have attempted to use the lands they have colonized in a different manner: for the land . In this theory, colonizers push the native peoples out and deem the land their own. In most
I want to investigate how Settler-Colonial Theory applies to both the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887 and the Native Lands Act of 1913, and how the theory can be used to explain the similarities of the consequences for the native populations despite the numerous differences in geography, native populations, governing nations, and attitudes between the colonizers and the colonized. Furthermore, I want to explore how native identities formulated native reactions to these acts, and if native identities were in any way shaped by the settler-colonial aspects of these acts. My specific research questions are further delineated
Pertaining to the Dawes Act, I have multiple letters from groups and people supporting American Indians, including a letter from Senator Dawes himself detailing his reasoning behind the act. In addition, there are several newspaper articles chronicling the reactions of Indian chiefs at the time that the bill was being debated in Congress. On the South African side, there are reactions to the bill from well-known native black South Africans including Solomon Plaatje and John Dube, and there are also multiple reports from the British government detailing land ownership before and after the act. Lastly, I have found both acts so that I can quote them directly and compare the exact wording from one to the