The Hopes and Discontents of Indigenous–Settler Reconciliation

How are Indigenous and settler relationships structured, and how is conflict addressed? In settler-colonial societies, complex patterns exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities who share the same territory, but whose relationships have been characterized by harm and violence. This violence is not just a matter of history,1 but exists for as long as the Indigenous and settler communities are in conflict – potentially hundreds of years. Moreover, the harm is not solely acute, for example in the form of physical acts of violence; it also takes the form of less visible but nonetheless highly structured and systemic violence. These forms of violence might include discrimination, socioeconomic inequality, poorer health outcomes and denial of meaningful self-determination. How, then, can ‘reconciliation’ occur, when for many the harms are not past but rather continuing, and occur in ways that are not broadly appreciated as violence, as they are committed in times of ‘peace’? How do transitional justice and reconciliation praxis respond to situations where the violence is insidious, even arguably inherent, in the relationships between settler and Indigenous communities? Can these relationships be improved, what would this look like and how might it occur?