Honors College Theses

Publication Date

5-13-2025

Major

Philosophy (B.A.)

Release Option

Open Access

Faculty Mentor

Dr. Finbarr Curtis

Abstract

In the United States, settler-colonialism is often dismissed as a "bad chapter" of the past, an embarrassing episode of the nation's history, considered irrelevant to contemporary socio-political discussions. In contrast, while ongoing, Canada's reconciliation efforts remain performative, failing to address underlying colonial power structures. This project argues that settler-colonialism is not merely a historical phenomenon but a pervasive socio-political and cultural structure shaping the contemporary world. Capitalism depends on racialized and gendered hierarchies, continually produced through dispossession, marginalization, and exploitation. The prison-industrial complex (PIC) exemplifies this dynamic by industrializing dehumanization and weaponizing state violence against marginalized communities through mass incarceration, policing, and surveillance. However, the PIC is only one element of broader colonial-capitalist systems that militarize social control and reproduce systemic oppression. Ultimately, this argument contends that settler-colonial capitalism entrenches necropolitical governance by embedding structural violence and transforming vulnerability, death, and dispossession into weapons of capitalist expansion and colonial elimination.

Copyright

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