Necropolitics, Colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Abstract

This paper critically engages with Mbembe’s (2003) theory of necropolitics within the context of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Part one of this paper provides a historical overview of the relationship between Indigenous Peoples in Canada and settlers. In the second section, Mbembe’s (2003) theory of necropolitics is examined. In the third and final section, this paper applies the necropolitical framework to the social determinants of health and the incarceration of Indigenous Peoples in Canada to argue that the State plays a crucial role in the creation of an Indigenous death-world and maintaining their suffering. Thus, this paper argues that the State is not directly killing Indigenous Peoples, but actively injuring this subset of the population through service delivery and carceral conditions.