Is Secularism a Settler Concept?

An established tradition of thought has long critiqued the “secular” as a distinctive formation of power and knowledge. What has received less attention within this tradition is the relationship between the genealogy of the “secular” and the history of colonial settlement. Theorists and historians in the fields of Indigenous Studies and Settler-Colonial studies have long underscored the importance of this distinction by circulating a series of concepts meant to challenge the vocabularies that have guided analytic engagements with colonialism. This roundtable asks if and how these different trajectories can supplement each other. What can Indigenous studies and Settler-Colonial studies contribute to our understanding of the “secular” as a mode of liberal governance and “secularism” as an ideology? How have the language and practices of secularity sponsored settler projects? Finally, could a conversation between these fields help to interrogate the problems subtending the question of “decolonizing the secular”?