Destroying to replace: reflections on motive forces behind civilian-driven violence in settler genocides of Indigenous peoples

Of the various forms that Western imperialism has taken over the last six centuries, settler colonialism has been the most destructive and prone to the genocide of indigenous peoples. Although in most settler colonies the initial impetus for conflict came from colonial and metropolitan states, in several notable instances exterminatory violence was driven by settlers themselves. Leveraging off of Patrick Wolfe’s insight that settler colonialism is both highly destructive and creative - that it destroys to replace - this chapter reflects on the social and economic dynamics that resulted in the obliteration of so many Indigenous societies globally. It concludes that the genocidal destruction of Indigenous peoples was in many instances not simply the unintended consequence of land alienation and blind pursuit of selfish economic interests by colonists, as apologists often would have it, but a consciously desired outcome integral to that settler collective’s vision of itself, its future, and the nature of humanity.