Settler Colonial Family Paradigms in Early 20th Century British Columbia (Literature review for  MAIS 606) 

This literature review was the final project for MAIS 606, Academic Writing for Graduate Students, and it was the first opportunity I had to dive into the overall project I had envisioned taking on during my Athabasca program. This paper set the foundation for all the work that followed. 

I approached the literature to answer the question: what were the paradigms of settler colonial families in early-to-mid 20th century British Columbia? My archives are the historical documents of a white, middle-class family of British descent living in Victoria, British Columbia. The roots of my maternal lineage arrived on Vancouver Island in the late 1800s and the generations that I’m primarily interested in (my grandparents and great-grandparents) lived in the early to mid-20th century. I wanted to understand the social context in which they lived. 

This literature review is an investigation of the structural determinants of settler colonialism. As I worked on it, I observed some themes emerge around family as settler colonial structure and the manifestations of “settler futurity” (Ishiguro, 2016) established in mid-19th century colonial British Columbia. The nuclear family was key to ensuring the future of the colony and policies were put into place for families to thrive—at the expense of the first peoples already living on the land. 

In my exploration of the nuclear family as a settler colonial structure and my relationship to the place where I live, I had to confront the uncomfortable reality of how my family has benefitted from colonialism, primarily through acquiring farmland and gaining social standing in the local community. While I already knew that displacement of Indigenous peoples is at the heart of colonization, my research for this review reinforced that gains for white settler women came at the expense of Indigenous peoples’ land and power.  

The research I found centred on 19th century experiences and social developments, and I discovered that there was not very much literature on women’s public and personal lives in the early to mid-20th century British Columbia. This was particularly interesting to me, as my basement is full of women’s stories and experiences from that period. 

My family embodied the “settler futurity” that the colonizers attempted to manifest, and they created a template for future generations. The research I conducted for this literature review helped me understand how I benefitted from settler colonialism and, after deeper reflection, I was able to acknowledge these benefits without shame but a personal commitment to action. 

Through building a portrait of white settler life in British Columbia, I was able to understand the role of colonialism on family structures and on my family in particular. This awareness was at the foundation of the subsequent projects I worked on over the course of my MA-IS studies, even if I didn’t directly reference the literature I gathered for this review. 

Reference (APA 7 style) 

Ishiguro, L. (2016). Growing up and grown up: Discourses of childhood and settler futurity in colonial British Columbia. BC Studies, (190), 15–37.