Risky Times and Spaces: Settler Colonialism and Multiplying Genocide Prevention through a Virtual Indian Residential School

Abstract

In this article, we examine how the logic of genocide prevention aligns with a settler colonial logic of elimination. We examine how the exclusion of cultural techniques of destruction from consideration contributes to the logic of elimination, and we suggest this is, in part, a structural problem built into the logic of genocide prevention. Along these lines, we interrogate linear and molar approaches to genocide prevention and propose, in addition to existing macro-level strategies, a molecular, everyday ethos of genocide prevention that is attuned to genocidal intimacies and seeks to foster anti-genocide habits and practices. In so doing, we argue that such an approach provides more hope for prevention in a settler colonial context. We illustrate this argument with reference to the Embodying Empathy virtual reality Indian Residential School, a Survivor-created storyworld that immerses visitors in the everyday lives of individuals undergoing acts of cultural destruction.

Keywords