In his doctoral dissertation, Bram J. De Smet introduces the concept of slow erasure to analyse how settler-colonial violence operates through layered, cumulative, and structurally embedded processes aimed at eliminating Indigenous identity, agency, and ways of knowing over time. The central contribution of De Smet’s work lies in conceptualising genocide as a slow, structural, and ongoing process rather than an exceptional event. By naming slow erasure, the dissertation provides an analytic language for recognising forms of violence often rendered invisible within dominant political and legal frameworks. It contributes to peace research, genocide studies, and decolonial scholarship by expanding the vocabulary through which justice, accountability, and Indigenous endurance can be understood.
Bram J. De Smet's doctoral dissertation titled Slow Erasure : Identity, Agency & Episteme in Settler-Colonial Genocide by Attrition will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, on 30 January 2026.
The Opponent will be Professor Sa’ed Atshan (Swarthmore College). The Custos will be Professor Tarja Väyrynen (Faculty of Social Sciences).