Fear, anxiety, panic, and settler consciousness

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the daily fears, anxieties, and panics that dominated the British settler experience in the 1820 eastern Cape and Fremantle settlements. It reveals that these interrelated emotions were generated by the real or imagined threats posed by the indigenous people to the security and safety of the settlers. Moreover, the article suggests that this sense of vulnerability led to a growing racialization of the indigenous people, the escalation of violence, and the imposition of stringent measures of colonial control. Whether triggered by actual or imagined threats, the settlers’ fears, anxieties, and panics are an interesting subject of historical research not only because they are ubiquitous but also they paved the way for a radicalization of the settlers’ mindset and colonial policies.