Slave trade, for one instance, wasn’t happening solely because of colonialism. It was happening in Africa long before it became apart of the colonial operation. It has a long history and it’s not one tied exclusively to colonialism.

As for the residential schools, that’s some fucked up shit, no doubt. I don’t know the history of Canada and how all that came about. But the interaction and history of European settlers with North American natives (which once were from the Middle East or Africa and walked over through Serbia and crossed the land bridge to Alaska) is long and complicated. It was not purely one of one person oppressing another at all times.

The oppressor/oppressed narrative that is so popular in left wing ideologies today is a product of Foucault and its subsequent propagation amongst the post modernists. It’s popular in many circles in academia, but it’s not the only narrative, nor is it a perfectly true narrative.

Anyway, I enjoyed Sapiens a lot. I thought it gave more nuance into the complexities of colonialism.