Taxacom: racist terminology

Fri Jun 23 22:27:22 CDT 2023

I am an American who enjoyed a childhood blessedly innocent of the worst 
aspects of American racism, just by reason of who my family was and 
where we lived. Nevertheless, very early on I learned the hurtful power 
of the N-word. Also, for purely personal reasons I read non-fiction and 
historical fiction related to South Asia, and can't help being aware of 
the use of the N-word when it crops up in accounts of the British in 
India. I found the statement below by George Beccaloni disingenuous, 
much as others have done, but I wanted to check whether there was any 
validity to my sense that the N-word has never been neutral when spoken 
by whites.

I Googled as follows, "British Indian Army use of <the N-word>" and on 
the first page readily came up with three hits that I could read or 
skim. In each of these there are instances where it is evident that the 
N-word was not just another word, but rather was mean to disparage or 
otherwise do verbal violence to persons of color.

Nupur Chaudhuri (1994) Memsahibs and their servants in 
nineteenth-century India[1] , Women's History Review, 3:4, 549-562, DOI: 
10.1080/09612029400200071

Healy, Michael Scott, "Empire, Race and War: Black Participation in 
British Military Efforts During the Twentieth Century" (1998).
Dissertations. 3738. (Loyola University Chicago) [this thesis also 
provides an extensive summary of pre-20th c. black/white relations in 
Britain and its dominions] https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fecommons.luc.edu%2Fluc_diss%2F3738&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C3ad6a3a2864b4f55cdb308db7462ee90%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638231740488998926%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2BONjO66SeO47WwB8wo3FH2Kqn20z6eBn859rI4jJEbg%3D&reserved=0

https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kiplingsociety.co.uk%2Freaders-guide%2Frg_loot_notes.htm&data=05%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C3ad6a3a2864b4f55cdb308db7462ee90%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638231740488998926%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=JcJjdyRDkyRXebmuNsm%2FpgkRj3As2J7ziOGaP8KeZ5A%3D&reserved=0

Racial animosity expressed through the use of the N-word by whites seems 
to relate to at least two factors, fear, and class jealousy, both 
compounded by ignorance. Fear because the unjust treatment of persons of 
color sooner or later causes the perpetrator to think, "I wouldn't put 
up with this treatment; how is it that I'm getting away with it?" This 
reaction gained power in the face of slave revolts like the successful 
one in Haiti, and the mutiny by Indian troops serving in the army of the 
East India Company. Class jealousy, because of the weight of social 
inequality on the poor as capitalism developed in Europe and then North 
America. A poor white person could gratifyingly identify with and 
participate in white privilege relative to people of color to such an 
extent that, when that privilege appeared to be violated, it was cause 
for anger and (at least) verbal violence.

As for Wallace and Darwin, however liberal they may have been, they did 
not question their privilege as white men, and instead allowed it to 
influence their science. Social Darwinism did much of the rest.

Recent reading informing my reaction includes 'Inferior' (2017) and 
'Superior' (2019) by Angela Saini, and 'White Trash' (2016) by Nancy 
Isenberg.

As far as scientific names are concerned, I'm with those who argue that 
removing uncomfortably chauvinistic or demeaning names is at once too 
easy a means of assuaging guilt, and too problematic for doing science. 
Let these embarrassments to our science and our history make for 
teachable moments where it's useful to do so, and by all means lets make 
acknowledgments in lists, faunas, floras, and monographs where these 
names appear that they are reprehensible. This won't satisfy everyone, 
but it's a way forward.

---tad.

> To:
> Stephen Thorpe <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz>
> CC:
> "taxacom at lists.ku.edu" <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
>
>
> No, in the UK, the paper I read said it was not a racist term and simply
> meant black person. There wasn't another commonly used word or phrase for
> place people at the time that I am aware of. That means that many of the
> species names which were based on the word, and which were published by
> British workers, were probably innocuous.
>
> George
> ****************************************************************************
> *Dr George Beccaloni FLS*
> *Director, Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project*
> Subject:
> Re: Taxacom: Removals of offending scientific names
> From:
> George Beccaloni <g.beccaloni at gmail.com>
> Date:
> 2023-06-23, 7:38 p.m.
>

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<Tim Dickinson
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