Taxacom: botanical names with racist history

Mon Jul 22 05:48:15 CDT 2024

As a "woke" person but one seriously in favor of nomenclatural stability I
recommend this text
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________________________________________________
*José H. Leal, Ph.D. | Science Director & Curator (he/him)*

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On Mon, Jul 22, 2024 at 6:40 AM Mike Sadka via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
wrote:

> Hi all
>
> Interested as I am in this debate, as an IT person I do not feel qualified
> to comment.
>
> However, I do wonder if this debate is being driven by genuine offence at
> the names in question being taken by people from populations who suffered
> colonial exploitation, or is coming from others who are concerned on behalf
> of those people, who perhaps are not as offended by historical names as
> some suggest.
>
> This paper makes some very interesting points AGAINST these kinds of name
> changes from the perspective of one who might be expected to be offended by
> the historical names:
> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.biotaxa.org%2Fmegataxa%2Farticle%2Fview%2Fmegataxa.10.1.4%2F77025&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cc6d6306555674b676d4708dcaa3bdfc3%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638572421651769804%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=xeaZYQI%2F7FYfgXfEF7ubM2e5CgBfOMzYXSNgdbduMwI%3D&reserved=0
>
> Cheerio, Mike
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of Stephen Thorpe
> via Taxacom
> Sent: Monday, July 22, 2024 11:16 AM
> To: taxacom at lists.ku.edu; Mario Schädel <mario.schaedel at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: Taxacom: botanical names with racist history
>
>  Why don't people just get a thick skin and realise that a word which can
> be used as a racial (or other) slur is not being used as such in a
> taxonomic binomen? It is a commonplace notion that the same word can have
> different meanings in different contexts. For example, "Traditionally,
> faggots are made from offal, usually pork, and from the bits of the animal
> that are generally discarded but now tend to just be the liver and
> possibly, the heart". A bitch is a female dog, etc. It is a pseudo problem
> that is just a problem in the twisted minds of the wokies.
> Do you really need reminding that stability and universality are the
> fundamentals of taxonomic nomenclature?
> Stephen
>     On Monday, 22 July 2024 at 09:58:32 pm NZST, Mario Schädel via Taxacom
> <taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:
>
>  What Stephen might call "pointless wokeism", I would rather call a
> respectful and justified gesture towards the people living and interacting
> with the affected plants, in a region, where this word unfortunately
> developed into a racial slur. What really matters for us as taxonomists is,
> that there is no reason to assume that these efforts to replace such names
> will vanish anytime soon. In my opinion, it is bad solution to just
> complain about these efforts and to try to prevent any such name changes by
> arguing on the grounds of rules that only a small crowd of people once
> agreed on.
>
> Instead, one could take action to structure such efforts in a way that
> such name changes would be easier to handle with respect to future
> nomenclatorial actions and the communication of names on websites and
> databases. A possible solution could be to establish repositories of
> officially recognized synonyms for the different codes. Suggested name
> changes could then be allowed or denied by a consortium. The replacement
> names could then be used as replacement names by those who prefer the new
> name over the old one. Of course, this would require changes in the
> respective nomenclatorial codes and a considerable and continuous effort. I
> think it is better to make this effort than to get to a point, where
> replacement names will be proposed and used without compliance to the codes.
>
> Personally, I am happy that the botanical community voted in favor of
> replacing the name. However, I think for the future one should really think
> about who gets to vote on such issues. This is, because, depending on the
> mood of the taxonomic community, this vote could have easily turned out
> differently, despite a name change may (or not) be in the interest of
> people who interact with the plants.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Mario
>
>
> On 7/22/24 7:36 AM, Stephen Thorpe via Taxacom wrote:
> >  The action taken is a pointless wokeism and highly disruptive to
> taxonomy. Where will it end? What about all the niger, nigra, nigri- names?
> What are you going to replace them with? I don't see artists removing now
> "offensive" terms retrospectively from music or literature. What's the
> difference? The whole point was that the terms weren't used as offensive
> when they were used. They are part of history which does not need rewriting.
> > Stephen
> >      On Monday, 22 July 2024 at 04:41:13 pm NZST, Jeremy Bruhl via
> Taxacom<taxacom at lists.ku.edu>  wrote:
> >
> >  Dear John
> >
> > Words master and can hurt deeply. The action taken is measured and
> reasonable.
> >
> > Cheers,  Jeremy
> >
> > Sent from Outlook for
> > Android<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Feur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%25252&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cc6d6306555674b676d4708dcaa3bdfc3%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638572421651769804%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Kp7V4BU7ADv0%2F2PjbIEU5QNVKRJ9Wi%2B3Vq2SI4YvX9Y%3D&reserved=0
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> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Taxacom<taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu>  on behalf of John Grehan
> > via Taxacom<taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
> > Sent: Monday, July 22, 2024 5:58:23 am
> > To: taxacom<taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> > Subject: Taxacom: botanical names with racist history
> >
> > Statements below from a web site. Can any botanist on Taxacom comment
> > further on this?
> >
> > Scientists have voted to eliminate the names of certain plants that
> > are deemed to be racially offensive. The decision to remove a label
> > that contains such a slur was taken last week after a gruelling
> > six-day session attended by more than 100 researchers, as part of the
> > International Botanical Congress, which officially opens on Sunday in
> Madrid.
> >
> > The effect of the vote will be that all plants, fungi and algae names
> > that contain the word *caffra*, which originates in insults made
> > against Black people, will be replaced by the word *affra* to denote
> > their African origins. More than 200 species will be affected,
> > including the coast coral tree, which will be known as *Erythrina
> > affra* instead of *Erythrina caffra* .
> >
> > The scientists attending the nomenclature session also agreed to
> > create a special committee which would rule on names given to newly
> > discovered plants, fungi and algae. These are usually named by those
> > who first describe them in the scientific literature. However, the
> > names could now be overruled by the committee if they are deemed to be
> > derogatory to a group or race
> >
> > --
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> > link, then the 'Ghost Moth Research page' link.
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