Taxacom: botanical names with racist history

[Michael Heads]

I wonder if they asked the black African plant taxonomists about this
issue. I suggested to one (back in 1992) that we should change all the
hundreds of caffra's, caffrorum's etc., but he thought it was a silly idea.

On Tue, Jul 23, 2024 at 2:06 PM David Campbell via Taxacom <
taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> This particular name, and certain others, raise the problem that that it is
> treated as racist in some places but used as self-identification by other
> people.  If I remember correctly, it is a south Asian population with some
> south African heritage that sees the name as positive, versus the racist
> usage in southern Africa itself.
>
> Given that the taxonomic usage seems to be based on an old geographic term,
> faulting the taxonomic names for later derogatory use seems excessive.  A
> note that these names reflect the geography and not the racism would seem
> more in order,
>
> It would be rather difficult to avoid any possible offense in names.
> Linnaeus' fondness for anatomy-inspired names led (through a few subsequent
> workers) to an important fishery bivalve in east Asia being named Lamarck's
> prostitute, if one translates the Latin.
>
> There is historic precedent for names to be disapproved for animals; the
> Finnish word for God was rejected as a mollusk genus.
>
> Finding ways to make training and employment in systematics more accessible
> to all seems much more likely to have significant benefits for the victims
> of past injustices than changing names.
>
> --
> Dr. David Campbell
> Professor, Geology
> Department of Natural Sciences
> 110 S Main St, #7270
> Gardner-Webb University
> Boiling Springs NC 28017
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom Mailing List
>
> Send Taxacom mailing list submissions to: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
> For list information; to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
> https://lists.ku.edu/listinfo/taxacom
> You can reach the person managing the list at: taxacom-owner at lists.ku.edu
>
> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for about 37 years, 1987-2024.
>
>
>

-- 
Dunedin, New Zealand.

My books:

*Biogeography and evolution in New Zealand. *Taylor and Francis/CRC, Boca
Raton FL. 2017.
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.routledge.com%2FBiogeography-and-Evolution-in-New-Zealand%2FHeads%2Fp%2Fbook%2F9781498751872&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C38797918dc8c4ef1d70608dcaabff1d2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638572988574482507%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=URUF%2Fmj5%2Ft53biV18Nfn57coXnNTLyuRiuOX2ucFJwY%3D&reserved=0


*Biogeography of Australasia:  A molecular analysis*. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge. 2014. https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cambridge.org%2F9781107041028&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C38797918dc8c4ef1d70608dcaabff1d2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638572988574638769%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=29sZ2lgfwR63RDX%2B%2BJQAlQ1v4wAIjnaXJd15DpWFLrM%3D&reserved=0


*Molecular panbiogeography of the tropics. *University of California Press,
Berkeley. 2012. https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ucpress.edu%2Fbook.php%3Fisbn%3D9780520271968&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C38797918dc8c4ef1d70608dcaabff1d2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638572988574638769%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=2YoFH0XHKjpQGSNS6gbbRstLhIlH027%2B4eyC8tyLiZw%3D&reserved=0


*Panbiogeography: Tracking the history of life*. Oxford University Press,
New York. 1999. (With R. Craw and J. Grehan).
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.co.nz%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DBm0_QQ3Z6GUC&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C38797918dc8c4ef1d70608dcaabff1d2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638572988574638769%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=6SJcIv6e4syg9Cade9h7lLunmRI1civYST4hJ5kiV8Y%3D&reserved=0
<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.co.nz%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DBm0_QQ3Z6GUC%26dq%3Dpanbiogeography%26source%3Dgbs_navlinks_s&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C38797918dc8c4ef1d70608dcaabff1d2%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638572988574638769%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2FpPSfwiklcBBwbFLQu7cT7CkoZuBL%2BUljMsAIuvKyek%3D&reserved=0>