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8 language and national identitiesDavid Anthony Tyeeme Clark, “Indian mascots and logos: Looking forward to their history,” updated frequently. “'Redskins' is the absolute, unquestionably worst term.... There is no context in which the term 'Redskins' is not offensive. There is no context in which it is not insulting, pejorative or racist.... [The word is similar to] the 'N word' for African Americans and all kinds of pejoratives that exist for Jews, for Hispanics, for women--none of which would ever be accepted or tolerated in relation to sports or anything else.” A very thorough web site that draws from many sources—including newspaper editorials, statements of scholars and academic groups, and resolutions from the governing board of the United Methodist Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio—to support the position that the images and references to Native Americans in the names and logos of sports teams and other commercial uses are denigrating, offensive, and should be changed.
For Response1. Clark’s web site shows many examples of visual images and words that represent Native Americans, such as “Big Chief Tablet” or “Big Chief Sugar.” Look for additional examples in your environment—merchandise, advertising, team mascots, etc. Would they fall into the same category of “offensive” as described by Clark and the other writers/scholars on the web site? Why or why not? 2. Take the quiz on the “Test your Knowledge IQ” link. Did your score surprise you? Why or why not? Do you think the quiz is appropriate and fair? Why or why not? Discuss your ideas with one or two classmates. 3. Clark’s web site takes an overt position and makes no pretense of representing opposing points of view. The evidence he presents is from highly respectable sources, for example, the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, the United Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, several state boards of education, and the American Anthropological Association. Many schools and professional sports teams continue to use the names and caricatured images that are objected to on Clark’s site, however. Imagine that you were putting together a similar web site to present opposing opinions. Do some research on the web to find sources that support the use of the names and images. Can you find them in equivalent numbers and of equivalent status? Compare the sources you’ve compiled with the sources Clark uses. Are they as persuasive? If you find a disparity, how might you account for it? Paul Treanor, “Language futures Europe,” from the Paul Treanor Home Page, updated frequently. ”Language policy ideals are usually associated with geopolitical visions. Nationalists support national languages, regionalists in Europe support regional languages, supporters of a cosmopolitan ethic often hope for a universal language. The desired language future corresponds to the desired geopolitical future.” Language issues and policies in the United States are complex and confusing enough. How are they handled in other places even more complex— Europe, for example? On this site, Netherlands-based scholar Paul Treanor provides a summary of and categorization frame for the language policies of any given nation; in addition, he gives dozens of links to papers, editorials, and policy statements about language written by individuals, non-government organizations, and official agencies of various European nations.
For Response1. Treanor titled this page “Language futures Europe.” After reading his statements, browsing through the links, and checking out other pages on his site, what do you expect he meant by that title? Was he suggesting that languages are commodities, like soybeans or petroleum, whose futures could be traded on a commodities exchange? Why or why not? What are a few other plausible interpretations? 2. In what ways are the European situations different from those of the United States? (You will note that we are allowing the possibility of more than one linguistic situation here in the United States.) In what ways are they similar? What can the shapers of U.S. linguistic policy learn from any of the European situations? In the linguistic situation of your own local area, what elements of the European situations might be helpful to the policy makers (either as good models or bad ones)? Discuss your ideas with two or three classmates. 3. Follow the links and read articles describing the linguistic situations of three (non-U.S.) countries. (As you will note, not all of the articles are in English, but many are. You may have to try quite a few to come up with three; stay with it.) Write an essay to compare and contrast their situations. You may want to consider such features as: number of speakers, official status, whether the language has a written form and literacy practice, in what proportion of the national territory (or territories) is the language spoken, whether it is a language of immigrants or whether its use in the territory predates the establishment of the respective national entity, how the national policies fit into the categorical frame that Treanor laid out at the beginning of the page, and anything else that you feel is relevant to the situations of the languages or nations in which they are spoken. |
