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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Even if this issue has fallen out of
the news cycle, it might be of interest to see a blog post that I
wrote about it, which engages both linguistic and medical
anthropology perspectives.<br>
<a href="http://somatosphere.net/2018/01/beyond-banned-words.html"
class="">http://somatosphere.net/2018/01/beyond-banned-words.html</a><br>
Best,<br>
Charles<br>
<br>
<br>
On 12/22/17 11:18 AM, Wendy Klein wrote:<br>
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<div style="font-family: "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;">I think the Slate column by Daniel Engber fails
to address an important issue. The selective avoidance of
these specific words in policy documents reflects the power of
the current administration and those on the far right to
enforce a type of moral hegemony in defining and valuing
certain people/bodies over others. </div>
<div style="font-family: "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;">In this environment, certain words and concepts
index a threat to the TrumPencian agenda. By self-censoring,
these officials are normalizing the ideological perspectives
they are attempting to circumvent. I am reminded of Chaise
LaDousa's term "uneven agency" in practices of interpretation
and the role of language use in mediating agency. </div>
<div style="font-family: "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;">In moving forward, I wonder how linguistic
anthropologists (including those with expertise on language
and the law) might help in crafting legislation to ensure the
rights of people currently being dismissed or invisibilized in
the current political climate.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Wendy Klein
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<div>Associate Professor</div>
<div>Departments of Anthropology and Linguistics</div>
<div>California State University, Long Beach</div>
<div>1250 Bellflower Blvd.</div>
<div>Long Beach, CA 90840</div>
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<div id="divRpF971583" style="direction: ltr;"><font size="2"
face="Tahoma" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Linganth
[<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:linganth-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org">linganth-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>] on behalf of
Galey Modan [<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gmodan@gmail.com">gmodan@gmail.com</a>]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, December 22, 2017 9:07 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Steven Black<br>
<b>Cc:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:LINGANTH@listserv.linguistlist.org">LINGANTH@listserv.linguistlist.org</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Linganth] CDC Language ban<br>
</font><br>
</div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">I think it's also important in this
discussion to keep in mind that different types of words
-- concrete vs. abstract nouns -- have different limits in
semantic flexibility, and different consequences if they
cannot be used. The consequences of not being able to use
"diversity" in a budget proposal are quite different than
those around not being able to use "transgender" or
"fetus".
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Galey</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">2017-12-22 8:45 GMT-05:00 Steven
Black <span dir="ltr"><<a
href="mailto:stevepblack@gmail.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">stevepblack@gmail.com</a>></span>:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex; border-left:1px #ccc solid; padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext">Hi Eric and all,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext">It
<i>is</i> a struggle over words, but obviously
not just words; and these words and their
application shape policy and practice, as
Charles Briggs and his co-authors have
demonstrated in their analysis of
biocommunicability. Communication and health
are co-constitutive. In comparative
perspective, Susan Blum and I have been
discussing how some of the particulars of the
“ban” fit a much broader pattern of
conservatives co-opting concepts and thus
altering their meaning to fit their policy
agenda. For instance, “colorblind” was once a
key term in affirmative action policies,
whereas now it is used by those who are
dismantling affirmative action. “Religious
freedom” was once central to discourses about
allowing religious diversity and separation of
church and state, whereas now it means not
having to serve cakes to LGBTQ persons (among
other more serious reprocussions). And in this
latest ban, “community wishes” is central to
public health/ med anth, where it is used to
encourage culturally-sensitive public health
efforts, but now it is being used to mean <i>not</i>
being sensitive to the needs and wishes of
entire segments of the population—namely not
attending to the perspectives/ needs of LGBTQ
communities—but instead attending to the
perspectives of a dwindling but powerful
segment of far-right groups. Susan Blum, Lal
Zimman, and I are currently working on a brief
piece outlining this and other ling anth
perspectives on the subject. Keep your eye out
for it!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext">Happy winter solstice!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext">Steve</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:10.5pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#4472c4">Steven P. Black
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#a5a5a5">// </span><span
style="font-size:10.5pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#c00000">Study Abroad in Costa Rica!
Visit:
<a
href="http://www.studyabroad.gsu.edu/?go=GlobalHealthChallenges"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">
<span style="color:#0563c1">http://www.studyabroad.gsu.<wbr>edu/?go=GlobalHealthChallenges</span></a></span><span
style="font-size:10.5pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#a5a5a5"><wbr>// Department of
Anthropology // Georgia State University //
P.O. Box 3998 // Atlanta, GA 30302-3998 // <a
href="tel:%28404%29%20413-5168"
value="+14044135168" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">
(404) 413-5168</a></span><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<div style="border:none; border-top:solid #b5c4df
1.0pt; padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From: </b>Linganth <<a
href="mailto:linganth-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">linganth-bounces@listserv.<wbr>linguistlist.org</a>>
on behalf of Eric Henry <<a
href="mailto:Eric.Henry@smu.ca"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Eric.Henry@smu.ca</a>><br>
<b>Date: </b>Thursday, December 21, 2017 at
8:06 PM<br>
<b>To: </b>"<a
href="mailto:LINGANTH@listserv.linguistlist.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">LINGANTH@listserv.<wbr>linguistlist.org</a>"
<<a
href="mailto:LINGANTH@listserv.linguistlist.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">LINGANTH@listserv.<wbr>linguistlist.org</a>><span
class=""><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [Linganth] CDC Language
ban</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt; color:windowtext"> </span></p>
</div>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Some more reporting
has emerged in the last few days which seems
to confirm the suspicion of many that the CDC
ban was actually some more-or-less informal
direction from supervisors that their
subordinates avoid certain language in the
preparation of budget documents lest an
antagonistic congress and White House find
reason to slash their funding.</span></p>
<div>
<div class="h5">
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:#1f497d"><a
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/12/there_is_no_ban_on_words_at_the_cdc.html"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.slate.com/articles/<wbr>health_and_science/science/<wbr>2017/12/there_is_no_ban_on_<wbr>words_at_the_cdc.html</a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">There is even
some indication that this is not a new
phenomenon – that bureaucrats in the Obama
administration avoided the term “global
war on terror” in favour of “overseas
contingency operations” and so forth.
</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">I am curious
however what colleagues make of the
author’s final argument in the linked
article above, namely that the media and
the public have chosen to focus on words
as a proxy for policies rather than the
policies themselves. That is to say, if
the government were to pepper its websites
and policy papers with “climate change”
and “global warming,” but still withdraw
from the Paris climate accords and fund
new coal plants, would we have gained
anything by the inclusion of those words?
In some sense it is the same argument
Republicans (and Donald Trump himself) put
forward about Obama and Clinton not using
the words “radical Islamic terror.” They
implied that the solution to the problem
was predicated on using the right term.
This seems indicative of a widespread
language ideology in American politics
today presuming that if we could only use
the right words, if we could only call
things what they “really” are (like “FAKE
NEWS!”), all problems will be solved. I’m
fascinated with this idea that American
politics has become a struggle over the
meaning of words, but I’d be interested to
hear what others – who actually live and
work in the US – think about this.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Eric Henry</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Associate
Professor, Department of Anthropology</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Saint Mary’s
University</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d">Halifax, NS</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#1f497d"> </span></p>
</div>
</div>
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