http://www.wpr.org/hereonearth/archive_080701k.cfm Jean Feraca's episode on Canada's apology. If you don't listen to her, I encourage you to. She is a fascinating host and talks about everything under the sun.
--nithya On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 7:47 PM, Radhika, Y. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In Canada, the official term is First Nations people recognizing the > indigeneous people. It is a highly contentious climate here with First > Nations people claiming land back and recently the Government officially > apologized to the First Nations for the crimes committed by white settlers > who took the children away and put them in Christian residential schools > where they were punished if they spoke anything but English, sexually > abused > and generally robbed of their cultural connections. Last year the First > Nations group in Vancouver successfully reclaimed a 100 year old golf > course > as their land. They are a larger percentage of Canada's population (30 > million total i think) so they are more noticeable but they also have a > greater voice. When i first moved here after being in the US I was really > struck by the name given to them. > On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 6:24 AM, Nithya Sambasivan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > I read somewhere that the term "Asian" is offensive in the United > Kingdom, > > and "South Asian" is politically correct. Can someone from the UK confirm > > this? > > Whereas in the USA, "Asian" refers to south-east Asians. How did the term > > Asian come to not include the Indian subcontinent? > > > > I wonder how the term "Black" is still in existence. I agree that > "African" > > has evolved to not encapsulate the race and the diaspora, but has come to > > signify belonging to the continent (South African is different, though?), > > unlike terms like "Indian" and "Persian" which signify culture as well as > > race. If we can have terms like Indian-American, Persian-American and > other > > variations and hyphenations of the race/country/continent of origin and > > country of citizenship/birth, then why not just eliminate the term > "Black"? > > Why is it black music, black cuisine, it's-a-black-thing-to-do? Or do we > > need a Shakespeare to coin a new word? I thought Caucasian was the term > for > > white-skinned people, although I have seen "white" on forms too. > > > > --nithya > > > > On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 8:33 PM, Perry E. Metzger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > Eugen Leitl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > > On Tue, Jul 01, 2008 at 08:11:29PM +0530, Deepa Mohan wrote: > > > >> Touche, Perry.... but.....I must tell you that when someone here saw > a > > > >> photograph of the person who has now become my son in law, he > > > >> exclaimed, "Oh! He is an American American!" > > > > > > > > That would be Red Indian, I presume ;p > > > > > > The autochthonous population prefers the term "Native American" -- > > > the terms "Red" for such people and "Yellow" for East Asians are now > > > considered impolite (and besides, factually wrong given what colors > > > those terms usually mean), though for whatever reason "Black" is > > > still considered polite for discussing people of African descent (who > > > are not actually not what one would call "Black" in any other > > > context). "White" is also still polite, although I am sort of a medium > > > beige and not anything like the shade of paper, and even people who > > > produce only pheomelanin and no eumelanin (colloquially "redheads" > > > though the color of their hair is more orange than red) are more pink > > > than white in shade. > > > > > > My friends (both those with lots of melanin, and the melanin deficient > > > like myself) have taken to using the term "Brown" when speaking > > > ironically in the voice of bigots -- as in "Oh my God! The Supreme > > > Court is going to allow prisoners at Guantanamo to have access to the > > > courts! What horror is next, allowing brown people to vote?" > > > > > > > > > Perry > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > PhD student > > Human Computer Interaction | Information and Computer Sciences > > University of California, Irvine > > http://www.ics.uci.edu/~nsambasi <http://www.ics.uci.edu/%7Ensambasi> > > > > > > -- > Radhika, Y.R. > Project Manager, > Centering Women project, Sri Lanka > International Center for Sustainable Cities > 415 - 1788 W. 5th Avenue > Vancouver BC Canada > -- PhD student Human Computer Interaction | Information and Computer Sciences University of California, Irvine http://www.ics.uci.edu/~nsambasi
