NORTH AMERICAN COMMISSION ON STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE Note 72 - Application for Revisions to the North American Stratigraphic Code to Address Culturally Offensive or Inappropriate Unit Names and to Encourage the Use of Indigenous Place Names

Abstract

The North American Stratigraphic Code ("the Code") addresses the naming of formal geologic units from a scientific perspective. Guidelines based on scientific rationale are provided for assigning and revising unit names. However, whereas some scientific codes and guidelines now address the problem of offensive or inappropriate names, the Code at present has no means of addressing such matters. This omission presents a problem because most categories of formal units covered by the Code are named after geographic features, and some units have thus inherited culturally offensive or inappropriate names. The naming of geographic features (toponymy) also has reflected the historic suppression of Indigenous languages in North America. To address the first issue, additions and changes to the Code are proposed around the use of culturally offensive or inappropriate names: to explicitly counsel against their use; to provide a simplified process to rename scientifically valid units; and to invalidate nomenclatural stability as a justification for retaining such unit names. To address the second issue, additions to the Code are proposed that recognize maps produced by Indigenous governments or organizations as sources of geographic names, and that encourage the respectful use of Indigenous place names.