Derogatory Label Research Articles

Language, deconstructivism, and the Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa

ABSTRACT In a series of articles critical of aspects of the idea of translanguaging, MacSwan (e.g. 2022) has suggested that deconstructivism has derailed the translingual project. This paper draws attention to a number of weaknesses in this argument that are important for taking critical questions about language seriously. The term deconstructivism operates more as a derogatory label than a description of a theoretical stance, an appeal to popular notions about the postmodern rather than to intellectual debate about modes of inquiry. The notion of deconstruction itself is a common term referring to the need to pull structures apart before reassembling them, as suggested by deconstructivism in architecture (to describe the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, for example). Ontological curiosity about languages also has a long history and is an important step before reconstruction, reinvention, or reconstitution. This paper makes a case for critical engagement, an argument for intellectual care when dealing with critical theory, and critical resistance, the question of whether contemporary language matters of concern are better served by traditional or current sociolinguistic frameworks.

Beyond recognition: Identification and disidentification in visual resistance to stigma

This article theorizes visual practices of stigma resistance as a continuous play with identification and disidentification. Based on an ethnographic study of young, stigmatized activists’ self-images, I argue that the oft-employed concept of recognition only partially captures visual/digital resistance to stigma. In addition to claiming recognition, I show how creating unrecognizability is a key component in subverting stigmatizing categorizations. Complementing existing analyses on how we fight stigma by ‘presenting ourselves differently’ to others, my analysis of self-images looks at how the activists relate to themselves differently: how they negotiate and work with identifications. I distinguish two strategies of visual stigma resistance: resignification and opacity through multiplicity. Resignification – the visual interpretation of reclaiming – refers to one (temporarily) identifying with a derogatory label but redefining it into a source of pride. Multiplicity, in turn, operates by portraying the self as multiple and transforming, destabilizing potential categories and names, and rendering the self unintelligible. By showing stigma resistance as a play with becoming visible and unintelligible, the article argues for moving beyond recognition and stigma as binary concepts.

The patriarchal Western gaze and the discursive policing of fandom: “Koreaboo” as stigma

The derogatory label “Koreaboo,” used to stigmatize Korean popular culture fans, suggests Korean media's movements are treated as a contaminant rather than a welcome presence. In this research project, I conducted focus group research and analyses of Reddit threads to understand the ways women fans of color in this study interpret and navigate taste hierarchies that mock women's interests in celebrities and texts from a racialized Asian nation. Korean popular culture fans of color reject “Koreaboo” for themselves, but they project the label onto “bad” White fans, who are perceived as having inappropriate fannish interests that deviate from popularly held standards of intercultural and interracial fan interest. The self-disciplining within fandom distances itself from the Western patriarchal gaze by re-directing its focus. Even when fans of color seek Korean media to escape White hegemony and heteronormative patriarchy, they internalize and react to its gaze in their fan practice.

The Use and Perception of Reclaimed Group Labels for Lesbian Women and Gay Men

This research tests whether self-labelling with a derogatory or reclaimed label is perceived as an act of reclamation. A pilot study ( N = 102) identified English terms used to label lesbian women and gay men. The main study ( N = 276) used a between-groups vignette design in which participants read about a woman/man self-labelling with a descriptive (lesbian/gay), reclaimed (queer), or derogatory group (dyke/fag) label. We assessed perceptions of the speaker (control/influence, agency, and efficacy) and group power, label offensiveness, and the likelihood of using the label in the future. Descriptive labels were perceived as less offensive and more likely to be used compared to reclaimed and derogatory labels. For gay men, using a derogatory label compared to other labels decreased perceived agency, but did not influence control/influence and efficacy. For lesbian women, there were no differences in perceptions of power depending on the label used.

The Sexualization of Menstruation: On Rape, Tampons, and ‘Prostitutes’

“The sexualization of menstruation perpetuates harmful stereotypes and undermines gender equality. This study examines its intersections with rape culture, commodification, and gender perceptions. Using feminist theories and discourse analysis, it investigates how menstruation is sexualized through themes of rape, tampons, and derogatory labels. Commercialization reinforces this notion, contributing to gender inequality and stifling discourse. By dismantling these narratives, society can promote gender equality and foster inclusivity. Menstruation is a pervasive yet often overlooked aspect of gender-based discrimination. This research explores its societal implications, shedding light on the objectification and exploitation that occur. The study analyzes narratives and languages contributing to this phenomenon, highlighting the normalization of objectification through rape culture. Additionally, it examines the commercialization of menstruation, particularly within the tampon industry, and its inadvertent reinforcement of shame and sexualization. The derogatory label ‘prostitutes’ is also scrutinized for its role in demeaning women and equating their worth with reproductive functions. The implications of sexualizing menstruation are dire, including perpetuating gender inequality and infringing upon bodily autonomy. By understanding these intersections, society can engage in larger conversations surrounding gender-based violence and discrimination. This research calls for a collective effort to challenge societal narratives and debunk the sexualization of menstruation, ultimately promoting gender equality and creating a more inclusive environment for all.”

When is Self-Labeling Seen as Reclaiming? The Role of User and Observer's Sexual Orientation in Processing Homophobic and Category Labels’ use

Reclaiming involves self-labeling with derogatory labels. This behavior can be processed differently depending on contextual factors: Type of label, user, and observer. Sexual minority and heterosexual participants saw a vignette depicting either a gay or a heterosexual man who self-labeled with a derogatory or a category label. Sexual minority participants perceived the act of self-labeling with a derogatory label by a gay man as less offensive than heterosexual participants did. Sexual minorities, more than heterosexual participants, perceived self-labeling as powerful.

The Politics of Post-Truth

ABSTRACT A prevalent political narrative is that we are facing an epistemological crisis, where many citizens no longer care about truth and facts. Yet the view that we are living in a post-truth era relies on some implicit questionable empirical and normative assumptions. The post-truth rhetoric converts epistemic issues into motivational issues, treating people with whom we disagree as if they no longer believe in or care about truth. This narrative is also dubious on epistemic, moral, and political grounds. It is epistemically dubious in being largely insensitive to the problem of complexity in politics; it is morally dubious because “post-truth” is often a derogatory label for individuals or groups that are deemed stupid, irrational, or morally compromised; and it is a politically toxic neologism because it purports to use the language of ‘truth’ as a weapon against power, yet these truth-claims are often themselves attempts to exert power over others by delegitimizing their perspectives. While it may seem as if truth and democracy are on especially bad terms lately, politics and truth have long had a vexed relationship, and moral panics about the value of truthfulness in politics are as old as politics itself.

The Joker in Iraq’s Tishreen [October] Protests

Abstract This article explores how the cultural symbol of the Joker, from the 2019 American movie Joker, first unfolded during the 2019 Iraqi Tishreen [October] Revolution as radical-gradual creative imagery both shocking and contested among Iraqi activists. Considering the visuals as modes, I argue that they first emerged as antenarrative, open to multiple interpretations. The antenarrative quickly transformed into a derogatory label perpetuating a dehumanizing anti-protest narrative by dominant powers and their militias. ‘Axis of Resistance’ media channels in Iraq and Iran have transformed the Joker label into a weapon, framing the protest movement as a narrative of grand conspiracy with the West and consequently justifying the violent crackdown by security forces. Iraqi activists then reclaimed the label in an attempt to defy that narrative. The linguistic reclamation could not erase the parties’ narrative. Instead, the two narratives have continued to compete, triggering another set of polarized labels.

Clark , Roland Sectarianism and Renewal in 1920s Romania: The Limits of Orthodoxy and Nation-Building (review)

REVIEWS 581 attempts to get Maslow to New York, but he died suddenly in Havana, very likely murdered by Stalinist assassins. This is a well written and meticulously researched study about two tragic figures of the KPD. It tells the story of a couple inextricably linked by their political convictions and their shared fate, with their political careers culminating in a short period of leadership. Fischer (and Maslow) forced through the Bolshevization of the party only to find themselves amongst its first victims. One of the most intriguing parts of the story is Fischer’s political confusion after the murder of her partner. She wrote a book critical of German Communism that combined ‘the authenticity of an ex-communist […] with the same dogmatism and lack of nuance that she had displayed during her political life in the KPD’ (p. 191). She subsequently realized her mistake and reapproached Communism, and in doing so, showed herself to have been a far more complex figure than Maslow ever was. Leipzig University Udo Grashoff Clark, Roland. Sectarianism and Renewal in 1920s Romania: The Limits of Orthodoxy and Nation-Building. Bloomsbury Academic, London and New York, 2021. ix + 222 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. £85.00. Over the past decade, several important books have been published on religious renewal movements in the Balkans. One of these, Aleksandra Djurić Milovanović and Radmila Radić’s collected volume, Orthodox Christian Renewal Movements in Eastern Europe (Basingstoke, 2017) includes a chapter on the Lord’s Army in Romania by Corneliu Contantineanu. Although Constantineanu gives a thorough account of the formation and influence of the Lord’s Army, he does not explain how Protestant Pietist and Stundist ideas influenced Romanian Orthodox theologians such as Iosif Trifa (the founder of the Lord’s Army), and Dumitru Cornilescu and Tudor Popescu (the founders of the Stork’s Nest), all three of whom were Orthodox clergymen who fell out of favour with the Romanian Orthodox Church. Roland Clark’s new book sets out to fill this gap and to expand upon it by devoting an entire study to Romania’s religious renewal movements. To do so, Clark takes a major detour to explore the full panoply of religious life in 1920s Romania, and also the nationalism that was rampant in the country, especially after 1918, the year of the formation of Greater Romania, following the First World War. Thus he demonstrates how the Orthodox and (to a lesser degree) Greek Catholic Churches tried to monopolize nineteenth-century nationalism and use it SEER, 99, 3, JULY 2021 582 against their smaller competitors, alleging that these various denominations were not real Romanians but foreigners who engaged in anti-Romanian propaganda. The entire process of nation-building recognized, beyond the rhetoric of ‘us against them’, ‘a collection of diverse religious communities responding to rapid social change in different ways’. These social changes, Clark argues, included ‘rising literacy rates, new religious practices, new ways of engaging with Scripture, a newly empowered laity inspired by universal male suffrage, a growing civil society that was taking control of community organizing and the sudden expansion of the Romanian nation-state’ (p. 9). Clark applies to the Stork’s Nest and the Lord’s Army James Kapalo’s concept of ‘liminal Orthodoxy’ — forms of Orthodox Christianity suspended between Orthodoxy and other religious traditions — characterizing them as reform movements where the social tensions between the majority Orthodox Church and the so-called ‘Repenter’ denominations were experienced inside the Orthodox Church itself. Popular in 1920s Romania, the term ‘Repenter’ is a derogatory label widely used initially by the Orthodox to refer to evangelical groups such as Baptists, Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and so on, that ended up being adopted by these groups themselves. Rather than be driven by methodology, Clark focuses on contemporary details, drawing on a wide range of primary sources — sermons, pamphlets, newspapers and magazines — which enable him to delineate these various denominations, to expose their mutual hostility and reveal the scope of the competition between the majority Orthodox Church and these many smaller (some of them really tiny) groups. By detailing each group’s account of itself and their misrepresentation of others Clark brings them into lively conversation with each other...

Explanations and excuses in French sociology

The terrorist attacks that struck France in 2015 had reverberations throughout the country’s intellectual fields. Among the most significant was a widespread polemic that turned around whether sociological explanations of the attacks amounted to excuses and justifications for terrorists. When prominent politicians and pundits made allegations of this nature, sociologists reacted in three main ways: most denied the allegations, others reappropriated the derogatory label of excuse, while others still accepted criticism and called for a reformation of sociology. These epistemological stances can be properly understood only by studying the long history of debates around ‘sociological excuses’ in France and by analysing French sociology as a field of forces and struggles.

THE VULNERABILITY OF BAJAU LAUT AS STATELESS PEOPLE IN SABAH

ABSTRACT The Bajau Laut, or Sea Bajau or also often referred to with the derogatory label Palauh by other communities, are known to be living within their ancestral domain of the Sulu and the Celebes Seas or the Sulu-Semporna-South Sulawesi Triangle. During the Pre-British period, their mobility around this region was well established as part of their civilization and was not an issue with other peoples in the land-based territories. However, the legal status of the Bajau Laut became problematic when citizenship and territories were formalized by the emergence of the nation-states of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. In the case of the Bajau Laut population located on the Malaysian side of Sabah, the dynamics of their own internal development has become more complicated. In Sabah there are three groups of Bajau: the West Coast Bajau, the various groups of East Coast Bajau, and the Bajau Laut who can be found along Sabah’s east coast, and around the islands off of Semporna. These three groups can be differentiated by their language and dialects, as well as livelihood, status in life, education, community structure and their general worldviews. The West Coast Bajau and the East Coast Bajau have slowly integrated themselves into the Malaysian society, while the Bajau Laut continues their semi-nomadic life at sea and are generally regarded as stateless by the Malaysian government. This paper looks into the changes that has occurred within the Bajau Laut group and how they are viewed by the Sabah government and society. One of the main finding of this paper is that the status of the Bajau Laut as stateless has made them more vulnerable and easily exploited. This in turn presents as a possible security problem to the state as these people pledges allegiance to no one.

The Chav Youth Subculture and Its Representation in Academia as Anomalous Phenomenon

The Chav Youth Subculture and Its Representation in Academia as Anomalous Phenomenon

Colloquy: Musicology and the Middlebrow

Colloquy: Musicology and the Middlebrow

Nothing but a “titty streamer”: legitimacy, labor, and the debate over women’s breasts in video game live streaming

ABSTRACTSince the mid-2010s, live streaming has become an increasingly prominent facet of the cultural and commercial landscape of video games. Twitch, the largest streaming platform, reports that more than two million streamers broadcast on their site monthly. This article addresses gender-based harassment in video game live streaming, a widespread problem, especially for women streamers. Here, we deconstruct the discriminatory discourse that surrounds the bodies of women streamers, with a focus on the term “titty streamer.” “Titty streamer” is a derogatory label applied by detractors to women streamers who are perceived as drawing undeserved attention from viewers by presenting their bodies in sexualized ways. To delineate and critique how this term is being deployed in the cultures that surround Twitch, we perform a qualitative analysis of comments in forum threads in the Twitch subreddit (r/Twitch). Our analysis reveals that the term “titty streamer” is far more than a dismissible, juvenile insult. The term serves as a window onto underlying cultural logics and anxieties from within gamer culture about labor and legitimacy in live streaming, as well as larger issues of how women’s bodies are perceived, performed, and policed in and through video games.

On the Descriptive and Expressive Function of Derogatory Group Labels: An Experimental Test

By using a pseudoword paradigm, we tested whether derogatory labels (e.g., pejorative labels addressing group members) differed from category labels and general slur in their descriptive (i.e., pointing to group membership) and expressive functions (i.e., perceived offensiveness and social acceptability). Results indicated that derogatory labels were similar to category labels in their descriptive function, and had higher expressive function than slurs. Participants’ prejudice toward the groups that were targets of derogatory label reduced their perceived offensiveness than in turn increased their social acceptability.

The contradictions of populism: reasserting adult education for democracy

The context for this paper is the rise of populism across the UK, Europe and the US, a trend which is sweeping western liberal capitalist democracies in particular but also beyond in countries such as Turkey. Populism is used primarily as a derogatory label to demean the poor, working class groups and people with low educational attainment, as not having the experience or capacity to make wise decisions. In the UK this has led to demands for a second referendum on leaving Europe because the ‘will of the people’ was manipulated. It is also claimed that Parliament is sovereign so the decision to exit Europe should be made by its members who are better informed and can legitimately overturn the referendum decision. On the other hand, demagogues of the far right who led campaigns of disinformation and thinly veiled racist vocabulary to sway the Brexit result champion the ‘will of the people’ in disingenuous ways. If we widen our lens, there are also examples of progressive populist politics in Europe, such as Podemos in Spain, which are indicative of a counter-trend to the neoliberal model of globalization. Whilst populism is mainly used as a derogatory label, it can also be framed progressively as a response of the powerless, the poor and the ignored reacting to the limits of liberal democratic institutions in the current context. The election of Trump in the US and the Brexit result in the UK can be understood in these terms too. The repressed, overlooked or denigrated by the political and media elite, have responded at the only opportunity available to them. At the same time, the kind of social purpose adult education which aimed to engage with people in communities, on their own terms, has withered as neoliberal forms of lifelong learning and citizenship transform educational practices into ‘remoralising’ citizens to take care of themselves. In this context adult education and democracy are in crises. However, both crises can be turned towards generating productive synergies which adult educators need to connect with. This presentation seeks to explore and stimulate this debate.

To Be or Not to Be an Adult, That Is the Question

To Be or Not to Be an Adult, That Is the Question Heather Snell In 2015, the ballyhoo over the phenomenon of so-called adults reading young adult fiction prompted Mavis Reimer and I to co-write an editorial entitled "YA Narratives: Reading One's Age." I write so-called adults, because no one really seems to know what an adult is. If the remarkably weak arguments of those on the side of the "adults-should-read-their-age" debate are not evidence enough, the increasingly popular category of "New Adult fiction" as a genre distinctive from YA and Adult fiction signals further the uncertainty around the question of when childhood begins and ends, and where young adulthood fits into this picture. After all, New Adult fiction targets the late teen/early twenties market, the rationale being that individuals who fall into this age range are conspicuously missing from Adult fiction. The ubiquity of capital letters in both descriptors of target demographics and debates about reading one's age indicates that the dominant culture, at least in North America, where many of these debates originate, values the separation of people on the basis of whatever stage of life it might be possible to corral them into. With separation-by-age comes differential-treatment-by-age, and not just socially. When one breaks the law, for example, it is important to know which laws will be applied—those designed for adults or those designed for minors. The aftermath of the school shooting that occurred on 14 February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, functions as a reminder of just how political these kinds of differentiations are. When the young survivors of the shooting stood up to demand stricter gun laws, many refused to acknowledge them as young adults, dubbing them "children" instead. This discursive move on the part of those who considered themselves "adults" was meant to consign the survivors to a space that, in this context, defined them as ignorant and therefore incapable of exerting political agency. The moniker was effectively an attempt to disempower the [End Page 1] survivors. "Children" became a derogatory label in the wake of a tragedy in which fourteen students and three staff members were killed and fourteen others wounded. Demonstrating an impressive familiarity with the ways in which the language of childhood is manipulated for political ends, the survivors turned the adults' strategy against them, placing the burden of the change for which they were calling fully on the adults. This is a remarkable move when one considers that children's and young adult literatures tend to place the burden of change on young people, as if older people bear no responsibility for the future. In this editorial I approach moral panics around reading one's age from a different angle than Mavis and I did in 2015, reflecting on the precariousness of claims to adulthood. I then return to the child/adult divide through a reading of the tumultuous fallout of the Florida shooting. I argue that it was precisely many adults' belief in the rigidity of the line separating childhood and adulthood that the survivors of the shooting manipulated toward their own ends, showing just how fundamentally unstable both concepts are. Looking at the event from a very different angle, however, brings into relief the unequal distribution of victimhood, suggesting that whether or not one is deemed worthy of protection is profoundly complicated when one considers the role that registers such as sex, class, race, and ethnicity play in debates about gun violence in the United States. What Is Adulthood Anyway? Despite my age, and having successfully accrued many of the traditional markers of adulthood recognized in my culture, I wonder if I am an adult. As I often tell my students in my Field of Children's Literature course, I feel as though I'm still waiting for adulthood to happen. This raises the question: is adulthood something that happens to a person or is it something a person achieves? If it's something that happens, did I miss that magical moment when I crossed the threshold from childhood to adulthood? Did I cross over when I...

‘Oxford in the bush’: the founding (and diminishing) ethos of Rhodes University

ABSTRACTOver the years, many members of the Rhodes University community have proudly claimed their university to be a kind of transplanted Oxford, while others have viewed this claim as pretentious – hence the derogatory label ‘Oxford in the bush’. This article explores the connections and comparison between the two institutions. In the early twentieth century, both universities strongly identified with the British imperial cause; and for decades Rhodes University regularly celebrated its symbolic association with the historical figure of Cecil Rhodes, who also happens to be one of the most commemorated figures in Oxford. There was also a shared ethos, as both laid stress on a style of education that was character-building, a prerequisite for which was a strong grounding in the classics. There was, too, a cultural affinity between Rhodes and Oxford, exemplified in the strict segregation of the sexes, the importance attached to sporting achievement, and a tendency to engage in frivolous activities. The article goes on to show how over time the Oxford tradition at Rhodes came to be challenged and undermined, especially from the late 1960s onwards.

An exploration of the ‘pushy parent’ label in educational discourse

This article explores the ideological function of the derogatory label of ‘pushy parent’, which, since the 1980s, has been used considerably in journalistic, popular, political and academic discourses in the UK and the USA. ‘Pushy parent’ is not a descriptive term, but a conceptually vague label implying the existence of antagonistic agents intent on optimising their children's educational attainment. This label, it is argued here, masks structural inequalities in educational opportunities and outcomes by making those inequalities imputable to individual practices. The article first explores the distinction ‘pushy parenting’ sets up between ‘fake’ and ‘real’ intelligence, and ‘deserved’ and ‘undeserved’ educational achievement. However, it is difficult to draw clear boundaries between the behaviours covered by ‘pushy parenting’, and those covered by the ‘ideal’ parenting of neoliberal educational policy. To conclude, the function of the ‘pushy parent’ label as inoculation is explored, as well as its implications for the cultural politics of education.

The Reappropriation of Stigmatizing Labels

We present a theoretical model of reappropriation—taking possession of a slur previously used exclusively by dominant groups to reinforce another group’s lesser status. Ten experiments tested this model and established a reciprocal relationship between power and self-labeling with a derogatory group term. We first investigated precursors to self-labeling: Group, but not individual, power increased participants’ willingness to label themselves with a derogatory term for their group. We then examined the consequences of such self-labeling for both the self and observers. Self-labelers felt more powerful after self-labeling, and observers perceived them and their group as more powerful. Finally, these labels were evaluated less negatively after self-labeling, and this attenuation of stigma was mediated by perceived power. These effects occurred only for derogatory terms (e.g., queer, bitch), and not for descriptive (e.g., woman) or majority-group (e.g., straight) labels. These results suggest that self-labeling with a derogatory label can weaken the label’s stigmatizing force.