THE POWER OF NAMES AND NAMING: It's not pronounced "Pay-dro"! (Bucholtz 2016)
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Mike explores the concept of 'indexical bleaching' through the lens of name mispronunciation, particularly in educational settings. Using examples from pop culture and real-life experiences, he discusses how misnaming, especially of students with ethnic names, can strip away cultural identity and power. The discussion highlights the subtle dynamics of linguistic violence and how names carry deep social meanings that are often overlooked. The video underscores the importance of recognizing and respecting the cultural significance of names in diverse social contexts.
Takeaways
- π The script discusses the phenomenon of teachers mispronouncing students' names, particularly those perceived as foreign or difficult.
- π It references a comedy sketch to highlight the humor and irony when a black teacher mispronounces white students' names, which is a reversal of common situations.
- π£οΈ The author, Mary Buckles, introduces the concept of 'indexical bleaching' as a technique of de-racialization, where names are anglicized to strip them of ethno-racial meanings.
- π¨βπ« The chapter emphasizes that misnaming can position students as powerless or deviant in the classroom, affecting their sense of identity and belonging.
- π« The practice is particularly prevalent in the United States among white English-speaking teachers, who often feel no obligation to accurately pronounce non-English names.
- π 'Indexical' refers to a sign that points to something, and names can be indexical, carrying meanings related to gender, ethnicity, culture, and more.
- π The renaming or misnaming of students can be seen as a form of linguistic violence, where the power dynamics in the classroom are made visible.
- π₯ The script also points out that misnaming is not limited to white teachers but can be perpetuated by anyone in a position of power, regardless of their racial or ethnic background.
- π Correct pronunciation of names can be affirming and empowering, as illustrated by the author's personal experience of having his last name correctly pronounced after years of mispronunciation.
- π± The chapter suggests that the normalization of misnaming can lead to a cycle where students internalize these power dynamics, accepting misnaming as a standard part of their educational experience.
Q & A
What is the main topic discussed in the chapter by Mary Buckles?
-The main topic discussed is the practice of 'indexical bleaching' as a technique of de-racialization, particularly in the context of teachers mispronouncing students' names, especially those perceived as foreign or difficult.
How does the comedy sketch from 'Key & Peele' relate to the chapter's topic?
-The sketch inverts the usual power hierarchy by featuring a black teacher mispronouncing white students' names, which highlights the common occurrence of misnaming in real life and makes the audience reflect on why it's not funny when it happens the other way around.
What is 'indexical bleaching' in the context of this chapter?
-Indexical bleaching refers to the practice of anglicizing the names of Latinx students with Spanish language names, often stripping away the cultural and ethnic meanings associated with the original pronunciation.
What is an 'indexical' or 'index' in semiotics?
-An indexical or index is a sign that points to something, indicating a meaning or a set of meanings. It's a concept used in semiotics to describe how certain signs can represent or refer to other things.
How can names potentially index meanings beyond the individual they refer to?
-Names can index meanings such as gender, nationality, ethnicity, formality, and more, depending on the context and the person interpreting the name.
Why is the correct pronunciation of a name important according to the chapter?
-The correct pronunciation of a name is important because it can index a person's identity, heritage, and culture. Mispronouncing or changing a name can be seen as a form of linguistic violence, stripping away parts of a person's identity.
What is the concept of 'linguistic violence' as mentioned in the chapter?
-Linguistic violence refers to the act of misnaming or renaming someone in a way that can make them feel powerless or inferior, often used to assert dominance or control over someone.
How does the chapter illustrate the power dynamics involved in misnaming?
-The chapter uses the example of a teacher mispronouncing a student's name in a classroom setting to show how names can be a site of power struggle, especially when there is a significant difference in social positions between the individuals involved.
What are the implications of misnaming for Latinx students in U.S. public schools as discussed in the chapter?
-Misnaming can lead to feelings of powerlessness and invisibility for Latinx students, as well as a sense of not belonging or being an outsider in their educational environment.
How does the author suggest that misnaming can be resisted or addressed?
-The author implies that misnaming can be resisted by recognizing it as a form of linguistic violence and by advocating for the correct pronunciation and recognition of names as an act of respect and acknowledgment of one's identity.
Outlines
π Introduction to Indexical Bleaching
The speaker, Mike, introduces the topic of 'indexical bleaching' from a chapter by Mary Buckles in the book 'Racializing Language.' He discusses the common issue of teachers mispronouncing students' names, particularly those perceived as foreign or difficult. Using a comedy sketch as an example, Mike highlights the power dynamics at play when a black teacher mispronounces white students' names, which is a reversal of the usual racial hierarchy. The chapter explores how renaming, misnaming, and 'd'naming' can position students as powerless or deviant, and introduces the concept of 'indexical' to understand the social meanings behind names.
π§ Understanding Indexicals and Names
Mike explains the concept of 'indexicals' as signs that point to something, using the example of smoke indicating fire. He extends this to names, which can index meanings beyond the individual, such as gender, nationality, or formality. The name 'Mike' is used to illustrate how names can carry multiple meanings depending on the context and the interpreter. The discussion then shifts to how anglicizing Spanish names can strip away cultural and ethnic meanings, which is referred to as 'indexical bleaching.' This process can be seen as a form of de-racialization, where the original, culturally specific meanings of names are diminished.
π£οΈ The Impact of Misnaming in Educational Contexts
The speaker shares personal experiences with misnaming, emphasizing the power dynamics at play when teachers or superiors mispronounce names. He describes 'indexical bleaching' as a form of linguistic violence that can strip individuals of their cultural identity. Using examples from the chapter, Mike discusses how Latina youth in a California public school are often misnamed, denamed, or renamed, which can lead to a feeling of powerlessness. The chapter also notes that while the focus is on white teachers misnaming students of color, anyone with structural power can perpetuate this act. The importance of context is highlighted, with different reactions expected from students based on their social position.
π’ Conclusion and Call to Action
Mike concludes the discussion by emphasizing the power of names and the importance of correct pronunciation. He shares a personal anecdote about the significance of having his last name pronounced correctly, which made him feel a connection to his Mexican-American identity. The video ends with a call to action for viewers to support the channel on Patreon and a reminder that despite historical practices, marginalized people are aware of and affected by the ongoing misnaming and indexical bleaching.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Indexical Bleaching
π‘De-racialization
π‘Linguistic Violence
π‘Indexical
π‘Renaming
π‘Misnaming
π‘D Naming
π‘Phonology
π‘Ethno-racial Specificity
π‘Injurious Speech
Highlights
Discusses the common issue of teachers mispronouncing students' names, especially those perceived as foreign or difficult.
References a comedy sketch to illustrate the humor in a black teacher mispronouncing white students' names.
Explores why mispronunciation of names is not funny in real-life situations, particularly for students with Spanish names.
Introduces the concept of 'indexical bleaching' as a technique of de-racialization in the context of misnaming.
Describes indexicals as signs that point to something, using the example of smoke indicating fire.
Analyzes how names can index meanings beyond the individual, such as gender, nationality, and formality.
Discusses the power dynamics between teachers and students, and how misnaming can position students as powerless.
Explains how anglicizing Spanish names can strip away ethno-racial meanings and identity.
Uses the example of the name 'Miguel' to show how names can index cultural and ethnic meanings.
Describes the personal impact of having one's name mispronounced and the feeling of cultural identity being stripped away.
Introduces the concept of 'linguistic violence' and 'injurious speech' in the context of misnaming.
Provides real-life examples of Latina youth in California public schools being renamed or misnamed.
Highlights the student experience of having to change their own name pronunciation to fit in at school.
Notes that misnaming is not limited to white teachers but can be perpetuated by anyone with structural power.
Discusses the power struggle over names in the classroom and how it reflects broader social dynamics.
Concludes by emphasizing the importance of names in identity and the注ζε° that misnaming is a pattern that can affect a person's entire life.
Transcripts
welcome back party people mike here with
the social life of language and today
i'll be covering a chapter by mary
buckles called on being called out of
one's name indexical bleaching as a
technique of de-racialization found in
the edited volume called ratio
linguistics so today we're talking about
the very common occurrence of teachers
or faculty members
messing up the pronunciation of a
student's name especially if that name
is perceived as foreign or difficult to
pronounce immediately the author makes
reference to a skit from the comedy
sketch show k and peel which features a
black teacher from the inner city
totally butchering names of white
students i'm your substitute teacher mr
garvey
i taught school for 20 years in the
inner city let's take a roll here
jay quellan no j quellin here
do you mean jacqueline
okay
so that's how it's going to be
y'all want to play where is bolaca at my
name is blake
are you out of your goddamn mind
d nice
is there a d nice do you mean denise
okay so
this got me wondering why is this so
funny because this actually happens in
real life a lot notably when white
teachers butcher the name of students
with spanish language names and it's not
actually funny when it happens in real
life and sometimes students might not
even correct these teachers because
they've experienced this their entire
lives so some might just think that's
the way it is that's just how things are
done in school the perceived racial
makeup of the characters makes visible
things we might not otherwise see we got
a black teacher messing up the names of
white students that supposedly have
simple or american names but what's
really going on here let's find out
okay so in the united states
particularly with white english-speaking
teachers there's an overall acceptance
of the idea that these teachers don't
necessarily have to feel obligated to
try a little bit harder when pronouncing
their students names this is what makes
this skit so powerful because it inverts
a power hierarchy you have a black
substitute teacher who mispronounces all
the white students names because
teachers for better or worse are kind of
like unelected presidents they got a
whole lot of power over what goes on so
this chapter covers the practice of
renaming misnaming and d naming which
has the potential to position students
as completely powerless or as deviant or
as outside the norms of the classroom or
even american education and these kinds
of misnamings have the power to take
away from who you are as a person to
explain what's happening here our author
presents a theory she calls indexical
bleaching which in the context of this
article is about the practice of
anglicizing the names of latin x
students who have spanish language names
and these particular students want their
names to be pronounced in a
spanish-language phonology so maybe not
changing a last name like garcia to
garcia or martinez to martinez but to
really understand the process of
indexical bleaching we gotta know what
an indexical is or an index because if
we really understand what an indexical
is it makes the whole chapter really
easy to understand people and scholars
who study how meaning is produced and
how meaning
travels throughout the world are people
who are interested in the study of signs
or the field of semiotics now scholars
who are interested in studying signs
have named a few different kinds based
on what we perceive them to do but the
one we're talking about today is a sign
called an indexical or an index which is
a sign that points to something so just
remember index finger it points to
something it's a sign that points to a
meaning or a set of meanings so let's
start with a super easy example first
let's say we're driving along and then
we see smoke out in the distance when we
see smoke the smoke itself we can think
of it as a sign
pointing to fire we don't even have to
see the fire to know that smoke means
fire now we can also think of the
indexical aspect of people's names or
names potentially indexing meanings
meanings that go beyond the person the
name is referring to for example let's
think of what kinds of meanings might
become visible when we think about the
name mike the name mike points to a lot
of things aside from me for example mike
can point to gender because typically
mike is a boy's name it might also point
to meanings associated with americanness
because mike is a popular american name
it might also point to informality
because mike is usually a nickname for
michael so these are all meanings that
the name mike can potentially index
depending on who is interpreting the
name mike so all those meanings could
potentially be present or just maybe a
couple or maybe a few or maybe some
meanings aren't even known at all
depending on the person i might be
interacting with so in this sense some
meanings come all the way to the front
while other meanings are backgrounded
now let's think of mic in a different
context let's say i enter a formal space
people might switch to the name michael
to index or point to formality or they
might switch to michael to signal that
they don't feel like they know me well
enough to call me mike so you see my
name carries a lot of meanings meanings
much more complicated than just
referencing me mike the person names can
index entire social worlds entire
systems of beliefs but in this chapter
we're talking about spanish language
names or what kind of meanings might
come to the front when anglicizing a
spanish language name and then also what
kind of meanings might get pushed so far
into the background we can't even think
of them anymore let's do one more
example and we'll be ready to take on
the full keyword indexical bleaching now
what if my friend changes my name to
miguel so turning michael into its
spanish language version miguel can
suddenly index even more stuff even more
meanings for example miguel might
strongly point to my culture or
ethnicity or me being latinx or
mexican-american now what if somebody
pronounces my name miguel it matters who
is doing the pronouncing the context
matters because at home in south texas i
had a couple friends that would call me
miguel and they called me miguel because
they knew i had trouble speaking spanish
so miguel in english to my friends
indexed
ideas about americanness and friendship
and the fact that i primarily use
english so names can point to or index a
lot of stuff or like our author says
names are indexical forms with social
meanings that are intimately tied to the
context of their use hence a particular
name might simultaneously index such
sociocultural positionality as gender
generation ethnicity religion region
class kinship and more now let's keep
following the same example but change
the context again let's change it to an
institutional context like a classroom
where a teacher the unelected president
of the room changes my name to miguel
which i personally hear as wrong because
that teacher doesn't know me like that
that teacher stripped meanings that i am
proud of maybe my mexican-ness or using
our author's vocabulary that teacher
decided all on their own to bleach some
of the meanings that my name points to
they bleached some of the meanings that
my name indexes or we might call that
indexical bleaching damn that was smooth
that was smooth did you see see that
connection
nobody cares as the author notes
indexical bleaching may be used as a
technique of
de-racialization or the stripping of
contextually marked ethno-racial meaning
from an indexical form like a name so
again think of the way i felt when that
hypothetical teacher changed the
pronunciation of my name to miguel i
felt like all the cultural and ethnicity
stuff that i'm proud of was taken away
from me part of my identity was stripped
away often indexical bleaching involves
the literal reshaping of
marked names phonologically
orthographically and even lexically in
ways that reduce their ethno-racial
specificity so again my name was
reshaped in a way that reduces the
indexical meanings that i wanted there
that's my heritage as a mexican person
okay so maybe i'm being a little bit
oversensitive i'll give you a real
example having to do with my name when i
was in grad school in new york i
remember the first time someone
pronounced my last name correctly
after three years of being misnamed
people usually pronounce my last name
mena as mina now i generally don't care
too much
i mean like usually but when my name was
finally pronounced in spanish at my
university as mena it was the first time
in a long time that i felt like a
mexican american from south texas i did
not realize that the sound of my name
had so much meaning or how the sound of
my name
indexed my identity my family my home my
culture and for those three years i had
kind of just forgotten what my name
sounded like and then when that
professor durian roll call actually
pronounced my name as mike mena it was
startling it sounded like me as a person
so names are powerful things and have no
doubt names can make you feel powerless
have you ever been in a situation where
a person calls you the wrong name how
does that make you feel probably awkward
how about if a superior at work calls
you the wrong name repeatedly or that
boss calls you the wrong name in front
of other co-workers you might actually
feel pretty powerless in that situation
names can actually make power visible
which is why our author describes
certain kinds of misnamings as
linguistic violence and also cites
another theorist named judith butler who
calls this injurious speech butler says
to be injured by speech is to suffer a
loss of context that is not to know
where you are one can be put in one's
place by such speech but such place may
be no place so a boss getting your name
wrong would definitely put you in your
place as in an inferior position at work
after all you probably would make damn
sure that you don't mess up your
superior's name so getting to a couple
examples from the chapter this chapter
focuses on latina youth in a california
public school where they are often
renamed denamed or misnamed and there
are three examples in the chapter one
example was a recording of a group of
students talking to each other and they
discussed having to change their own
accents for the people that they were
speaking to at school for example one
student wants to pronounce their last
name as gutierrez but then says that
they won't understand it so she has to
change it so she feels like she has to
change her own name to gutierrez the
other students in this group had very
similar experiences they too had to
shift the pronunciation of their own
name to accommodate someone in their
school this is actually a problem that
goes far beyond just anglo teachers or
white identified teachers it's actually
a very common occurrence for latinx
people in public schools in the united
states however we should also note as
the author says and although i have
focused primarily on how misnaming is
wielded by whites against other
racialized groups
this act can be perpetuated by anyone
who benefits from structural power
on the basis of race class language and
or citizenship although we can also note
that it just so happens that when white
identified persons
really
mangle somebody's name
they tend to get away with it with
almost total immunity it appears to be
just the way things are but notice that
did not happen in the kmpl skit the fact
that every white student complained is
part of what made this skit so absurd is
there a d nice
do you mean denise say right denise
correctly denise right denise right
d nice that's better thank you where is
a-a-ron right now
yeah oh man
why didn't you answer me the first time
i said it huh because it's pronounced
aaron
imagine if this was a room full of
mexican-american kids with a white
teacher it's interesting that i can't
even imagine a scenario where this would
happen where the latinx students would
complain so we should be reminded that
context matters and that names can be
sites of power struggle especially if
the context includes people from vastly
differing social positions in society
like maybe one student will talk back to
a teacher but maybe a student that's a
recent immigrant just trying to fit in
and trying to respect their elders and
trying to learn english they probably
won't say anything to this misnaming and
then that misnaming slowly becomes a
pattern that happens throughout their
whole lives which then reproduces the
idea that that's just the way things are
done in the united states after all this
is america and we speak english etc etc
but you know what just because things
are historically done a certain way that
doesn't mean that marginalized and
racialized people
don't notice it's happening over and
over and over again we notice
trust me well that's all for today folks
don't forget to like and subscribe and
do support this channel on patreon i
swear to god if you don't support this
channel on patreon you can download my
publications from maestromicmana.com
this is mike with the social life of
language
and we're done
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