A word pronounced during a course and deemed “offensive”, the name of a teacher thrown in the pasture on social networks, a hierarchy which gives up defending freedom of expression. It’s a Canadian story. Verushka Lieutenant-Duval is Professor of History and Art Theory at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in the representation of gender identities in the visual arts.
On September 23, she discusses the concept of “Subversive resignification”, explaining that the term “queer”, originally insulting to homosexuals, had been taken up by the LGBT community to make it a powerful identity marker. ” Other words may be the subject of such reappropriation ”, she explains then, citing in support “The way in which artists from the African-American community in turn try to deflect the racist insult “nigger ””.
“A white woman should never use that word”
Nigger, in English, four consonants and two vowels pronounced in their entirety, instead of the convolution of language already in use on American campuses: we no longer say “negro” but “the word in n” (N word, in English). In the evening, one of his students wrote to him to tell him about her discomfort, “A white woman should never use that word”, she intends to him. The teacher apologizes. Too late.
A handful of students soon joined by the university’s student union are calling for sanctions, posting their address and phone number on social networks. She receives loads of insults and threats. ” I’m afraid, she admits on October 21 on Canadian public radio. If I had known that there were forbidden words in a college course, (…) I would have said it another way. But I thought we were protected by academic freedom. “
“As a specialist on Alexandre Dumas, I wonder if I will allow myself to speak of the writer’s grandmother, a former slave, since my ancestors were not slavery. »Maxime Prévost, professor of French at the University of Ottawa
Illusion. The rector of the university, Jacques Frémont, suspends her for three weeks, proposes for her return a “Accommodation” to students wishing to withdraw from its courses, by offering them the possibility of following another module. Above all, he yields to the noisy injunction of this minority “Injured”. Arguing that this incident intervenes in a global awareness of racist attacks or micro-attacks suffered by black and racialized students at the university, he said in a statement that “Members of dominant groups simply do not have the legitimacy to decide what constitutes microaggression.” The simple fact that people say “Offended” It suffices, according to him, to characterize the offense: the culprit is identified.
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