Book on 'N-word' raises ire at UIC. (Keeping Current).Exploring the history and meanings of the word "nigger" helps strip it of its racist power, Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (colloquially, Harvard Law or HLS) is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Law is considered one of the most prestigious law schools in the United States. professor Randall Kennedy said in a recent lecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago This article is about the University of Illinois at Chicago. For other uses, see University of Illinois at Chicago (disambiguation). UIC participates in NCAA Division I Horizon League competition as the UIC Flames in several sports, most notably Basketball. . But some scholars attending the lecture called the word a slur that doesn't merit discussion. Kennedy was speaking about his new book, "Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word," published by Pantheon Books in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . The book follows the word from slave-trading days to the present, including its use by whites in the Jim Crow South and by rap artists recently. "[T]here is much to be gained by allowing people of all backgrounds to yank nigger away from white supremacists, to subvert its ugliest denotation de·no·ta·tion n. 1. The act of denoting; indication. 2. Something, such as a sign or symbol, that denotes. 3. Something signified or referred to; a particular meaning of a symbol. 4. , and to convert the N-word from a negative into a positive appellation," Kennedy writes. "I don't think that a fair reading of my book would give solace to racists," he said in his lecture. Cedric Herring, an African American sociology professor at UIC UIC University of Illinois at Chicago UIC Underground Injection Control UIC Union of Islamic Courts UIC United Industrial Corporation UIC Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer (International Union of Railways) , charged that Kennedy was exploiting black experiences for personal gain. "I'm tired of Negroes who pimp aspects of black life," he said. While Herring had not read the book, he said that it "does little or nothing to uplift African Americans, but does plenty to soothe ... the guilt of whites." Kennedy's book almost encourages continued use of the word, said Valerie C. Johnson, assistant professor in the department of political science. "As a black person who definitely finds insult in the word, to have this discussion just seems so ... painstakingly irrelevant as to be offensive," said Johnson, who also had not read the book. Dwight McBride, head of UIC's African American studies African American studies (also known as Black studies and/or Africana studies) is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans. department, said he and his colleagues were initially reluctant to sponsor the lecture, but decided Kennedy should have the chance to "present his work in the marketplace of ideas This article is about the concept. For the public radio show and podcast, see The Marketplace of Ideas (radio program). The "marketplace of ideas" is a rationale for freedom of expression based on an analogy to the economic concept of a free market. ." The book, McBride added, is "an important scholarly endeavor worthy of our attention and consideration." "The fact that the discussion generates such emotion suggests, at the very least, that our subject is not irrelevant," Kennedy contended. |
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