Macaca (slur)

Macaca [ [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/macaca macaca] . (n.d.). Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary. Retrieved September 26, 2006, from Dictionary.com] is a pejorative epithet used by francophone colonialists in Central Africa's Belgian Congo for the native population. [Note 22 in [http://www2.fmg.uva.nl/lpca/aps/tshibumba3b.html#note%2022e "The history of Zaire as told and painted by Tshibumba Kanda Matulu in conversation with Johannes Fabian"] , Archives of Popular Swahili, ISSN 1570-0178, Volume 2, Issue 7 (6 June 2000)] It may be derived from the name of the genus comprising macaque monkeys. The word "macaque" has also been used as a racial slur. The macaque's genus name, "Macaca", is a latinization of the Bantu (Kongo) "ma-kako", [ [http://www.bartleby.com/61/20/M0002050.html "macaco"] - Portuguese, of Bantu origin; akin to Kongo ma-kako, monkeys : ma-, pl. n. pref. + kako, monkey. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000)] meaning "monkey".

In the United States, the term was at the center of a controversy during the 2006 United States Senate election in Virginia when it was used by the Republican incumbent, George Allen. Most Americans were unfamiliar with the term until continual media coverage revealed it to be a racial slur. Allen claims to be unaware of its racial context. Relating to the Allen controversy, "macaca" was named the most politically incorrect word of 2006 by Global Language Monitor, a nonprofit group that studies word usage. [ [http://www.languagemonitor.com/?page_id=27 The Global Language Monitor » Politically (in)Correct ] ] The word was also a finalist for the American Dialect Society "Word of the Year" that same year.

Related words

*The first European settlers in the Congo Free State derogatively referred to natives as "macaques", according to an anonymous Italian account. [ it icon [http://digilander.libero.it/come2discuss/la%20storia%20del%20congo.pdf#search=%22%22la%20storia%20del%20congo%22%22 "La storia del Congo raccontato da un anziano ai suoi nipoti"] ]
*Later, in the Belgian Congo, colonial whites continued to call Africans "macaques" and insist that they had only recently come down from trees. The term "sale macaque" (dirty macaque) was occasionally used as an insult. [Edgerton, Robert B. "The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo", St. Martin's Press, New York, ISBN 0-312-30486-2, pp. 180-181]
*The word (spelled "makaak" in Dutch or "macaque" in French) is occasionally used in Belgium (both in Flanders and in Wallonia) as a racial slur, referring not to Congolese but to Moroccan or other North African immigrants or their descendants.
*In the ceremony in 1960 in which Congo gained its independence from Belgium, Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba gave a speech accusing Belgian King Baudouin of presiding over "a regime of injustice, suppression, and exploitation" before ending "We are no longer your "macaques", as the Congolese in the audience rose to their feet cheering. [Edgerton, p. 184]
*In the "Adventures of Tintin" written by Belgian writer-artist Hergé, Captain Haddock uses the term "macaque" as an insult, along with other random terms. [fr icon [http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liste_des_insultes_du_capitaine_Haddock&oldid=9246293 List of Captain Haddock's insults] , French Wikipedia, wiki revision of 10 August 2006]
*In a 1994 essay, literary scholar Patrick Colm Hogan discussed the racist symbolism surrounding the name "Makak", the protagonist in Derek Walcott's 1967 play "Dream on Monkey Mountain". [Hogan, Patrick Colm. "Mimeticism, Reactionary Nativism, and the Possibility of Postcolonial Identity in Derek Walcott's Dream on Monkey Mountain." Research in African Literatures Vol 25 Iss 2 (1994): 103-19, p. 103]
*English gossip columnist Taki Theodoracopulos referred to Bianca Jagger, who is of Nicaraguan origin, as "macaca mulatta" in 1996. Theodoracopulos has frequently used racial slurs in his published work. [Taki, Mick's Little Madam, Sunday Times, September 8 1996] [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,1331882,00.html "The Guardian"] leader 21 October 2004] . Note that "Macaca mulatta" is the scientific name for the Rhesus monkey.
*The photographer Marc Garanger recounts the use of Macaque as a slur against Algerian women in a 1990 issue of "Aperture" magazine. [Carole Nagar. "the Unveiled: Algerian Women, 1960" Aperture no. 119 (Summer 1990) p.4]

2006 Virginia Senate race

, referring to him as "Macaca." [cite web
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G7gq7GQ71c
title = Allen's Listening Tour
work = YouTube
date = 2006-08-14
accessdate = 2006-08-15 ] ] The failed re-election campaign of Republican U.S. Senator George Allen of Virginia generated much controversy after he used the word "macaca" in reference to an Indian American. On August 11, 2006, at a campaign stop in Breaks, Virginia, near the Kentucky border, George Allen twice used the word "macaca" to refer to S. R. Sidarth, who was filming the event as a "tracker" for the opposing Jim Webb campaign. Prior to this, the term was almost completely unknown in the U.S.

Sidarth is of Indian ancestry, but was born and raised in Fairfax County, Virginia, while Allen is originally from Whittier, California. Allen's mother, born Henrietta Lumbroso, is of French Tunisian descent and some commentators have suggested that she may have learned the pejorative during her childhood and introduced it to her son. Even though Allen claimed that he made up the word and said that he did not understand its derogatory meaning, it led to a media outcry. After a two-week outpour of negative publicity, Allen publicly apologized for his statement and asserted that he in no way intended those words to be offensive. The term "Macacawitz," referring to the September 2006 discovery of Allen's Jewish heritage was coined by neo-conservative pundit John Podhoretz and was widely used afterwards. A campaign staffer for Democratic Congressional candidate Al Weed used the phrase and was fired for her comment.

Many believe that the use of this epithet was directly related to the eventual loss of a Senate seat Allen was widely expected to retain. [Michael Kranish, [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/10/allen_campaign_brought_down_by_mistakes/ "Allen Campaign Brought Down By Mistakes"] , "The Boston Globe" November 10 2006]

Some members of the Indian American community saw Allen's insult, and the massive backlash against him, as "a cultural turning point" demonstrating the newfound confidence of Indian-born U.S. citizens. [cite news| publisher="Salon.com"| title=How the World Works: Hail Macaca!| url=http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2006/11/09/macaca_mutiny/index.html| author=Andrew Leonard| date=2006-11-09]

The racially-tinged fallout over the Macaca incident led to George Allen, once considered a leading prospect for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, being no longer considered a viable candidate in the 2008 Presidential election, either as president or vice president. Allen later declared, after the loss of his Senate seat that he had no intention of seeking the presidency.

Macaca Effect

Although the phrase "macaca effect" originally had a political meaning in the Virginia Senate race, it now has taken on a new meaning in the world of high tech. Liz Davidson writes:

What is the "macaca effect"? First of all, what is a macaca? A "macaca" is a racial pejorative to refer to someone either from or with ancestry from India or Pakistan. And the "macaca effect" is pejorative used by people in high tech to refer to East Indians driving down the wages of American and British workers. In many fields (computer programming, engineering, medicine, nursing, accounting, etc.) companies are faking labor shortages to acquire an H1B visa and hire East Indians, with the net effect of driving down the wages of American and British employees. Thus, one hears disgruntled employees talking about the "macaca effect." [Liz Davidson, [http://www.magic-city-news.com/Guest_Column_89/What_is_the_Macaca_Effect10562.shtml/ "What Is The Macaca Effect?"] , "Magic City Morning News" August 19 2008]

See also

* Macacawitz

References

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r90z0PMnKwI Video of the George Allen (R) slur] at YouTube
* [http://www.languagemonitor.com/wst_page20.html Macaca Named Top Politically Incorrect Term of 2006] from Global Language Monitor
* [http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/06/politics_avoidi.html Republicans try to avoid future Macaca moments] from www.sajaforum.org