Who said it was ok for you to say futbol?
Microagressions at Oberlin. It could be the title of a new sitcom; someone should pitch it.
No but really, Conor Friedersdorf in the Atlantic gives us a case study.
Last fall at Oberlin College, a talk held as part of Latino Heritage Month was scheduled on the same evening that intramural soccer games were held. As a result, soccer players communicated by email about their respective plans. “Hey, that talk looks pretty great,” a white student wrote to a Hispanic student, “but on the off chance you aren’t going or would rather play futbol instead the club team wants to go!!”
It would help if he hadn’t made it white student / Hispanic student, since white can be Hispanic and Hispanic can be white. But anyway: the “Hispanic student” was pissed off by the email.
After initially emailing the student who offended her, she decided to publicly air the encounter that provoked her and their subsequent exchange in the community at large, hoping to provoke sympathy and antagonism toward the emailer by advertising her status as an aggrieved party.
She did so in a post to the web site Oberlin Microaggressions, a blog “primarily for students who have been marginalized at Oberlin.”
Ooooooooh I want to check out that blog, I bet it makes for some great reading.
The aggrieved student quoted the aforementioned email: “Hey, that talk looks pretty great, but on the off chance you aren’t going or would rather play futbol instead the club team wants to go!!”
Then she explained her grievance:
Ok. 1. Thanks for you thinking that the talk is “pretty great”. I appreaciate your white male validation. I see that it isn’t interesting enough for you to actually take your ass to the talk. 2. Who said it was ok for you to say futbol? It’s Latino Heritage Month, your telling people not to come to the talk, but want to use our language? Trick NO! White students appropriating the Spanish language, dropping it in when convenient, never ok. Keep my heritage language out your mouth! If I’m not allowed to speak it, if my dad’s not allowed to speak it, then bitch you definitely are not supposed to be speaking it. Especially in this context.
That’s disgusting. All of it.
“Who said it was ok for you to say futbol?” Excuse me? Since when do people need permission to say things? We don’t. If it’s not clearly done to jeer or mock, nobody needs permission. And damn, “Keep my heritage language out your mouth” is just appalling. It’s not “appropriation” to attempt to speak other languages; it’s provincial not to.
She has more:
She also published the email that he sent to the white student:
- Your not latino, call it soccer. You don’t play futbol. Futbol is played with people (LATINO) who know how to engage in community soccer, as somebody who grew up on the cancha (soccer field) I know what playing futbol is, and the way you take up space, steal the ball, don’t pass, is far from how my culture plays ball.
- I’m not playing intramural once again this semester because you and your cis-dude, non passing the ball, stealing the ball from beginners, spanish-mocking, white cohort has ruined it (for the second time). Unless I find another team you won’t be seeing me.
Cis-dude? What’s that got to do with anything?
There’s more. It’s gruesome.
I see that calling people “bitch” is still a-ok in this student’s mind.
I have spent a certain amount of time viewing “futbol” (perdoname virgen santisima y que viva Mexico) in Mexico. Taking up space, stealing the ball, not passing, blah blah blah is pretty much how the game is played. All over the world, to my non-sports-fan eye. This sounds like a very very young person trying on some identity politics and confusing it w/anger at a very very young rude guy.
And unfortunately it’s all stupid. I hope she learns how to be a complete smart person, and looks back on this as a moment of adolescent irritation.
Sigh.
She said “Keep my heritage language out your mouth!” Oh my God I’m dying of laughter!
As a Latina Hispanic Chicana Mestiza Spanish-American, I hereby grant you each the right to occasionally speak Spanish words, as well as whatever words you damn well please.
Muchas gracias, Sra. Chavez.
I can understand the desire to make light of this sort of thought process, to brush it off as a folly of youth, to pick apart individual misconceptions (e.g., pretending that Spanish-speaking people somehow magically play football as though it were a cooperative exercise rather than a competitive sport, using insulting terminology, or even forgetting that the social justice term of art for something relating to Spanish or Portuguese culture in the Americas is ‘Latin@’ rather than the more patriarchal ‘Latino’, at least in written correspondence). But these urges are obviously myopic, perhaps even petty.
Ophelia recently wrote about the use of formulas in lieu of thinking, which this post so neatly exemplifies. I think that’s very close to the root of the problem, but it can be expanded just a little bit further. We have a term for a system of thought which arranges all of its content based upon formulas, which begins with the conclusions and builds its theories to filter out any sort of information which does not support them, which draws its power from ubiquity and wields the threat of ostracism upon any who dare to break the ranks of orthodoxy.
We call it religion.
And it both saddens and frightens me that attitudes such as those featured in the OP seem to be growing more common, rather than scarcer, especially in the face of the supposed abandonment of churches. In the last ten years, it feels like we’ve taken what could have been a great and robust and inclusive movement for reason and equality, and we’ve squandered it by developing orthodoxies and heresy hunts. The first example that comes to mind is Elevatorgate, wherein a significant proportion of supposedly-reasonable people lost their goddamned minds over Rebecca Watson essentially daring to be a woman with opinions. In reality, her supposed crime was pretty much deviating from the mainly-unspoken orthodoxy that “it isn’t sexism when atheists do it!”
Ophelia’s recent ejection from what was supposed to have been a community dedicated to thinking above all else was something of a bookend to that clusterfuck, when most of the “decent” atheists showed themselves little more than religious fanatics, willing to put a colleague through a test of orthodoxy rather than actually have a conversation. Identity-as-gender has evidently become an article of faith among many liberals, much like the concept of Islamophobia (to such an extent that anyone who isn’t, say, outrightly hostile to the likes of Sam Harris is taken as an irremediable bigot, even if the amicable party is themself Muslim). In the same way, the doctrine of cultural appropriation has become instantiated as a pillar of liberal thought, so foundational as to go without interrogation.
And it is the act of interrogation which is supposed to set liberals (in general) and skeptics (in particular) apart; we are supposed to be free to assess ideas and test hypotheses and challenge theories, to strengthen our analysis of reality by adopting those ideas which appear to conform to it and discarding those ideas which evidently do not. (Notice that this process is identical to the scientific method; that is not a coincidence.) When a theory is placed beyond interrogation, when it is held sacred, that does not actually make the theory better. It makes it weaker, because it is no longer able to respond to evidence. And that, ultimately, means the theory will serve nobody, save those invested in maintaining the orthodoxy.
The use of futball leapt out at me in the original email as…. corny, I guess, since the writer probably doesn’t say that except in the context of writing to a Latina student.
The whole interaction made me think of myself as a college student, long ago, long before blogs or terms like “microaggressions”. I had had plenty of experiences with racism, blatant, subtle, implicit, structural, casual, violent et al., and had developed hair trigger hackles. And finally I was in an environment with other students of color who had had similar experiences and read the same books and wanted to fight the power. So of course we had endless conversations dissecting, dissing, minor incidents which offended us. Sometimes we over-reacted. It gave us a sense that we were doing *something* about the racism around us. As I grew older, and especially as I became involved in larger political projects focused on working class women of color, my rage was channeled in a different route.
I have some sympathy for the Latina student is what I want to say, and ” If I’m not allowed to speak it, if my dad’s not allowed to speak it” is what I would want to ask her about.
Funny thing is, here in Sydney, members of immigrant communities (including my wife’s Peruvian community) castigate me for calling it “soccer”.
There’s actually a low grade culture war over it. Some, like me, insisting on the old ways and calling the dominant spectator code in one’s area “Football” or “Footy”. That traditionally meant either of the Rugby codes or Australian Rules.
On the other side Europhiles, immigrants and Soccer promoters insist there’s only one true football.
And they are right, you Anglo-Saxon poopy head! There can be only one!
Seriously, this whole thread is depressing.
The fuck it is! Let me get this straight for you. “Futbol” (no funny accents above “u”, mind you) is a *Polish* word. All the rest is cultural appropriation. Nobody except us knows how to play it. For your information, here is the only proper method: close your eyes and charge the Huns.
(No matter that the Huns will win. And don’t get me started with “your national team sucks”. It’s not the bloody point!!!)
I wrote a long comment then deleted it in favour of “expletive deleted”.
suya @ 6 –
Well, I don’t know…I call it futbol (to myself) quite a lot, for no particular reason. I just pick up words as magpies pick up bits of shiny paper. Plus I occasionally watch some Spanish language football when channel-surfing…but mostly it’s just because I like to use different words for the same thing. The one thing I seldom call it is soccer, because that feels like Yankee “appropriation.”
(Then again, would I spell it that way in an email to a Spanish-speaker? Probably not. That would seem at least corny, I agree.)
As an Italian, I thank you all to stop using all Italian food words, as Italian alone understand the communal sharing of food and intricate interplay of generosity and power.
I’m speaking in particular to the people who pronounce spaghetti as “pus-chetty”. Stop that.
So what should I call pesto?
I found his use of futbol a little… cringey. Like he’s trying too hard, maybe? But I think it’s quite a stretch to read into his use of a Spanish term everything the other student is discovering there. I know it’s a mainstay of the “anti-PC” crowd to claim that some people just want to be victims, but I think she gives up the game when she takes offense at his saying the talk looks interesting:
This reads like someone who is looking for—and hoping to find—infractions everywhere. “Oh, thank you for telling me to have ‘a nice day.’ I’d better comply with your request right away, O powerful white male overlord, and let you dictate my every mood!”
“So what should I call pesto?”
You should call it “pestled green sauce”, and serve it on a plate of paste. Or “pounded sauce” on a plate of noodles.
(@SamBarge, do you know really know people over the age of 5 who say “pus-chetty”?)
So what should I call pesto?
Basil, garlic, oil and pine nut puree. Just don’t pronounce “basil” like an Italian (bazeelia).
Amusingly, the word “soccer” is British, as it is a shorthand for Association Football (as distinguished from gridiron football). Once we wicked Americans started calling our weird stepchild of rugby “football” and started using “soccer” for the game that people actually play with their feet, people in the UK apparently needed to distance themselves from the S-word.
I’m really curious what Oberlin woman’s actual heritage is. Many of us get a romanticized version, even in school. My entire outlook changed when I learned my actual heritage, by reading a book filled with primary documents from the expedition that brought my ancestor from New Spain (now Mexico) to what is now New Mexico. Turns out, he wasn’t just some yeoman farmer-settler, he was a soldier in the Spanish army’s campaign to genocide Pueblo Indians, after appropriating all their land along with their food culture and so on. And that is why I look sideways at most (not all) casual discussion of cultural appropriation.
Now I’m wondering what kind of trouble I will get in for using pistachios instead of pinenuts in my pestled green sauce, since I am loath to experience a recurrence of metallogeusia (aka Pine Nut Mouth – http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-03-16-Pinemouth16_ST_N.htm)
Cross-posted from a Facebook discussion of this post:
“My heritage language.” The one her parents “aren’t allowed” to speak. The one she is “not allowed” to speak.
This isn’t a plea for cultural authenticity. It’s a commodification of identity along with the policing necessary to keep the commodity artificially scarce and therefore more valuable.
This is a capitalist move.
It’s not necessary to allege that this young woman is commodifying it deliberately. I’m certain it’s nowhere near that conscious or calculated.
But it is perfectly understandable when you reflect on how we live. *Of course* people are going to fight “fire” with fire. To the extent that all of us buy into capitalist logic, of course it will seem normal and natural to treat your own concerns as a brand and a product. We have no other lens to look through to find value in people or ideas.
It’s deeply sinister.
That Oberlin student should avoid ever coming to Toronto; the sheer amount of microagressions they’d encounter would be deadly! We’ve got the SC Toronto Futbol School, South Toronto Futbol Club, Toronto International Youth Futbol Club, Master’s Futbol Academy…
In Canada, it’s common to spell it futbol to distinguish it from the other kind of football while avoiding the term soccer. It seems some of us think it’s weird to call it soccer when everyone except for the US calls it football. As futbal becomes more and more popular here, we seem to be moving further away from the word soccer, and many associations have already phased it out of their names.
I would have thought that the move towards the globally-recognized term for the sport is a gesture towards internationalism and inclusion. Huh, I guess not. Clearly, all those Canadian soccerers’ imperialist microagressive thoughts must be purified.
Hey, since Spanish stole the word from English in the first place, merely changing the spelling, then she is the one defending ‘appropriation’.
Some people aren’t happy unless they have something to be unhappy about.
Theo Bromine @15
I do.* It sets my teeth on edge every time. i can forgive it in the parents of young children while they’re speaking to their children, perhaps, but adults with no excuse for doing it are dead to me. I was a waitress during university and I can’t believe how many grown-ass adults ordered their spaghetti like that.
*I should say that I hear it. None of my friends say it. Well, not around me.
I always call it football because I’m from Britain and because that’s what most of the world call it. I’ve even been to matches in Spain.
But now I’m realising a greater horror, which is that I was brought up going to Spain regularly and know lots of Spanish words and phrases. Indeed, we were encouraged to use them rather than insist that everyone else speak English. I did take a class once and would have liked to speak it better but now I see the error of my ways.
Next time I go to a Spanish restaurant I definitely won’t be using the Spanish names for the dishes. Should I be eating the food at all because that is also a kind of appropriation? Maybe I will have fish and chips instead.
Some years ago there was an Alabama gubernatorial candidate named Tim James whose xenophobic platform included pledging to make the driver license exam English only. He produced a corny ad about it. It spawned this hilarious spoof, lampooning the style of the James ad as well as the message of the platform. The spoof extends the English-only rule to cover business names and product names. Enjoy.
‘Soccer’ the word is actually a British English invention, coined by the English FA (Football Association) in the 19th Century to differentiate it from Rugby Football. Despite the number of British people who squirm when they hear the word.
As the British invented and codified Football, most languages have copied (appropriated?) the terms of the game straight from English: futbol, gol, corner etc. There’s not much Latin about them.
As an English football fan, who also speaks Spanish, and watches football from all over the world, I find the sentiments in the email ignorant and obnoxious..
Myrhinne@ “Next time I go to a Spanish restaurant I definitely won’t be using the Spanish names for the dishes. Should I be eating the food at all because that is also a kind of appropriation? Maybe I will have fish and chips instead”
I read a comment on Freethoughtblogs this summer where someone did ponder whether eating a Doner Kebab in Germany was ‘Cultural Appropriation’ of the Turkish community there.
English food has improved out of all recognition thanks to the cultural appropriation of chicken tikka masala …
The writer has a couple of good points. It would be interesting and useful to talk about people saying “you have to talk American” and how this is used in a xenophobic way. She could have also used this to discuss how to make intramural sports better for everyone. Unfortunately those points get drowned out by her anger and putting other people down. Instead of criticizing her I would ask her to explain what she is really angry about but encourage her not to shame other people about what they say. (There are of course exceptions when it is necessary to shame actions but again without putting the whole person down.)
Just to clarify claims regarding who invented, yes, “soccer” I suggest looking up ‘Tsu-Chu’ a chinese game from around 200BCE…….
@24: fish and chips? should be no problem on the old Costa del Sol then!
Reminded me of:
“Good morning!” said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat.
“What do you mean?” he said. “Do you wish me a good morning; or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
[…]
“Good morning! he said at last. “We don’t want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The Water.” By this he meant that the conversation was at an end.
“What a lot of things you do use Good morning for!” said Gandalf. “Now you mean that you want to get rid of me, and that it won’t be good till I move off.”
I’m Latin American, and I have a southern accent. Due to this damn accent, I get censored all the time upon finding new places in the country. There are other Latin Americans who totally get me, and a bunch who shun me for my thick American accent speaking Spanish (though my mother says I sound Portuguese). If you want to speak Spanish, speak Spanish! Speak it fluently; I have ango-American friends who speak it better than I do, and good for them. I am so tired of people trying to stop me from being a linguist because they perceive me as white. They can go fuck themselves. And, if you’re from another country where the national language isn’t English, and someone says you speak good English, that is a compliment. That is saying that you have educated yourself to a point where your linguistic skill is worthy of praise.