Reappropriation

In sociology and cultural studies, reappropriation or reclamation is the cultural process by which a group reclaims terms or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group.^[1]

Origin

The term reappropriation is an extension of the term appropriation or cultural appropriation used in anthropology, sociology and cultural studies to describe the reabsorbing of subcultural styles and forms, or those from other cultures, into mass culture through a process of commodification: the mass-marketing of alternate lifestyles, practices, and artifacts.

Definition

A reclaimed or reappropriated word is a word that was at one time pejorative but has been brought back into acceptable usage—usually starting within the communities that experienced oppression under that word, but sometimes also among the general populace as well.^[1] (The term "reclaimed word" more often implies usage by a member of the group referred to.)

This can have wider implications in the fields of discourse, and has been described in terms of personal or sociopolitical empowerment.^[2]

Reclaiming or reappropriating a word involves re-evaluating a term that in the dominant culture is, or at one time was, used by a majority to oppress various minorities of that same culture, such as "queer", once seen as pejorative but now reclaimed and used as a self-reference by some.^[3][4]

Reclaimed words differ from general reclamation outside of language because of their deliberately provocative nature. In addition to neutral or acceptable connotations, reclaimed words often acquire positive meaning within the circles of the informed.^[1] Outside the community, such transitions are rare. As such, the use of these terms by outside parties is usually viewed as strongly derogatory. For some terms, even "reclaimed" usage by members of the community concerned is a subject of controversy—for example, there is considerable debate within the transgender community over attempts to reclaim the term "tranny", usually applied offensively to trans women.^[5][6][7]

Michel Foucault discusses the idea of reclaimed words as a "reverse discourse" in his History of Sexuality: Volume I. The New York performance artist Penny Arcade sold what turned out to be her most popular show on the basis of the title, Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!, words she was reclaiming.^[8][9]

Examples

Sex and sexuality

There are many recent English-language examples of some linguistic reappropriation in the areas of human sexuality, gender roles, sexual orientation, etc. Among these are:

• "Dyke"^[10]
• Variants such as "bulldyke", "diesel dyke", "baby dyke", "femme dyke", etc., "butch"
• "Poof", "queer",^[11][12][13] "homo"

Politics

However, the phenomenon is much older, especially in politics and religion.

In England, for example, Cavalier was a derogatory nickname reappropriated as self-identification,^[14] while Roundhead, a Royalists derisory term for the supporters of the Parliamentary cause, is not (it was a punishable offence in the New Model Army to call a fellow soldier a roundhead).^[15] Tory (orig. from Middle Irish word for "pursued man" Tóraidhe ), Whig (from "whiggamore" (See the Whiggamore Raid)) and "Suffragette" are other British examples.

The term Prime Minister was originally used disparagingly by Members of the British Parliament towards Sir Robert Walpole, whose official title was First Lord of the Treasury. Over time, the title became official and honorific.

In the American colonies, British officers used Yankee, from a term used by the British to refer to Dutch pirates, as a derogatory term against colonists. British soldiers created the early versions of the song "Yankee Doodle," as a criticism of the uncultured colonists, but during the Revolution, as the colonists began to reappropriate the label "yankee" as a point of pride, they likewise reappropriated the song, altering verses, and turning it into a patriotic anthem.^[16]

The Dutch and German languages actually have a separate word for such a term, "geuzennaam" (Dutch, commonly used) and "Geusenwort" (German, used among linguists). These words derive from the geuzen, i.e., Dutch opponents to Spanish rule in the 16th century, who eventually created the Netherlands under William of Orange. Being derisively called "beggars" ("gueux" in French of the era) by their opponents, they appropriated a Dutchified form of the word as their own "battle name". In French during the French Revolution the word "Sans-culottes" (literally "without knee-breeches", which were worn by the upper classes) gained a similar meaning.

The women campaigning for the vote in the early 20th century were known as "suffragists" until their opponents dubbed the more militant faction "suffragettes", intending it as a disparaging diminutive, but the Women's Social and Political Union embraced it.

More recent political examples include:

• "Tree hugger" by environmentalists
• "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" originally used as a pejorative term by the Detroit News, but now routinely used as a positive self-identity by Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives
• "Redneck" by political movements from the American South, especially conservative movements.
• "Obamacare" originally a conservative term for the Affordable Care Act, the left embraced the term and it is now considered the act's shorthand name.

Religion

One of the older examples of successful reclaiming is the term "Jesuit" to refer to members of the Society of Jesus. This was originally a derogatory term referring to people who too readily invoked the name of Jesus in their politics, but which members of the Society adopted over time for themselves, so that the word came to refer exclusively to them, and generally in a positive or neutral sense,^[17] even though the term "Jesuitical" is derived from the Society of Jesus and is used to mean things like: manipulative, conspiring, treacherous, capable of intellectually justifying anything by convoluted reasoning.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Another example can be found in the origins of Methodism; early members were originally mocked for their "methodical" and rule-driven religious devotion, founder John Wesley embraced the term for his movement.^[22]

Race and ethnicity

To a lesser extent, and more controversially among the groups referred to, many racial, ethnic, and class terms have been reappropriated:

• "Nigga" by African Americans^[1][23]
• "Paddy" by Irish Americans^[24]
• "Chink" by Asian Americans

Disability

• "Aspie" by people with Asperger syndrome, an affectionate non-medical term believed to be coined by Liane Holliday Willey in 1999.^[25][26]
• "Autie" or "autist" by autistic people.^[26]
• "cripple", "crip", "gimp" by people with disabilities.^[25]

Art movements

• "Impressionists" In 1874 during their first independent art show, critic Louis Leroy penned a hostile review of the show in Le Charivari newspaper under the title "The Exhibition of the Impression-ists". In particular he used the painting Impression, soleil levant by Claude Monet to ridicule the painters for their lack of seriousness preferring to paint "fleeting impressions of the moment" rather than allegorical or ultra-realist themes.^[27]
• "Fauvists" at their first group exposition at the Salon d'automne of 1905, the critic Louis Vauxcelles, shocked by the wild colors and bold brushstrokes of their paintings disparaged the artists as a band of "fauves" (wild beasts)
• "Decadent" by a late generation of Romantics, such as Théophile Gautier and Charles Baudelaire, who used the word proudly, to represent their rejection of what they considered banal "progress"
• Stuckism, formed in 1999 in opposition to conceptual art and the "ego-art" of the Young British Artists

Other examples

More generally, any kind of community can reappropriate words referring to them:

• "Fat" by the size-acceptance movement
• "Smoggie", used for people from the north east England town of Middlesbrough.^[28][29]

Recontextualization of material objects

A closely related phenomenon is the recontextualization of material objects.

See also

• Dysphemism treadmill, the process by which offensive terms can become acceptable without deliberate intervention.

Notes and references