Suchergebnisse

La tradición sociológica clásica no se ha detenido en el lenguaje como un problema fundamental; la sociología contemporánea, por el contrario, se ha planteado la necesidad de centrarse en el estudio del lenguaje humano para poder comprender la realidad social e institucional. Desde Habermas hasta Luhmann, pasando por Giddens y Bourdieu, los sociólogos han dado cuenta de esa actividad exclusivamente humana que crea nuestro "mundo" (para emplear un término de Heidegger). A pesar de ello, no se han centrado estrictamente en la filosofíaanalítica del lenguaje; esta tradición es la que mejor ha sabido dar cuenta del lenguaje humano. La sociología actual, entonces, debe tomar sus argumentos centrales para lograr una mejor comprensión de la realidad social e institucional.

In the context of African American enslavement and the legacy of that enslavement, do some uses of the word "nigger" possess the power to enslave? It goes without saying that the words "negro," "nigger," "colored," and "black" are an important part of the language and discourse of African American enslavement—as terms used by slave owners, slave traders, slave catchers, and slaves themselves; as terms still used today by people living with the legacy of slavery; and as terms highlighted by academics in explaining these events and various other aspects of the African American experience. However, the aim of this article is to explore the role of these words as instruments of racial enslavement within the USA—past and present. To be more precise, the article argues that in several different ways relating to bodies of law, enforcement of law (or lack thereof), and the scope of law, the words "negro," "nigger," "colored," and "black" come to not simply mean "a slave" but actually to make African Americans slaves.