tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/symbolism-6407/articlesSymbolism – The Conversation2024-02-01T14:24:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207392024-02-01T14:24:22Z2024-02-01T14:24:22ZSlaves of God: Nigeria’s traditional Osu slavery practice was stopped, but the suffering continues<p><em>There are global efforts to fight modern slavery, but a few traditional systems still hold strong in west Africa. These include Osu, Ohu and Trokosi.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation Africa’s Godfred Akoto Boafo spoke to Michael Odijie who has <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-854">researched</a> one of the systems – Osu – and what can be done to finally put a stop to it.</em></p>
<h2>What is Osu?</h2>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2459907">Osu</a> is a traditional practice in the <a href="http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/%7Elegneref/igbo/igbo2.htm#:%7E:text=Most%20Igbo%20speakers%20are%20based,%2C%20Ebonyi%2C%20and%20Enugu%20States.">Igbo region</a>, in south-eastern Nigeria. In the past, Osu involved dedicating individuals to local deities, “transforming” them into slaves of the gods. Though such dedications no longer take place, the descendants of past Osu suffer from discrimination and social exclusion.</p>
<p>Historically, there were <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-854">several ways</a> a person could become an Osu. Some were purchased as slaves and then dedicated to local gods, either to atone for a crime committed by the purchaser or to seek assistance from the deity. An individual might attain the status of an Osu through birth if one of their parents was an Osu or through voluntarily seeking asylum, thus assuming the Osu status. For example, during the transatlantic slave trade, many chose this path: they would run to a shrine and dedicate themselves, to avoid being sold. Once dedicated as an Osu, they were generally ostracised from Igbo communities, yet simultaneously regarded with fear, seen as the slave of a deity.</p>
<p>Another common way to become an Osu was through marriage to an Osu, leading to persistent marriage discrimination even today.</p>
<p>The spread of Christianity, which occurred rapidly among the Igbos in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/colonialism-and-christianity-in-west-africa-the-igbo-case-190019151/A803DBB4AAF24CCEEA20597B37B5E649">20th century</a>, discouraged the practice of worshipping local deities. The historical practice of Osu has ended.</p>
<p>However, a new form of discrimination has taken its place, targeting the descendants of those historically identified as Osu. </p>
<p>One of the most significant forms of modern discrimination occurs in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-journal-of-postcolonial-literary-inquiry/article/abs/abolition-law-and-the-osu-marriage-novel/DDA6F8DDBB3D12D822EE42CC17FE165D">realm of marriage</a>. Freeborn individuals, who have no Osu lineage, are customarily prohibited from marrying someone of Osu lineage. Should they do so, both they and their offspring permanently become Osu, facing the same discrimination. This discrimination has a profound impact on the social and emotional lives of many Igbos of Osu lineage, particularly those of marriageable age. It can be challenging for them to find a spouse.</p>
<p>Another form of discrimination nowadays is social exclusion. In Igbo villages, Osu live in segregated quarters and are barred from social interactions with freeborn community members. They face barriers to accessing certain public amenities, attending community events and participating in communal decision-making processes. </p>
<p>Their descendants are also restricted from holding specific influential positions in the Igbo village power structure, such as the Okpara (the oldest man in the village) and the Onyishi.</p>
<h2>How prevalent is Osu and where is it practised?</h2>
<p>G. Ugo Nwokeji is an Igbo cultural historian who studied slavery in the Igbo region. <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-descendants-of-slaves-in-nigeria-fight-for-equality">He estimated</a> that the Osu represented 5%-10% of the Igbo population. With an ethnic population of about 30 million <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199846733/obo-9780199846733-0143.xml">Igbos</a> in Nigeria, this suggests that between 1.5 and 3 million Igbos suffer from this discrimination. </p>
<p>The vast majority of Osu are found in Imo State, which has about 5.2 million people. But they are in every other Igbo-dominated state as well: Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi and Abia.</p>
<h2>Why has it been a challenge for governments to end the Osu practice?</h2>
<p>In 1956, <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001/acref-9780195382075-e-0239">Nnamdi Azikiwe</a>, then the premier of Eastern Nigeria and later the first president of Nigeria, spearheaded the passage of a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/218649">law</a> aimed at abolishing Osu and its social disadvantages. </p>
<p>But the practice continued. No arrests were recorded. Osu is deeply rooted in tradition, making a purely legal approach insufficient.</p>
<p>One reason why eliminating discrimination has been difficult is that identifying an Osu is relatively straightforward for Igbos. They often reside in their own distinct quarters. Therefore, simply mentioning one’s village or family name can reveal one’s Osu status. This situation is a result of a combination of Igbo culture and colonial policy from the 1920s. During this period, individuals of slave origin began to assert themselves, and the British colonial response was to segregate them.</p>
<h2>What other approaches should be tried?</h2>
<p>A new abolition movement is gaining momentum in the Igbo region of Nigeria, fuelled by social media. This has enabled widespread awareness and advocacy, creating a more robust and inclusive dialogue about the Osu system.</p>
<p>One of the leading groups in this new movement is the <a href="https://ifetacsios.org.ng/">Initiative For the Eradication of Traditional and Cultural Stigmatisation in Our Society</a>, a network of campaigners led by Ogechukwu Stella Maduagwu. </p>
<p>Recognising that the Osu system is often viewed as having spiritual significance, the initiative places greater emphasis on the advice of cultural custodians, including traditional rulers. Consequently, it has developed a “model of abolition” that involves consultation with cultural figures, such as chief priests representing the deities, in Igbo villages. Using this model, the organisation successfully conducted an abolition ceremony in the <a href="https://dailypost.ng/2021/04/06/joy-celebration-as-nsukka-abolishes-osu-caste-system/">Nsukka region</a> of Enugu State.</p>
<p>Another leading campaigner is <a href="https://www.globalpeacechain.org/team_members/dr-nwaocha-ogechukwu/">Nwaocha Ogechukwu</a>, a scholar and researcher specialising in religious and cultural discrimination. He has established a platform named Marriage Without Borders to assist young people who face marriage discrimination due to being labelled as Osu. In collaboration with religious leaders, he provides counselling and support to those suffering from the adverse effects of this system.</p>
<p>A challenge for the emerging movement is its localised approach. Without a strategy that encompasses the entire Igbo region, campaigners are unable to collaborate effectively or engage in a unified, sustainable effort. This issue arises from the diverse genealogies of the Osu and the lack of a single traditional Igbo authority. </p>
<p>As a result, the movement has found it difficult to gain widespread traction. It continues to have a village-level focus.</p>
<p>We recommend that the movement align itself with broader human rights campaigns within Nigeria, across Africa and internationally. The Osu system bears resemblances to Ghana’s <a href="https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1190&context=history-in-the-making">Trokosi system</a>. The campaign to abolish <a href="https://theconversation.com/girls-in-west-africa-offered-into-sexual-slavery-as-wives-of-gods-105400">Trokosi</a> achieved notable success because its message resonated on a national level, garnering support from international activists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael E Odijie receives funding from UCL Knowledge Exchange </span></em></p>Ending discrimination against the Osu has been difficult because identifying an Osu is relatively straightforward for Igbos.Michael E Odijie, Research associate, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1848262022-06-23T11:48:19Z2022-06-23T11:48:19ZDemolishing schools after a mass shooting reflects humans’ deep-rooted desire for purification rituals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469569/original/file-20220617-19-wbi1c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C25%2C5734%2C3802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A playground bench is colorfully decorated at the new Sandy Hook Elementary School, which replaced the one torn down after a gunman killed 20 first graders and six educators in 2012.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CORRECTIONNewtownShootingNewSchool/5b3479f3c6bb40bb8c67230445d676b9/photo?Query=Newtown%20Shooting%20New%20School&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=259&currentItemNo=9">AP Photo/Mark Lennihan</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After last year’s shooting in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers, some <a href="https://www.kens5.com/article/news/special-reports/uvalde-school-shooting/uvalde-residents-want-robb-elementary-torn-down-white-house-offered-help/273-de427595-98f3-4b01-a59d-21791cd75c1f">local residents wanted the school demolished</a>. Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said that President Joe Biden had offered to help the school district secure a federal grant for the building’s demolition.</p>
<p>This is not uncommon. In numerous similar cases, buildings were knocked down, abandoned or <a href="https://www.npr.org/2009/04/10/102950727/two-years-after-massacre-va-tech-reopens-hall">repurposed</a> in the aftermath of a tragedy. After the <a href="https://www.npr.org/series/167276841/shootings-in-newtown-conn">Sandy Hook massacre</a> of 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, that school was destroyed and rebuilt on a different spot on the same property, at a cost of US$50 million. And in 1996, the town of Gloucester in England <a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12024442.wests-house-of-horrors-to-be-demolished-brick-by-brick/">bought the house</a> where a couple, Fred and Rosemary West, raped, tortured, and killed 12 young women. The town razed the property to the ground, burned all timber, pulverized each brick and dumped the debris at a secret location before turning the lot into a park. </p>
<p>At a visceral level, this seems obvious: Most people would be uncomfortable carrying on business as usual at the site of a bloodbath. But as an anthropologist who studies some of the most <a href="https://profilebooks.com/work/ritual/">meaningful human experiences</a>, I know that human reactions that feel obvious may often be hard to explain. Why would tearing down and rebuilding it make the situation any better? The answer lies in human psychology.</p>
<h2>Notions of contagion</h2>
<p>Research suggests that we, as humans, are <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_bloom_the_origins_of_pleasure?language=en">natural-born essentialists</a>. That is, we intuitively think of objects as having certain immaterial inner qualities or essences, which can be transmitted through contact. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/eth.1994.22.2.02a00020">participants in an experiment</a> conducted by psychologists <a href="https://usm.maine.edu/sbs/carol-nemeroff">Carol Nemeroff</a> and <a href="https://psychology.sas.upenn.edu/people/paul-rozin">Paul Rozin</a> refused to wear a sweater that belonged to a serial killer, although they were happy to wear an identical sweater that belonged to someone else.</p>
<p>These intuitions can be observed outside of the laboratory as well. For instance, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2018.08.003">study conducted in Hong Kong</a> looked at the effects of death on real estate prices. As it turns out, when a murder, suicide or fatal accident occurred in a house, its market value decreased by as much as 25%, and even nearby properties lost part of their value.</p>
<p>Early anthropologists described this as a form of “magical thinking.” Scottish anthropologist <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0196.xml">James Frazer</a> argued that this type of reasoning rests upon <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006294">two basic principles</a> common in all human societies. The first is the “law of similarity,” the idea that physical resemblance implies some deeper connection. This explains the belief found in many cultures that stabbing a doll that resembles a person could cause harm to that person.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A man dressed in white shirt and black trousers holding a glass of water against the lips of a woman." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469570/original/file-20220617-18-bcp1s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469570/original/file-20220617-18-bcp1s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469570/original/file-20220617-18-bcp1s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469570/original/file-20220617-18-bcp1s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469570/original/file-20220617-18-bcp1s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469570/original/file-20220617-18-bcp1s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469570/original/file-20220617-18-bcp1s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. Rep. Bob Brady holds a glass of water that Pope Francis used during his speech to Congress as his wife, Debra, drinks from it in the Roman Catholic lawmaker’s Washington office.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PopeDrinkingGlassCongressman/a913c4c258d84be9adbf3b4f4d76e365/photo?Query=bob%20brady%20pope&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=3&currentItemNo=2">Stan White/U.S. Rep. Bob Brady's office via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second principle is what Frazer called the “law of contagion.” It states that when two things come into contact, they transfer part of their properties to each other. This is why John Lennon’s piano sold for <a href="https://www.forbes.com/2000/10/03/1003imagine.html?sh=5c6aebab7cfa">over $2 million</a>, and why U.S. Rep. Bob Brady took the glass of water from which Pope Francis had drank during a 2015 address to the U.S. Congress and later shared it with his family. The assumption is that some of the qualities of the person who once came in contact with the object will rub off. “Anything the pope touches becomes blessed,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/09/25/the-congressman-who-stole-the-popes-water-glass-and-drank-from-it/">Brady said</a>. </p>
<p>If these beliefs and behaviors are based on mistaken premises, should we humor them, or should we dismiss them as irrational? Once again, human psychology might provide the answer.</p>
<h2>The power of symbolism</h2>
<p>We are a symbolic species. We experience things around us based not simply on their physical properties. We care about where they come from, their histories, their connections and what they stand for. This goes beyond what we think about those things – it also affects how we interact with them.</p>
<p>Psychologists <a href="https://som.yale.edu/faculty/george-e-newman">George Newman</a> and <a href="https://psychology.yale.edu/people/paul-bloom">Paul Bloom</a> <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1313637111">designed an experiment</a> to see whether beliefs about an object’s contagiousness could be altered. They asked people how much they would pay to purchase a sweater previously owned by a beloved celebrity. As they expected, most were willing to shell out substantially more than what a brand-new sweater would cost.</p>
<p>But here is the twist: When told that it would be thoroughly washed before being handed to them, people were less interested in buying the sweater. Inversely, when the researchers asked them the same question about a famous person they despised, participants were willing to pay a higher price after the item had been sterilized. It appears that physical purification would be perceived as removing part of the sweater’s essence. </p>
<h2>Purification rites</h2>
<p>Cultural traditions around the world tap into these intuitions to soothe people’s fears and anxieties. In some cases, washing the body is meant to cleanse the soul, which is what happens in baptisms. In other cases, purification comes through the destruction of the evil substance or its proxy. </p>
<p>On New Year’s Day, people in various parts of Latin America build <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/culture/renewal-rituals/">life-size effigies</a>, or “muñecos,” that resemble wicked things and persons: corrupt public officials, villains, personal foes and even the <a href="https://www.elinformador.com.co/index.php/general/79-nacional/247264-la-covid-19-inspiracion-para-munecos-de-ano-viejo-en-cali">coronavirus</a>. Then they set them ablaze. Their demise is meant to exorcise their polluting power and symbolize hope for the coming year.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469571/original/file-20220617-11-j5eu4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Several fireballs shoot into the air as a man performs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469571/original/file-20220617-11-j5eu4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469571/original/file-20220617-11-j5eu4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469571/original/file-20220617-11-j5eu4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469571/original/file-20220617-11-j5eu4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469571/original/file-20220617-11-j5eu4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469571/original/file-20220617-11-j5eu4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469571/original/file-20220617-11-j5eu4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fire dancer performs on the dry lake bed at the Burning Man festival in August 2008 in the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach, Nevada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BurningMan/d4c60da005944c42a753d8fd9874006b/photo?Query=burning%20man%20nevada&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=108&currentItemNo=40">AP Photo/Brad Horn</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since these practices rely on universal parts of human psychology, they make sense to people who are not religious too. Take, for example, the attendees of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-burning-man-theme-tickets-dates-outfits-2018-8">Burning Man</a>, an annual festival in Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Ostensibly, this is a crowd as secular as they come: <a href="https://journal.burningman.org/2016/06/philosophical-center/spirituality/how-burning-man-participants-spiritually-self-identify/">only 5% of them self-identify as religious</a>. Yet thousands of people flock to a makeshift temple where they leave memorabilia related to some of their most traumatic experiences. They then gather to watch the temple burn to the ground, many of them in tears, carrying all the bad memories with it.</p>
<p>There is a powerful cathartic aspect to those purification rituals. Symbolic gestures often speak to our psyche in ways no rational action could ever speak to our intellect. In times of tragedy, it is important to acknowledge this fundamental aspect of our humanity. For even as the pain remains, the knowledge that a tangible reminder of it has been undone can be soothing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dimitris Xygalatas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An anthropologist explains the power of purification rituals, such as bringing down a building following a tragic occurrence in it, and why they help reduce our anxieties.Dimitris Xygalatas, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Psychological Sciences, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1794242022-03-21T13:41:01Z2022-03-21T13:41:01ZFrom Z to Q: when letters become political symbols<p>Painted on the side of tanks and emblazoned on the shirt of Russian gymnast <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/gymnastics/60641891">Ivan Kuliak</a>, the letter Z has come to represent support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has even been incorporated into the spelling of place names such as <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/03/08/why-z-for-putin-russia-ukraine-war">КуZбасс</a> in south central Russia.</p>
<p>In some countries, the Czech Republic for instance, there are even discussions about whether displaying the letter should be a <a href="https://www.praguemorning.cz/is-displaying-the-pro-russian-z-symbol-now-a-crime-in-the-czech-republic/">criminal offence</a>. Its rise comes shortly after another lesser-used letter from the Latin alphabet – Q – became a part of far-right politics in the US <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-qanon-conspiracy-theory-memes-are-spreading-on-facebook-in-the-uk-145820">(and abroad)</a> through the conspiracy theory QAnon.</p>
<p>The use of symbols is a fundamental part of any political conflict -– part of the propaganda strategy that tries to <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/art-of-political-storytelling-9781350266148/">shape the public narrative</a>. But what is most interesting is how these effective symbols emerge, and that some of them resonate so powerfully that they end up banned as a form of hate speech.</p>
<p>The war for public opinion that runs alongside the actual war in Ukraine has given rise to a host of symbols representing support for one side or the other. Twitter is full of people adding the Ukrainian flag emoji to their name. The defiant words of the Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island – “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!” – have become a powerful <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1086832819?t=1647540762210">underdog slogan</a>, and even the basis for an official Ukrainian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/12/ukraine-reveals-russian-warship-go-fuck-yourself-postage-stamp">postage stamp</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1502545496614789126"}"></div></p>
<p>On the other side, the most notable symbol has been the simple Z. There have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/07/why-has-the-letter-z-become-the-symbol-of-war-for-russia">many theories</a> about why this letter has become a pro-war symbol, and what its origins might be. Is it because it represents the Russian word for west (<em>zapad</em>), the direction in which Putin’s tanks are rolling? Or is it shorthand for <em>Za pobedu</em> –- “for victory”? There is also the oddity that the Cyrillic alphabet doesn’t have a sign resembling Z. The zed sound is written as З. </p>
<h2>Giving letters meaning</h2>
<p>The circumstances of a symbol’s origin are only a small part of its story. It’s the way symbols come to resonate in society, and how people impose meanings on them, which transforms arbitrary signs into powerful instruments of propaganda. </p>
<p>Political symbols can take pretty much any form you can imagine. In 2013, <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/turkey-protests-penguins-symbol/25008120.html">penguins</a> became the symbol of anti-government protesters in Istanbul. When violent clashes between police and protesters first broke out, all the national TV channels chose not to cover them. CNN Türk instead ran a documentary about penguins –- which protesters then adopted as an emblem for their struggle, and to mock the broadcaster. </p>
<p>The use of letters of the alphabet as political symbols is a little unusual for the simple reason that individual letters aren’t meant to have any intrinsic meaning of their own. They’re supposed merely to represent sounds which, when combined, produce words which only then have a meaning.</p>
<p>When the Nato phonetic <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_150391.htm">alphabet</a> (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie and so on) was being developed, one of the criteria for words used to represent letters was that they should “be free from any association with <a href="https://www.governmentattic.org/4docs/ICAO-WordSpellingAlphabet_1959.pdf">objectionable meanings”</a>. They should be politically and culturally neutral, in the same way the letters themselves are. </p>
<p>The neutrality of alphabetic letters was also behind the World Health Organization’s decision to use Greek letters to designate new COVID variants. Prior to this, the variants had been named according to their place of origin, but this risked stigmatising locations or countries by having them forever associated with the virus. Even then, <a href="https://greekcitytimes.com/2021/11/27/the-inherently-political-task-of-assigning-appropriate-greek-letters-to-covid-19-variants/">certain letters</a> had to be omitted in case they accidentally led to unwanted associations. The Greek letter Xi, for example, was <a href="https://qz.com/2095697/the-who-explains-why-there-wont-be-a-variant-called-xi/">skipped</a> as it resembles the surname of the president of China, Xi Jinping. </p>
<p>What this shows is that language is always potentially political, precisely because it’s at the heart of how humans interact – and human interaction itself is always, at some level, political. Words and symbols have a denotative meaning – their literal “dictionary definition” – but they also carry traces of the history of their use, which colours the connotations they have for people.</p>
<p>It’s not surprising that the two recent instances of alphabetic letters as political symbols have adopted the two least used of all the letters. Z has traditionally been seen as superfluous in English –- so much so that Shakespeare made it the basis of an insult in King Lear: “Thou whoreson zed! Thou unnecessary letter!” And Q has associations with words such as query and question. So neither was a completely blank canvas before their use was co-opted.</p>
<p>Ultimately, however, it’s the way that signs are actually used that transforms them into symbols. It’s a matter of who they’re used by, for what purpose. Once this usage begins to spread through society and is adopted by supporters, highlighted and debated by the media – and, in some cases, banned – its meaning quickly gets embedded in the culture. Eventually, it becomes part of the everyday vocabulary we use to make sense of the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Seargeant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The letter Z has become a controversial pro-Russian symbol during the war in Ukraine.Philip Seargeant, Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1764362022-02-13T13:13:47Z2022-02-13T13:13:47ZThe Canadian flag and the ‘freedom convoy’: The co-opting of Canadian symbols<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446001/original/file-20220211-25-14a0k0e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C393%2C6895%2C2909&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trucks and supporters travel down Toronto's Bloor Street during a demonstration in support of the "freedom convoy."</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.environicsinstitute.org/docs/default-source/project-documents/focus-canada-2010/canadian-identity-and-symbols.pdf?sfvrsn=da78fcd0_2">Symbols matter to Canadians</a>. As Canadian society has evolved, so too have the symbols that inspire our collective imaginations. It should come as no surprise that the “freedom convoy” has sparked conversation with their use of Canadian symbology.</p>
<p>There are Canadian flags (right side up and upside down), Donald Trump flags and provincial flags alongside known <a href="https://www.hilltimes.com/2022/02/03/with-swastikas-in-our-midst-canadians-must-say-no/341990">hate symbols — Confederate flags and swastikas</a> — on the streets of cities and at border crossings across the country. </p>
<p>Their use of symbols is puzzling. Displaying insignia that stands in contradiction to the Canadian notion of freedom alongside the Canadian flag creates challenges in understanding the movement’s message. </p>
<p>Is the co-opting of Canadian symbols shaping a collective sentiment about how they are viewed? And how did Canada land on those symbols in the first place?</p>
<h2>The Canadian flag</h2>
<p>An important point worth raising is that the flag protesters are waving about is a relatively young flag. It was designed and adopted in 1965, after <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP16CH1PA2LE.html">1964’s Great Flag Debate</a>. At the time, Canada was going through a national identity crisis.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.25.4.64">new flag had been decades in the making</a>. It was seen as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00358536508452535">a controversial move</a>, reflecting a lack of political will to replace <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-the-United-Kingdom">the Union Jack</a> or the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/flags-canada-historical/posters.html#a4">Canadian Red Ensign</a>, both of which had served Canada over the years. </p>
<p>It was so controversial that previous prime ministers had <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/flag-debate">postponed the issue of selecting a new flag</a> for Canada on several occasions. Even when the committee met to select the successful design, the issue was hotly contested until it was eventually resolved to meet the looming deadline of Canada’s 1967 centenary celebrations.</p>
<p>When the flag was raised on Parliament Hill for the first time, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/flag-canada-history.html">Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson read</a>: “May the land over which this new flag flies remain united in freedom and justice … sensitive, tolerant and compassionate towards all.” </p>
<p>This new flag was designed to articulate Canada as a sovereign nation, no longer bearing the heraldry of a colonial past.</p>
<h2>Inclusive and unified</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022022116687851">flag’s message about Canada as an inclusive, unified and just space</a> has been debated since then — arguably more effectively than in Ottawa these past two weeks. </p>
<p>For many Indigenous Peoples, the symbolism of the Canadian flag is glaringly incommensurate with their colonial experience, a message that has been continuously contested through the development of flags of resistance and alternative imagery — like the Warrior Flag flown by members of the Kanien'kehà:ka community during the <a href="https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/oka-crisis-the-legacy-of-the-warrior-flag">Oka Crisis</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the Canadian flag, in another context, could be seen as reflecting reconciliation — flown at <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-peace-tower-flag-to-remain-at-half-mast-for-canada-day-to-honour/">half-mast nationwide in remembrance of the children lost in residential schools</a>. In this case, the national flag was used precisely because of its importance as a symbol of unity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People walk down a road wearing Canada flags as capes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446004/original/file-20220211-15-1jdi2yh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446004/original/file-20220211-15-1jdi2yh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446004/original/file-20220211-15-1jdi2yh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446004/original/file-20220211-15-1jdi2yh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446004/original/file-20220211-15-1jdi2yh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446004/original/file-20220211-15-1jdi2yh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446004/original/file-20220211-15-1jdi2yh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farmers and other supporters of the ‘freedom convoy’ rally on Highway 402 in Sarnia, Ont., closing off the Bluewater Bridge border crossing to U.S.-bound traffic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Geoff Robins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, the convoy’s efforts to <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/02/09/the-canadian-flag-as-a-national-symbol-as-been-critically-injured.html">appropriate national symbols</a> and the Canadian imagination have proven ineffective. </p>
<p>While the jumbled host of flags used by this group is meant to reflect genuine grassroots spontaneity and a relatively small, though united and vocal presence, its effect is just the opposite. The efforts appear as incoherent as the set of symbols they have chosen to deploy in its cause. </p>
<p>The movement in its early days seemed in search of symbols. Parliament buildings, monuments and commemorative statues were all targeted. Part of the project included draping the statue of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/terry-fox-statue-convoy-1.6333867">national hero Terry Fox</a> – who spent his last moments on earth drawing attention to the critical role of scientific and health research — with paraphernalia in support of their cause.</p>
<h2>Does the flag unite Canadians?</h2>
<p>Has the flag outlived its specific use and intended specific political representation? Or will it be now seen as a symbol which has outlived its usefulness? </p>
<p>Will <a href="https://theprovince.com/opinion/paul-keeling-we-should-not-let-freedom-convoy-protest-claim-the-canadian-flag">more and more Canadians become increasingly uncomfortable with its symbolic content</a> after such public demonstrations and its association with such a toxic brand of nationalism? </p>
<p>Wondering if the previously inoffensive symbolism of the maple leaf flag will remain unscathed is not so far-fetched. Can any one symbol suit the purposes of both those who enforce and challenge state laws and regulations equally?</p>
<p>It is hard to know whether to be morally outraged at the trivialization of the hard-won freedoms that the “freedom convoy” has perpetuated, or simply dumbfounded by the sheer nonchalance of the protesters choice of symbolism. For most Canadians, I suspect <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canada-flag-convoy-protest-1.6344027">that it is a little of both</a>.</p>
<p>In the School for the Study of Canada at Trent University, scholars delve into critical examinations across a range of themes — environment, nationalism, sovereignty, Indigeneity, diversity and immigration — exploring the Canadian identity and Canada’s role in the world today. This includes exploring how current issues, including the “freedom convoy”, are perceived by Canadians and people around the world.</p>
<p>The flag Canada first raised in 1965 was a symbol used to unite Canadians as a shared nation — an exciting new symbol that Canadians were proud of. </p>
<p>Feb. 15 marks Flag Day in Canada, and so perhaps this is a good time to ask ourselves if this is still true? Does the flag unite Canadians, or confuse them as its symbolism is used to different ends and causes? Can any symbol really speak for all of us? </p>
<p>Perhaps what will come of this moment in Canadian history is a new set of symbols, arguably not perfect and not uncontested, but reflective of our times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176436/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Nicol does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Does the flag unite Canadians, or confuse them as its symbolism is used to different ends and causes?Heather Nicol, Director, School for the Study of Canada & Canadian Studies and the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1712832021-12-06T13:42:10Z2021-12-06T13:42:10ZHow did Uncle Sam become a symbol for the United States?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434191/original/file-20211126-23-1i51zrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C76%2C2955%2C1688&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You never know where Uncle Sam will make an appearance.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/giant-motorcycle-riding-uncle-sam-carries-new-york-firemen-news-photo/689423?adppopup=true">David McNew/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>How did Uncle Sam become a symbol for the United States? – Henry E., age 10, Somerville, Massachusetts</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>Most Americans easily recognize <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-nicknamed-uncle-sam">Uncle Sam</a> as a symbol of the United States or a national nickname. Typically portrayed as an older white man with a long white goatee and a top hat, he’s almost always decked out in red, white and blue attire. </p>
<p>His image represents the U.S. government in <a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2021/presidents-day-2021-opinion-is-it-time-to-re-think-uncle-sam/#slide-8">political cartoons</a>, or as a stand-in for the American people everywhere from <a href="https://www.atlutd.com/news/five-stripe-flashbacks-tifos">soccer games</a> to <a href="https://eduardobarraza.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Political-rally-draws-candidates-for-Arizona-Nov-6-general-election/G0000CN7w.HyKs10/I000075uKKFICALQ">political rallies</a>.</p>
<p>He has come to represent a patriotic ideal in popular culture. In the Marvel Universe, <a href="https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_America:_The_First_Avenger">Captain America</a>’s costume resembles what Uncle Sam wears. That character is not only strong, but compassionate.</p>
<p>The most familiar Uncle Sam image of all time is an <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsc.03521/">Army recruiting poster</a> designed by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/03/the-uncle-sam-i-want-you-poster-is-100-years-old-almost-everything-about-it-was-borrowed/">James Montgomery Flagg</a> in 1917. In it, Uncle Sam proclaims “I WANT YOU,” while sternly pointing directly at the onlooker.</p>
<p>That World War I publicity campaign worked so well that the government used the image again to recruit soldiers and other members of the armed forces during <a href="https://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=548">World War II</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434193/original/file-20211126-21-1mq0det.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Uncle Sam points at the onlooker in an iconic 'I Want You for the U.S. Army' recruitment poster." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434193/original/file-20211126-21-1mq0det.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434193/original/file-20211126-21-1mq0det.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434193/original/file-20211126-21-1mq0det.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434193/original/file-20211126-21-1mq0det.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434193/original/file-20211126-21-1mq0det.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434193/original/file-20211126-21-1mq0det.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434193/original/file-20211126-21-1mq0det.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artist James Montgomery Flagg designed this iconic 1917 recruitment poster.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsc.03521/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Columbia’ and ‘Brother Jonathan’</h2>
<p>Uncle Sam isn’t the only symbol that U.S. artists and illustrators have used to convey political issues of the day.</p>
<p>One of the earliest symbolic stand-ins for the United States was “<a href="https://www.meetamerica.com/before-lady-liberty-reigned-columbia-was-americas-patriotic-female-personification">Columbia</a>,” a female icon usually dressed in a toga.</p>
<p>In one famous depiction, she’s seen mourning President Abraham Lincoln, joined by <a href="https://www.royalmint.com/britannia/britannia-icon-on-the-coin/">Britannia</a>, another female character who personifies England, and a formerly enslaved person whose plight remains unclear.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434194/original/file-20211126-15-js68ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sorrowful Britannia, standing, lays a wreath on Lincoln's shrouded body while Columbia weeps as she clutches the U.S. flag and a freed enslaved person mourns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434194/original/file-20211126-15-js68ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434194/original/file-20211126-15-js68ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434194/original/file-20211126-15-js68ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434194/original/file-20211126-15-js68ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434194/original/file-20211126-15-js68ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434194/original/file-20211126-15-js68ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434194/original/file-20211126-15-js68ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Britannia consoles Columbia while a formerly enslaved person weeps in this 1865 image by the artist John Tenniel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/britannia-sympathises-with-columbia-1865-only-days-after-news-photo/463927737">The Cartoon Collector/Print Collector via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So where did Uncle Sam’s name come from? According to a <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-nicknamed-uncle-sam">resolution Congress approved in 1961</a>, it originated with meat supplier Samuel Wilson of Troy, New York. During the War of 1812, he marked his materials for military use with “U.S.” Workers at the time would tell a joke along the lines that “Uncle Sam” Wilson was feeding the Army.</p>
<p>Perhaps not coincidentally, two African-American Marvel superheroes are named Sam Wilson: “<a href="https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/The_Falcon_and_The_Winter_Soldier">The Falcon</a>,” who goes on to become Captain America following Steve Rogers’ retirement, and Samantha Wilson, who assumed the role of Captain America in the recent <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/20505/spider-gwen_2015_-_2018">Spider-Gwen series</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434211/original/file-20211126-25-2ylidz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Brother Jonathan holds a scythe in a 19th-century postcard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434211/original/file-20211126-25-2ylidz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434211/original/file-20211126-25-2ylidz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1040&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434211/original/file-20211126-25-2ylidz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1040&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434211/original/file-20211126-25-2ylidz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1040&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434211/original/file-20211126-25-2ylidz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1306&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434211/original/file-20211126-25-2ylidz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434211/original/file-20211126-25-2ylidz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1306&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Brother Jonathan,’ an early U.S. symbol, may have gradually turned into Uncle Sam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/brother-jonathan-an-early-personification-of-the-united-news-photo/505925783">Kean Collection/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there was another figure resembling Uncle Sam called <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/brother-jonathan-uncle-sam">Brother Jonathan</a> who emerged earlier.</p>
<p>That personification of the United States was possibly modeled on <a href="https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/brother-jonathan-american-icon/">John Trumbull</a>, a Colonial Connecticut governor who opposed British rule during the War of Independence. <a href="http://www.sonofthesouth.net/uncle-sam/brother-jonathan.htm">Brother Jonathan may have morphed into Uncle Sam</a> around the time of the Civil War, before fading away.</p>
<p>In an 1876 advertisement, this young, slender man who symbolized the nation wore clothing that echoes the American flag. He looked a lot like a younger and cleanshaven version of Uncle Sam.</p>
<p>It’s possible that the lankiness and facial features that Uncle Sam inherited from later depictions of Brother Jonathan were a tribute to <a href="https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/uncle-sam-army-recruitment-poster/10169">President Abraham Lincoln</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171283/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Bruski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The iconic image may have originated with a meat supplier named Samuel Wilson. Or not.Paul Bruski, Associate Professor of Graphic Design, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1588872021-04-15T15:11:06Z2021-04-15T15:11:06ZSouthern African hunters may have used symbolism in choosing bones to craft arrows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395001/original/file-20210414-15-1oqdgo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The San associated elands with rain, and the power to influence game during a hunt.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Henk Bogaard/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Animals have long played an important <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26301860?seq=1">symbolic role</a> in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/089279302786992766">human societies</a>. They feature prominently in myths and folklore throughout the world. In some cases animals are used metaphorically: they express clan identity and are used to illustrate concepts of leadership, healing and protection.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249296">newly published study</a>, scholars in South Africa and the United Kingdom – myself among them – have discovered a possible link between the animal bones people used to make tools, like arrowheads, and the symbolic importance that people attached to those animals in the past.</p>
<p>The study focused on what is today the Tugela River catchment area of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. Here, about 1,200 years ago, immigrant Nguni farmers came into contact with Bushman hunter-gatherers. Ethno-historical records show that animals played <a href="https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/21822">an important role</a> in both cultural groups as symbols and metaphors to express ideas. Early interactions between these two groups, as happened in our study area, resulted in the dynamic exchange and assimilation of ideas and symbols.</p>
<p>We wanted to know whether the symbolic importance of certain animals translated into the technological domain at this time and place. That is, whether people were selecting the bones of specific animals and not others to use as raw material for their tools. And, if so, we wanted to know which animals they were selecting. </p>
<p>In several other parts of the world, such as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-47299-x">Canada</a> and Russia, people used the bones of animals that were important within their respective cultures to make tools. Nothing like this has been documented in southern Africa and we wanted to find out whether this was because this practice was not followed in the region or whether it was simply undocumented. </p>
<p>To find out, we used a method known as <a href="https://www.spectroscopyeurope.com/article/zooms-collagen-barcode-and-fingerprints">ZooMS</a>. This analyses the collagen proteins found in animal bones. Collagen proteins are unique to different groups of animals. So, we could “fingerprint” samples from modern animals and then recognise them in archaeological samples of unknown origin.</p>
<p>The study found that there was selective targeting of animals for tool manufacture at some sites, with a narrowing of the range of selected species after about AD 1,000. Certain groups of antelopes appear to have been deliberately avoided. This suggests bones weren’t used just because they happened to be available. We hypothesise that distinctive animal behaviours, such as that of the rhebok, were appropriated by people to serve as metaphors through which to understand human society. And we believe this symbolism was expressed through people’s tools as a means of harnessing the “power” of the animal. </p>
<h2>Animal symbolism</h2>
<p>The Bushmen (or San) <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02561751.1933.9676328">believed</a> that animals such as the eland, rhebok and hartebeest possessed supernatural powers. These could be harnessed by shamans during certain ceremonies to bring about rain or influence the movement of game. In some cases, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2800744?origin=crossref&seq=1">items of clothing</a> made from these animals would be worn during healing and rain-making ceremonies. </p>
<p>Animals were also frequently depicted in San rock art. A <a href="https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/6163">clear emphasis</a> was placed on those species believed to be particularly powerful, such as eland, rhebok and roan.</p>
<p>Among the Nguni, spirits of the ancestors were <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277300306_Hirst_M_Cook_J_and_Kahn_M_1996_Shades_Witches_and_Somatisation_in_the_Narratives_of_Illness_and_Disorder_among_the_Cape_Nguni_in_the_Eastern_Cape_South_Africa_Curare_192_255-282">commonly ascribed</a> the behavioural traits of certain wild animals, among them elephants, rhinoceros, lions and baboons. </p>
<p>Forty-three species are known to have been divinatory animals among the Nguni: some of these species’ bones regularly formed part of diviners’ kits because they were believed to confer those animals’ “powers” to the diviners. </p>
<h2>The archaeology of KwaZulu-Natal</h2>
<p>The Tugela River catchment area was <a href="https://www.sahumanities.org/index.php/sah/article/view/198">first occupied</a> by hunter-gatherers from about 7,000 years ago. Once farming communities began settling the area in the fifth century AD, hunter-gatherers started moving out of the mountainous areas to live nearer the farmer settlements. There, they benefited from trade in pottery and agricultural produce in exchange for wild animal skins and services rendered. </p>
<p>When farmers and hunter-gatherers came into contact, they <a href="https://sahumanities.org/index.php/sah/article/view/225">adopted</a> parts of each other’s material culture as well certain words and concepts linked to divinatory animals. The Nguni regarded the Bushmen as spiritual mediators, able to intercede with the supernatural world to bring about rain and other boons. </p>
<p>Even the caves the Bushmen occupied were seen by the Nguni as places of power. On the other hand, the new domestic animals introduced by the Nguni farmers were quickly assimilated into hunter-gatherer cosmology. They replaced eland and other antelopes as a favoured rock art motif. </p>
<h2>Technology for answers</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394977/original/file-20210414-21-7x5xiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394977/original/file-20210414-21-7x5xiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394977/original/file-20210414-21-7x5xiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394977/original/file-20210414-21-7x5xiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394977/original/file-20210414-21-7x5xiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394977/original/file-20210414-21-7x5xiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394977/original/file-20210414-21-7x5xiq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Using technology to analyse which animals’ bones were used in hunting tools, the researchers were able to draw several conclusions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr Justin Bradfield</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We extracted small amounts of collagen from 84 bone arrowheads excavated from 11 archaeological sites spanning a 6,000-year period in the Tugela River catchment region. We then identified the taxonomic tribe of animal represented in the bone arrowheads.</p>
<p>Antelope species belonging to the <em>Alcelaphini</em> tribe (including hartebeest, wildebeest and bontebok) were the most abundantly represented source of bone arrowheads. Certain species of antelopes, including impala, gazelle, springbok and duiker, were not represented in any of the bone arrowheads. This is despite the fact that these species are abundantly represented in the unmodified food waste at the sites: they account for 66% of the meat consumed. </p>
<p>We also found that at some sites bone points were made from animals – including giraffe and buffalo – that were not represented at all in the unmodified fauna food waste. </p>
<p>This suggests deliberate targeting and avoidance of certain species. We think those animals that were deliberately targeted to make tools represent animals that people considered culturally or symbolically important. Our findings also suggest that the range of species targeted by hunter-gatherers to make their tools narrowed after farmers moved into the area.</p>
<p>We ruled out mechanical properties (that the bones used for tool manufacture were mechanically the best suited to their role as arrowheads) and trade as the reasons for the pattern of raw material selection we identified. </p>
<p>Symbolic significance emerged as the most likely reason for certain animal bones being used in tools to the exclusion of other, readily available animals. For instance rhebok, hartebeest and eland were all well represented in our sample; each is a symbolically important animal in 19th century Bushman folklore. These animals were associated with rain, and the power to influence game during a hunt. So, it’s possible their bones would be used in hunting tools, to imbue the tools with powers to aid in the hunt.</p>
<p>Future research will aim to test our hypothesis by analysing larger numbers of bone tools from the region.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158887/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Bradfield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In several other parts of the world, people used the bones of animals that were important within their respective cultures to make tools.Justin Bradfield, Associate professor, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1573042021-03-31T12:17:03Z2021-03-31T12:17:03ZGermany’s strange nostalgia for the antebellum American South<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392674/original/file-20210330-15-1hxrckf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C125%2C4311%2C2946&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Onkel Toms Hütte' – or Uncle Tom's Cabin – is the name of a subway station in Berlin.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/U-Bahnhof_Onkel_Toms_H%C3%BCtte_20130705_8.jpg">DXR via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Swastikas may be banned in Berlin, but Confederate flags still fly. </p>
<p>Alongside MAGA hats and Trump 2020 banners, <a href="https://www.fr.de/politik/coronavirus-corona-demo-proteste-berlin-hygienedemos-querdenker-fahnen-reichsflagge-reichskriegsfahne-90036343.html">Reich flags</a> and Brandenburg eagles, the American South’s battle flag has been <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/23/germanys-lateral-thinkers-unite/">raised high</a> during Germany’s anti-lockdown demonstrations – the most recent of which took place in Dresden in early March. </p>
<p>It’s appeared in the window of <a href="https://twitter.com/JCNB1/status/1302739145450811394">an apartment complex</a> and in advertisements for <a href="https://twitter.com/Confederate_DE/status/951183000355647488">an annual Christmas carnival</a>. The flag has also reportedly been seen <a href="https://twitter.com/nthnashma/status/1270784520489439233">in Berlin’s bars</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps its presence in Germany simply represents how the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-confederate-battle-flag-which-rioters-flew-inside-the-us-capitol-has-long-been-a-symbol-of-white-insurrection-153071">Confederate battle flag</a> has become an international meme of the contemporary far right. The Stars and Bars could exist as just another image decontextualized and propagated through the internet’s airless corridors like, say, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc777md">Che Guevara</a>. German Neo-Nazi websites do sell “Südstaaten” – or Southern – gear, along with <a href="https://www.zeit.de/2018/49/nazi-mode-rechtsextremismus-christoph-schulze-interview">Ansgar Aryan</a> and <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/neo-nazi-fashion-thor-steinar-and-the-changing-look-of-the-german-far-right-a-587746.html">Thor Steinar</a> merch.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/engl/student_display.cfm?Person_ID=1055827">as a cultural historian writing on transnational fascism</a>, I see the flag as part of a longer history of German nostalgia for the American antebellum South. Germans’ identification with the region stretches back, paradoxically, to <a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/Mightier_than_the_Sword_Uncle_Tom_s_Cabi/MZTFk9A1HaEC?hl=de&gbpv=0">the very book that helped bring an end</a> to that era of slavery: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Harriet_Beecher_Stowe.html?id=p1VbAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">Uncle Tom’s Cabin</a>.”</p>
<h2>From Uncle Tom to … Nazism?</h2>
<p>On the U3 Line of Berlin’s mass transit system, there’s a stop called Onkel Toms Hütte, or Uncle Tom’s Cabin. </p>
<p>The stop bears the name of a neighborhood tavern and beer garden that stood for almost 100 years, from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/is-the-street-name-uncle-tom-racist/a-54416596">1884 until 1978</a>. German restaurants, inns and beer gardens bore the title of the anti-slavery polemic, which became a shorthand for a type of Southern comfort – evidence of the novel’s complex, counterintuitive and, at times, disturbing reception.</p>
<p>When the novel was translated into German and published in 1852 – the same year as its American release – <a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/Uncle_Tom_s_Cabin_in_Germany/CYoluwEACAAJ?hl=de">it was immensely popular</a>. Though the melodrama about the cruelty of American slavery did much to stir German opinion against the practice, it also initiated a fascination with the seemingly simpler life of the slave depicted in Stowe’s domestic scenes. </p>
<p>A cottage industry sprouted up around it: plays, musical scores, <a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/Europ%C3%A4ische_Sklavenleben/-3c9AQAAMAAJ?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=europ%C3%A4ische+sklavenleben&pg=RA2-PA1&printsec=frontcover">even European-set reimaginings</a> in which slavery became an increasingly elastic concept. </p>
<p>The Berlin tavern, built in 1884, adopted the name Onkel Toms Hütte because its proprietor <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/is-the-street-name-uncle-tom-racist/a-54416596">liked the novel</a>. It was just one of many leisure establishments that drew on Stowe’s novel to promise a “good ol’ time.” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110481327-016">Heike Paul</a>, a professor of American studies at FAU Erlängern-Nuremberg, characterizes this attitude as a “romanticization of slavery and a nostalgic, even remorseful view of its ‘pastness.’”</p>
<p>This hazy romanticization was undergirded by racial prejudice, which found in Stowe’s depiction of Tom as a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1595m04.8">happy slave</a>” a justification for racial hierarchy. Though “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was originally cultivating sympathy for Black slaves, by the early 20th century it was invoked by both German progressives and conservatives as proof of Black inferiority and <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/zaa-2005-0404/html">as a justification for colonization</a>. An introduction to a 1911 German edition of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” describes how “the Negroes are undeniably an inferior race, and, now that they have been freed, are widely perceived to be a plague in the United States.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A smiling girl sits on the lap of a laughing Black man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392834/original/file-20210331-19-1u0wfpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392834/original/file-20210331-19-1u0wfpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392834/original/file-20210331-19-1u0wfpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392834/original/file-20210331-19-1u0wfpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392834/original/file-20210331-19-1u0wfpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392834/original/file-20210331-19-1u0wfpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392834/original/file-20210331-19-1u0wfpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The happy slave’ trope in ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ resonated in Germany.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://img.discogs.com/SdMh63czWYSmdL4DCKD8a_RHy3k=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2248014-1360515760-8251.jpeg.jpg">Discogs</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/zaa-2005-0404/html">Bettina Hofmann</a>, a professor of American studies at Bergische Universität Wuppertal, argues that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” introduced racial terms to the German language that foreshadow the Nazi race categories. However, as she qualifies, “it would be an anachronism to accuse Stowe of having paved the way for Hitler’s thoughts on race.” </p>
<p>Still, it remains a dim possibility that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” had at least some influence. Stowe’s novel was, after all, one of Hitler’s <a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/Hitler_s_Private_Library/6KljrMYS3e4C?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=timothy+ryback+hitler%27s+private+library&printsec=frontcover">self-proclaimed favorite books</a>. </p>
<h2>‘The Lost Cause’ in the Thousand-Year Reich</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Amerika_im_Dritten_Reich/rK4aAQAAIAAJ?hl=de&gbpv=0&bsq=philipp%20gassert">Despite a general ambivalence toward the U.S.</a>, Nazi Germany did sympathize with the antebellum South. The pubs inspired by “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” fed – and fed off of – the desire for a simpler life that slaves were supposed to have enjoyed, and which Nazism, in its idea of “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Volksgemeinschaft">volksgemeinschaft</a>,” a people’s community, also promised. </p>
<p>The South after the Civil War and Germany after World War I had suffered humiliating defeats, and each revised its identity and history in the face of those losses. As both had prided themselves on their military prowess, they sought to fashion narratives that would explain their losses without admitting their shortcomings. Recognizing the similarities, the German historian Wolfgang Schivelbusch brings them together in his 2000 book “<a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/The_Culture_of_Defeat/TSkwAAAAQBAJ?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=schivelbusch+culture+of+defeat&printsec=frontcover">The Culture of Defeat</a>.” </p>
<p>However, Schivelbusch emphasizes the differences in the stories they told. The South crafted the narrative of the “<a href="https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/lost-cause-the/">Lost Cause</a>,” in which the experience of defeat became a Christlike sacrifice. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Nazis trumpeted the “<a href="https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brills-digital-library-of-world-war-i/stab-in-the-back-legend-dolchstosslegende-beww1_en_0563">Dolchstoßlegend</a>,” the myth of the stab in the back. The German Army had been undefeated in the field, they claimed, but lost the war because of sabotage from within. This myth focused attention on internal enemies who needed to be eliminated.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392659/original/file-20210330-23-1qm5afo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman looks at a movie poster of 'Gone with the Wind.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392659/original/file-20210330-23-1qm5afo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392659/original/file-20210330-23-1qm5afo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392659/original/file-20210330-23-1qm5afo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392659/original/file-20210330-23-1qm5afo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392659/original/file-20210330-23-1qm5afo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392659/original/file-20210330-23-1qm5afo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392659/original/file-20210330-23-1qm5afo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Depictions of the South – found in films like ‘Gone with the Wind’ – found an eager audience in Germany.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/germany-movie-posters-and-movie-announcements-woman-looking-news-photo/542393517?adppopup=true">ullstein bild via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the “Lost Cause” nonetheless resonated in Nazi Germany. The success of Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gone-with-the-Wind-novel">Gone with the Wind</a>” and David O. Selznick’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/">subsequent 1939 film adaptation</a> points to a desire in Nazi Germany for the melodrama of sacrifice that Schivelbusch suggests the German narrative of defeat lacked. The sentimental novel went through 16 printings in Germany, selling <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40581977">nearly 300,000 copies</a>. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels watched the film repeatedly, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40581977">even as they eventually banned</a> it for general viewership. Praising the film in his diary, Goebbels declared, “<a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/The_Goebbels_Diaries_1939_1941/LZ5SPwAACAAJ?hl=de">We will follow this example</a>.” </p>
<p>The onetime Nazi functionary <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=htfLPlvxVzIC&lpg=PA5&redir_esc=y">Hermann Rauschning</a> writes that Hitler felt the Confederacy had been the real America. </p>
<p>“Since the Civil War, in which the Southern States were conquered, against all historical logic and sound sense, the Americans have been in a condition of political and popular decay,” he recalled Hitler telling him. Though perhaps apocryphal, <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=htfLPlvxVzIC&lpg=PA5&redir_esc=y">Rauschning’s memory of the Führer’s words</a> squares with Hitler’s enthusiasm for “Gone with the Wind”: “In that war, it was not the Southern States, but the American people themselves who were conquered.” </p>
<h2>Danger of Stars and Bars sentimentality</h2>
<p>It is not only the self-declared far-right that flies the Confederate flag in Germany. Civil War reenactors do mock battle under <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/06/confederates-on-the-rhine/239724/">its banner</a>, an East Berlin country music scene gathers with it <a href="https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2020-05/country-musik-szene-konfoederiertenflagge-suedstaaten-usa-cowboys/komplettansicht">hung aloft</a>, and even some enthusiasts of German author Karl May, who set his novels in the American West, <a href="https://www.saechsische.de/suedstaatenflagge-flagge-beim-karl-may-fest-erlaubt-3835976.html">wave it proudly</a>. These groups insist their use of the flag “has no racist meaning.” When pressed, <a href="https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2020-05/country-musik-szene-konfoederiertenflagge-suedstaaten-usa-cowboys/komplettansicht">they appeal to tradition</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Distrust of nostalgia has been a vital part of Germany’s post-World War II national project of “<a href="https://www.google.de/books/edition/Learning_from_the_Germans/PrZuDwAAQBAJ?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=susan+neiman+learning+from+the+germans&printsec=frontcover">working through the past</a>.” One would expect Germans, of all people, to be wary of such justifications. </p>
<p>For sale at an online German neo-Nazi merchandiser is an image of the Confederate flag bearing a “Totenkopf” – a skull and crossbones. It is an embellishment of the flag. And yet it reveals what has been there, hiding behind nostalgia, all along.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the date of the release of the film “Gone with the Wind.” It was in 1939, not 1941.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sanders Isaac Bernstein is a fellow of the Studienstiftung des Abgeordnetenhauses von Berlin and a Manning Endowed Fellow at the University of Southern California.</span></em></p>Why did Confederate flags start appearing in the country’s anti-lockdown protests?Sanders Isaac Bernstein, Provost’s PhD Fellow in English Literature, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1540332021-02-26T18:07:06Z2021-02-26T18:07:06ZPolar bears have captivated artists’ imaginations for centuries, but what they’ve symbolized has changed over time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386719/original/file-20210226-21-uossmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=152%2C177%2C4012%2C3067&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The giant predators were a deadly danger to early European explorers of the Arctic.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-engraving-from-a-book-by-gerrit-de-veer-a-crewman-on-a-news-photo/526746520">Chris Hellier/Corbis Historical via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Polar bears have long held visual artists in their thrall. Over time, the mythologies around these extraordinary animals have evolved – and so have the ways artists have depicted them in their work.</p>
<p>Reflecting a deeply respectful even symbiotic relationship between human beings and the natural world, likenesses of polar bears <a href="http://collections.fenimoreartmuseum.org/polar-bear-effigy">crafted within Indigenous communities</a> for thousands of years have long conveyed the awe-inspiring power of these mighty animals.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386693/original/file-20210226-17-1dlyp47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A polar bear lunges at men near a ship frozen in ice" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386693/original/file-20210226-17-1dlyp47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386693/original/file-20210226-17-1dlyp47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386693/original/file-20210226-17-1dlyp47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386693/original/file-20210226-17-1dlyp47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386693/original/file-20210226-17-1dlyp47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386693/original/file-20210226-17-1dlyp47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386693/original/file-20210226-17-1dlyp47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration of a real polar bear attack on Dutch explorers in 1596.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://aradernyc.com/products/de-bry-johann-theodor-1560-1623-and-johann-israel-de-bry-1565-1609-part-iii-plate-43-two-bears-which-approached-the-ship-and-what-happened-to-them-from-the-little-voyages">Hand-colored engraving by Johann Theodor de Bry</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Towering above European adversaries in early 17th-century engravings, or bearing witness – alternately majestic and menacing – to whaling ships pictured in print and in paint, they testified to the expanding empires and commercial interests of western powers bent on exerting domination over new territories.</p>
<p>Conveying the bond of a <a href="https://www.picuki.com/media/2512718205208082900">resilient mother and her cub in a 21st century photograph</a>, they hint at the fragility of a changing climate.</p>
<p>Though polar bears can hover at the edge of invisibility under the right conditions, they’ve left their indelible imprint upon the imaginations of image-makers from many eras and regions. Their shape-shifting significance in the context of western art intrigues me from my perch at Bowdoin College in Maine – whose mascot just happens to be the polar bear. As co-director of the college’s <a href="https://www.bowdoin.edu/art-museum/">Museum of Art</a>, I’ve helped expand our collection of polar bear pieces and have become fascinated by this animal’s enduring hold on audiences.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386580/original/file-20210225-23-17flwo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Engraving of many polar bears on ice with hunters in boats" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386580/original/file-20210225-23-17flwo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386580/original/file-20210225-23-17flwo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386580/original/file-20210225-23-17flwo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386580/original/file-20210225-23-17flwo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386580/original/file-20210225-23-17flwo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386580/original/file-20210225-23-17flwo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386580/original/file-20210225-23-17flwo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An early 17th-century Dutch artist captured the fascination and terror polar bears sparked in European hunters and explorers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Johann Theodor de Bry, copper plate engraving, ca. 1601.</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Exploration, empire and polar bears</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.7183/0002-7316.79.4.89">Effigies and carvings created</a> as long as 2,500 years ago in Paleo-Eskimo Indigenous communities reflect a sense of deep interconnection between the people and the bears, with cosmological and spiritual significance.</p>
<p><a href="https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295999227/ice-bear/">Westerners first encountered polar bears</a> over a millennium ago, when Norse explorers advanced into the Arctic. In contrast to Indigenous representations of the bears, by the 15th century western artists were positioning human beings in opposition to these fearsome hunters as they adorned maps and explorers’ written narratives.</p>
<p>Even Shakespeare may leave a legacy of the <a href="https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295999227/ice-bear/">fascination polar bears held for Elizabethan audiences</a>. In one scene of “The Winter’s Tale,” a bear chases the character Antigonus from the stage. Historians have suggested that this dramatic exit may have been inspired by one of the live polar bears housed near the Globe Theatre, in London’s Paris Garden.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386695/original/file-20210226-23-1rb9wjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Whalers swarm the ice and water, killing whales and threatening polar bears" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386695/original/file-20210226-23-1rb9wjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386695/original/file-20210226-23-1rb9wjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386695/original/file-20210226-23-1rb9wjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386695/original/file-20210226-23-1rb9wjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386695/original/file-20210226-23-1rb9wjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386695/original/file-20210226-23-1rb9wjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386695/original/file-20210226-23-1rb9wjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">17th-century Dutch whalers dominate the natural Arctic landscape, even subduing harried polar bears.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.5523">Abraham Storck, 'Whaling Grounds in the Arctic Ocean,' Rijksmuseum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With the rise of European exploration and exploitation, the cultural legacy of the polar bear spread rapidly among European nations and their colonial outposts. The bears became identified with political and technological prowess, and a triumphant march toward the future. Groups of these giants are called “celebrations,” and their images in art tended to celebrate the brute forces of western modernity.</p>
<p>They appeared in the decorative arts, including a 19th-century <a href="https://www.spencermarks.com/products/gorham-antique-sterling-silver-polar-ice-bowl-providence-ri-c-1870">silver Gorham ice bowl</a>, ostensibly marking the U.S. acquisition of the territory of Alaska from the Russians in 1867. Fierce and menacing polar bears stand guard above the frozen treasure within the vessel, simultaneously celebrating North American success in the ice industry.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/alexander-phimister-proctor/polar-bear-DyCkEoIuK_xOFago74hMNQ2">Prominent polar bear sculptures</a> by Alexander Phimister Proctor at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago connected the United States with the distant north. Placed upon a pedestrian footbridge, the bear’s attitude – head up, powerful, taking its bearings as if to move forward – mirrored the optimism of the nation during the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/gilded-age">Gilded Age</a> on the brink of the 20th century.</p>
<p>The polar bear also became a symbol of the conquest of the North Pole by American explorers in 1909. Despite controversy, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-discovered-the-north-pole-116633746/">Robert E. Peary</a> was ultimately recognized for reaching it. Pants created from the fur of polar bears, which Peary described as “<a href="http://downeastbooks.com/books/9781608936434">impervious to cold… almost indestructible</a>,” helped make the feat possible. In the wake of this accomplishment, the <a href="https://dailysun.bowdoin.edu/2013/02/whispering-pines-bobcats-and-mules-and-bears%e2%80%a6oh-my/">polar bear became a popular college mascot</a> — with Peary’s alma mater and my home institution, Bowdoin College, leading the way.</p>
<h2>An icon transformed</h2>
<p>But if the polar bear thrived into the mid-1900s as a sign of human might and of the successful mastery of antagonistic forces, this symbolic association evaporated in the latter 20th century. Today’s polar bears are more closely tied to the demise of the mythic western belief in conquest and domination.</p>
<p>The drawings of such pop artists as <a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/john-wesley/">John Wesley</a> and <a href="https://warholfoundation.org/legacy/biography.html">Andy Warhol</a> mark this shift in perceptions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386691/original/file-20210226-21-3l31hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="pencil drawings of polar bears" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386691/original/file-20210226-21-3l31hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386691/original/file-20210226-21-3l31hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386691/original/file-20210226-21-3l31hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386691/original/file-20210226-21-3l31hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386691/original/file-20210226-21-3l31hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386691/original/file-20210226-21-3l31hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386691/original/file-20210226-21-3l31hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Wesley’s drawing contains a number of polar bears, with a somber mood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Wesley, 'Polar Bears,' 1970, graphite on tracing paper. Museum Purchase, acquired through the generosity of Eric Silverman ’85 and an anonymous donor.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1970, Wesley drew “<a href="https://artmuseum.bowdoin.edu/objects-1/info/38969">Polar Bears</a>,” depicting the intertwined bodies of polar bears seemingly enjoying a peaceful slumber. That same year, an international cohort of scientists published their conclusion that the bear stood a good chance of surviving extinction if people worked together to protect it.</p>
<p>Intriguingly, the artist’s cartoon-like renditions of the “great white bear” seems to echo the illustration included in the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/news/Historic/NewsReleases/1970/19700315b.pdf">press release published by the U.S. Department of the Interior</a> announcing this finding. But Wesley’s drawing raises questions about the fate of the motionless creatures it pictures: is this “celebration” in fact a tragedy?</p>
<p><a href="https://artmuseum.bowdoin.edu/objects-1/info/38238">Andy Warhol’s “Polar Bear”</a> (1983) struts across the paper. Likely inspired by the 10th anniversary of the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/">U.S. Endangered Species Act</a>, the drawing points to the very fragility of the bear. Its composition uses the white of the paper to evoke the animal’s coat and its polar environment, suggesting the imminent possibility of their collapse into nonexistence. It would take another quarter century for the polar bear to be <a href="https://www.fws.gov/alaska/pages/marine-mammals/polar-bear/polar-bears-and-esa">listed as threatened, in 2008</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386704/original/file-20210226-23-1jw0tpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cover of Time magazine with struggling polar bear" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386704/original/file-20210226-23-1jw0tpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386704/original/file-20210226-23-1jw0tpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386704/original/file-20210226-23-1jw0tpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386704/original/file-20210226-23-1jw0tpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386704/original/file-20210226-23-1jw0tpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386704/original/file-20210226-23-1jw0tpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386704/original/file-20210226-23-1jw0tpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Time magazine’s cover helped solidify the iconography of a polar bear struggling in a melting Arctic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20060403,00.html">Time</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By the early 21st century, pictures of the animal, such as on a seemingly diminishing ice floe, frequently associated it with catastrophic climate change and the endangerment of the species itself, as the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fagpY8kAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">art historian Nicholas Mirzoeff</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23349848">has noted</a>.</p>
<p>Despite, or perhaps because of, their association with extinction, the allure of the polar bear seems only to have intensified. One curious reflection of this celebrity comes in the form of endearing anthropomorphic depictions of these <a href="https://youtu.be/47Dlkfg9Jhk">wild creatures pitching consumer products like Coca-Cola</a>.</p>
<p>But what are the implications of conflating the polar bear with human beings today?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386721/original/file-20210226-19-zla8a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Activists in polar bear costumes outside the White House" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386721/original/file-20210226-19-zla8a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386721/original/file-20210226-19-zla8a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386721/original/file-20210226-19-zla8a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386721/original/file-20210226-19-zla8a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386721/original/file-20210226-19-zla8a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386721/original/file-20210226-19-zla8a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386721/original/file-20210226-19-zla8a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Climate activists have adopted the iconography of the polar bear because of their habitat’s precarious status in a warming world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/activists-remove-polar-bear-costumes-on-pennsylvania-avenue-news-photo/181933180">Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The question has particular resonance as people reflect upon the fragility of our own species in the midst of a global pandemic that has already cost millions of lives.</p>
<p>Contemplating new strategies to promote healing – including science and social and political policies – perhaps there is something yet to learn from these exceptionally adaptable creatures, at home on solid ground and in the water. As people examine the broader implications of this current human crisis, and consider a lasting commitment to promoting global health, might there be room to hope that the polar bear might eventually become a new icon, this time of resiliency and recovery?</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Collins Goodyear does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Do you see a fearsome predator? A fragile icon of impending extinction? What these arctic giants have stood for in art has continually evolved.Anne Collins Goodyear, Co-Director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Bowdoin CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1513702020-12-08T13:14:42Z2020-12-08T13:14:42ZIn ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ and beyond, chess holds up a mirror to life<p>In the closing sequence of “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10048342/">The Queen’s Gambit</a>,” the chess-playing heroine, Beth Harmon, defeats her archrival Vasily Borgov at the Moscow Invitational. The next day she impulsively skips her flight home to join a group of adoring chess players in what appears to be Moscow’s famous <a href="https://www.moscovery.com/sokolniki-park/">Sokolniki Park</a>. The symbolism of this moment is clear. Dressed in a <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8987717/Netflix-reveals-meaning-Beth-Harmons-outfits-Queens-Gambit.html">blazing white coat and hat</a>, Beth has become a chess queen with the power to move freely through a field of men.</p>
<p>If this use of chess to represent life feels familiar, it is largely thanks to the medieval world. As I argue in my book “<a href="https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14222.html">Power Play: The Literature and Politics of Chess in the Late Middle Ages</a>,” the game’s early European players turned the game into an allegory for society and changed it to mirror their world. Since then, poets and writers have used it as an allegory for love, duty, conflict and accomplishment.</p>
<h2>The game’s medieval roots</h2>
<p>When chess arrived in Europe through Mediterranean trade routes of the 10th century, players altered the game to reflect their society’s political structure. </p>
<p>In its original form, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Companion-Chess-Second/dp/0198661649">chess was a game of war</a> with pieces representing different military units: horsemen, elephant-riding fighters, charioteers and infantry. These armed units protected the “shah,” or king, and his counselor, the “firz,” in the game’s imagined battle. </p>
<p>But Europeans quickly transformed the “shah” to a king, the “vizier” to the queen, the “elephants” to bishops, the “horses” to knights, the “chariots” to castles and the “foot soldiers” to pawns. With these changes, the two sides of the board no longer represented the units in an army; they now stood in for Western social order.</p>
<p>The game gave concrete expression to the medieval worldview that every person had a designated place. Moreover, it revised and improved the very common <a href="http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/three_estates.htm">“three-estate” model</a>: those who fought (knights), those who prayed (clergy) and those who worked (the rest). </p>
<p>Then there was the transformation of the queen. Although chess rules across medieval Europe had some variations, most initially granted the queen the power to move only one square. This changed in the 15th century, when the chess queen gained unlimited movement in any direction. </p>
<p>Most players would agree that this change made the game faster and more interesting to play. But also, and as the late Stanford historian Marylin Yalom argued in “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/birth-of-the-chess-queen-marilyn-yalom?variant=32122469023778">The Birth of the Chess Queen</a>,” the queen’s elevation to the strongest piece appeared first in Spain during the time when the powerful Queen Isabella held the throne. </p>
<h2>A ‘mating’ dance</h2>
<p>With <a href="https://chaucer.lib.utsa.edu/omeka/items/show/274705">a powerful female figure</a> now on the board, jokes about “mating” abounded, and poets often used chess as a metaphor for sex. </p>
<p>Take the 13th-century epic poem “<a href="https://carleton.ca/chum/wp-content/uploads/Huon-for-Hums-3200.pdf">Huon de Bordeaux</a>.” Wanting to expose his newly hired servant, Huon, as a nobleman, King Yvoryn urges him to play chess against his prodigiously talented daughter. </p>
<p>“If thou can mate her,” Yvoryn says, “I promise that thou shalt have her one night in thy bed, to do with her at thy pleasure.” If Huon loses, Yvoryn will kill him. </p>
<p>Huon does not play chess well. But this turns out not to matter because he looks like a medieval version of “Queen’s Gambit” breakout star <a href="https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a34510174/who-is-townes-the-queens-gambit-jacob-fortune-lloyd/">Jacob Fortune-Lloyd</a>. Dizzy with desire and desperate to sleep with this heartthrob, Yvoryn’s daughter plays badly and loses the game. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373384/original/file-20201207-13-1f9670l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young man and woman play chess while two other women look on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373384/original/file-20201207-13-1f9670l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373384/original/file-20201207-13-1f9670l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373384/original/file-20201207-13-1f9670l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373384/original/file-20201207-13-1f9670l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373384/original/file-20201207-13-1f9670l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373384/original/file-20201207-13-1f9670l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373384/original/file-20201207-13-1f9670l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An image of two young lovers playing chess from Alfonso X’s 13th-century ‘Book of Chess, Dice and Tables.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://jnsilva.ludicum.org/HJT2012/BookofGames.pdf">Charles Knutson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 14th-century poem “<a href="https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/hahn-sir-gawain-avowyng-of-arthur-introduction">The Avowyng of King Arthur</a>,” chess also stands in for sex. At one key moment, King Arthur summons a noble lady to play chess; together they “sat themselves together on the side of the bed” and “began to play until dawn that was day.” The repeated “mating” on the board not-so-subtly hints at a night of lovemaking.</p>
<p>It also shows up to this end in “The Queen’s Gambit.” In an echo of Huon’s game, Beth plays with her friend and love interest, Townes, in his hotel room. Their match, however, is interrupted when it becomes clear that Townes doesn’t share Beth’s feelings. Later in the story, Beth plays with Harry Beltik. Their first kiss takes place over the board and prefaces their sexual consummation. </p>
<h2>Chess as ‘life in miniature’</h2>
<p>But much deeper and more interesting are the medieval allegories that use chess to reinforce societal obligations and ties between citizens. </p>
<p>No author did this more comprehensively than 13th-century Dominican friar Jacobus de Cessolis. In his treatise “<a href="https://www.textmanuscripts.com/medieval/cessolis-liber-de-moribus-60910">The Book of the Morals of Men and the Duties of Nobles and Commoners on the Game of Chess</a>,” Jacobus imagines chess as a way to teach personal accountability. </p>
<p>In four short sections, Jacobus moves through the gameplay and pieces, describing the ways each one contributes to a harmonious social order. He goes so far as to distinguish pawns by trade and to connect each to its “royal” partner. The first pawn is a farmer who is tied to the castle because he provides food to the kingdom. The second pawn is a blacksmith, who makes armor for the knight. The third is an attorney, who helps the bishop with legal matters. And so on.</p>
<p>Jacobus’ work became one of the most popular of the Middle Ages and, according to chess historian <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-History-of-Chess/H-J-R-Murray/9781632202932">H.J.R. Murray</a>, at one point rivaled the number of Bible copies in circulation. Even though Jacobus in his prologue implies that his book is most useful for a king, the rest of his treatise makes clear that all people – and the piece they most closely resemble – can benefit by reading his work, learning the game and mastering the lessons that come with it. </p>
<p>Jacobus’ allegory becomes one of the central messages of “The Queen’s Gambit.” Beth reaches her full potential only after she learns to collaborate with other players. Just like the pawn she converts in her <a href="https://vandevliet.me/the-queens-gambit-the-final-game-harmon-vs-borgov/">final game</a>, Beth becomes a figurative queen only with the help of others.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>But this is not the only modern work that deploys chess in this fashion. “<a href="https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/star-wars-holochess-game-no-headset">Star Wars</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sm_-vJNCHk">Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone</a>” and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za8TuwshXnA">Blade Runner</a>,” to name just a few, use versions of the game at key moments to show a character’s growth or to stand in as a metaphor for conflict.</p>
<p>So the next time you see a headline like “<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-01/trump-nears-checkmate-stage-in-last-gasp-bid-to-undo-election">Trump Nears Checkmate</a>” and “<a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gang-of-10-obamas-checkmate/">Gang of 10: Obama’s Checkmate</a>,” or see an ad for <a href="https://spycentre.com/products/checkmate-home-infidelity-test-kit">a “Checkmate” infidelity test</a>, you can thank – or curse – the medieval world.</p>
<p>Grandmaster Garry Kasparov’s observation ultimately holds true. “Chess,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RemmwytmEXs">he once quipped</a>, “is life in miniature.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Adams has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). She has received no support from for-profit organizations.</span></em></p>Ever since players tweaked the game to reflect the medieval social order, poets and writers have used chess as an allegory for love, duty, conflict and accomplishment.Jenny Adams, Associate Professor of English, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1300432020-02-03T13:53:26Z2020-02-03T13:53:26ZDo authors really put deeper meaning into poems and stories – or do readers make it up?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312578/original/file-20200129-92954-lqsff9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many books, like 'Charlotte's Web,' contain symbolism.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/near-rural-window-daylight-dark-room-1486987019">Dmitriy Os Ivanov/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Do authors really put deeper meaning into poems and stories – or do readers make it up? Jordan, 14, Indianapolis, Indiana</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>One of my favorite novels is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/07/05/137452030/how-e-b-white-spun-charlottes-web">“Charlotte’s Web</a>,” the famous story of a friendship between a pig and a spider.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=b2aAT9YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I often talk</a> about this novel with my students studying children’s literature. At some point, someone always asks about “deeper meaning.” Is it really a story of, say, the cycle of death and rebirth? Or the importance of friendship? Or the significance of writing?</p>
<p>Or is it just a story of life in the barn, with talking animals? </p>
<p>In a way, it doesn’t matter. Because every writer is also a reader, and that means that whatever a writer puts into a story probably came from somewhere else, whether it’s another story, or a poem, or their own life experience.</p>
<p>And readers, too, will bring their own experience – of other stories, other poems and life – and that will direct their interpretation of what they absorb. We can see one example of this if we look at the spider in “Charlotte’s Web.”</p>
<h2>The meaning of character</h2>
<p>That spider, Charlotte, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/07/biographer-spider-charlottes-web">is based on a real spider</a>. We know this because E.B. White drew pictures of spiders, studied them and made sure to be as accurate as he could when he wrote about them.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312575/original/file-20200129-92949-1nbo2r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312575/original/file-20200129-92949-1nbo2r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312575/original/file-20200129-92949-1nbo2r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312575/original/file-20200129-92949-1nbo2r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312575/original/file-20200129-92949-1nbo2r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312575/original/file-20200129-92949-1nbo2r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312575/original/file-20200129-92949-1nbo2r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312575/original/file-20200129-92949-1nbo2r7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Charlotte’s Web’ by E. B. White.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte%27s_Web#/media/File:CharlotteWeb.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But, to a reader she <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arachne">may also represent Arachne</a>, the talented weaver who challenged the goddess Athena and was changed into a spider for her pride. Or she may be the “noiseless patient spider” of <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45473/a-noiseless-patient-spider">Walt Whitman’s poem</a>, who flings out thread-like filaments as the poet flings out words.</p>
<p>She may also be the spider who weaves “<a href="https://www.vqronline.org/silken-tent">the silken tent</a>” of Robert Frost’s poem. Maybe we’ll think about how the spider, like a human storyteller, generates something seemingly out of nothing, which makes her web miraculous.</p>
<p>Each of these spiders symbolizes different things. When we read about her, then, we may think of all those other spiders. Or we may just think about the spider we saw on our own front porch that morning, weaving her own web.</p>
<p>As the writer Philip Pullman said, “The meaning of a story emerges in the meeting between the words on the page and the <a href="https://www.philip-pullman.com/">thoughts in the reader’s mind</a>.”</p>
<h2>The reader is in charge</h2>
<p>What Pullman is suggesting, then, is that it’s up to readers to make the meaning they want out of the stories they hear and the books they read.</p>
<p>It’s a powerful statement: We are in charge.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean that anything goes. Meanings come from context, from convention, from older stories and from previous usage. But it’s up to us to interpret what we read and to make the case for how we’re doing it.</p>
<p>Or, as the novelist John Green writes of his books, “<a href="https://www.johngreenbooks.com/where-i-get-my-ideas-inspiration-and-general-writing-stuff">They belong to their readers now</a>, which is a great thing – because the books are more powerful in the hands of my readers than they could ever be in my hands.”</p>
<p>What we do with the books we read matters, Green tells us. It’s up to us to make the meaning and up to us to decide what to do with that meaning once we’ve made it.</p>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130043/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elisabeth Gruner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Authors sometimes put deeper meanings into their stories, but really, it’s the reader who decides.Elisabeth Gruner, Associate Professor of English, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1065762018-11-22T11:41:43Z2018-11-22T11:41:43ZHow the rise of veganism may tenderise fictional language<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246431/original/file-20181120-161624-11s60ix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A cheesy book.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/slices-cheese-folded-like-book-on-632114717?src=Wyc7t8AQWYkTosCz7Po7oA-1-75">Igor Normann/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For countless generations, meat has been considered the single most important component of any meal. But meat is more than just a form of sustenance, it is the very king of all foods. It’s a source of societal power.</p>
<p>Historically, the resources required to obtain meat meant it was mainly the <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/tudor-dining-a-guide-to-food-and-status-in-the-16th-century/">preserve of the upper classes</a>, while the peasantry subsisted on a mostly vegetarian diet. As a result, the consumption of meat was associated with dominant power structures in society, its absence from the plate indicating disadvantaged groups, such as women and the poor. To control the supply of meat was to control the people.</p>
<p>In fiction, meat has long had a powerful role, too. As Jeanette Winterson, food writer and author of <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/103/1035517/oranges-are-not-the-only-fruit/9780099598183.html">Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/29/books/gender-games-in-restoration-london.html">Sexing the Cherry</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/06/jeanette-winterson-nigella-lawson-classic-cookbook">says</a>, “Food, like language, is a basic everyday necessity. We need to communicate. We need to eat.”</p>
<p>It is not surprising that food metaphors, often meat-based, infuse our daily speech. There is invariably a gastronomically themed way of expressing almost any situation. Having money troubles? Then your goose is cooked if you don’t bring home the bacon. </p>
<p>Winterson – who <a href="https://theconversation.com/rabbits-are-not-the-only-meat-so-why-the-fury-over-jeanette-wintersons-fluffy-meal-25401">sparked internet outrage</a> a few years ago by catching and cooking a rabbit – is noted for her meaty metaphors. She uses meat as an important and recurring presence in her fiction. In her novel <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/103/1036281/the-passion/9780099598329.html">The Passion</a>, the production, distribution, and consumption of meat symbolises the unequal forces at large in the Napoleonic era. The main female character, Villanelle, sells herself to Russian soldiers in order to have some of their scarce and valuable supply of meat. The female body is just another type of meat for these men and carnivorous desire leads to carnal pleasure. In contrast, Napoleon’s obsession with devouring meat symbolises his desire to conquer the world. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246434/original/file-20181120-161644-ikdzou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246434/original/file-20181120-161644-ikdzou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246434/original/file-20181120-161644-ikdzou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246434/original/file-20181120-161644-ikdzou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246434/original/file-20181120-161644-ikdzou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246434/original/file-20181120-161644-ikdzou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246434/original/file-20181120-161644-ikdzou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Time to devour a new edition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/big-book-shape-birthday-cake-cook-1167837007?src=BJBbsOPwvdg0IFFWxj17Fg-1-13">Lapina/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, Winterson is not the only writer who has shown in fiction that meat has meaning beyond its nutritional value. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/aug/10/virginia-woolf-to-the-lighthouse">To The Lighthouse</a> by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Virginia-Woolf">Virginia Woolf</a> describes a beef stew that takes three days to make. This meal dominates the domestic setting and requires much effort from the cook, Matilda. When it is finally ready for the table, the hostess Mrs Ramsay’s first thought is she “must take great care … to choose a specially tender piece for William Bankes.” Despite all the female labour poured into the dish, the patriarchal mindset of the early 20th century is so powerfully ingrained that a man’s right to eat the best meat is unquestioned. Woolf may not be writing about an emperor conquering most of Europe, but the message is the same as Winterson’s: meat is power, meat is for men. </p>
<h2>Out of the frying pan</h2>
<p>In today’s reality, meat is repeatedly the subject of much socially and politically charged discussion, including about how the demand for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/10/huge-reduction-in-meat-eating-essential-to-avoid-climate-breakdown">meat is contributing to climate change</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/meat-eating-destroying-planet-report-warning-a7985071.html">environmental degradation</a>. Studies have indicated the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/01/bacon-cancer-processed-meats-nitrates-nitrites-sausages">negative effects of meat-eating on the human body</a>. When concerns about animal welfare are added to the broth, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/vegans-uk-rise-popularity-plant-based-diets-veganism-figures-survey-compare-the-market-a8286471.html">the growth of vegetarianism and veganism</a> threatens to dethrone meat from its position at the top of the food hierarchy.</p>
<p>Given that fiction often reflects on real world events and societal issues, it may very well be that down the line powerful meat metaphors are eschewed. While its unlikely we’ll start saying that someone has been overlooked like “chopped cabbage”, some shift in language is inevitable.</p>
<p>The increased awareness of vegan issues will filter through our consciousness to produce new modes of expression – after all, there’s more than one way to peel a potato. At the same time, metaphors involving meat could gain an increased intensity if the killing of animals for food becomes less socially acceptable. The image of “killing two birds with one stone” is, if anything, made more powerful by the animal-friendly alternative of “<a href="https://www.peta.org/teachkind/lesson-plans-activities/animal-friendly-idioms/">feeding two birds with one scone</a>”. If veganism forces us to confront the realities of food’s origins, then this increased awareness will undoubtedly be reflected in our language and our literature.</p>
<p>However, that is not to say that meaty descriptions will be done away with immediately – after all, it can take language a long time to change. And who is to say that even those who choose a vegan or vegetarian diet even want to do away with the meaty descriptions? It is interesting to note that a range of vegetarian burgers have been made to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/meatless-bleeding-burger-uk-launch-b12-taste-vegan-veggie-moving-mountains-a8220901.html">“bleed” like real meat</a>. Although the animal components of such foods are substituted, attempts are made to replicate the carnivorous experience. Beetroot blood suggests the symbolic power of meat may well carry into the age of veganism, in which case the idea of meat as power will also remain in literature for some time to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106576/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shareena Z Hamzah-Osbourne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As societal habits change so too does language and metaphors.Shareena Z Hamzah-Osbourne, Postdoctoral Researcher, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/954072018-05-30T10:36:37Z2018-05-30T10:36:37ZScott Pruitt’s desk is more impressive than yours<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220839/original/file-20180529-80645-1at18f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scott Pruitt signing an official order at the Resolute Desk in President Trump’s office.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-03/2017-pruittsigning2.jpg">EPA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Allegations of misconduct during Scott Pruitt’s tenure as head of the Environmental Protection Agency share a common theme: ambitious displays of power and authority. </p>
<p>Whether it’s his insistence on flying <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/us/politics/scott-pruitt-security-furniture.html">first class or on private jets</a> or his request to use <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scott-pruitt-asked-to-use-sirens-in-dc-traffic-and-was-told-no-for-non-emergency/">emergency sirens to avoid Washington, D.C., traffic</a>, Pruitt’s actions show that he is not afraid to make a display of the power he wields. </p>
<p>These allegations of misconduct outside the office are matched by
action taken by Pruitt inside the office: his attempt to purchase two expensive desks, one of them bulletproof, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/us/politics/scott-pruitt-security-furniture.html">valued together at US$70,000</a>. </p>
<p>The purchase of these desks was stopped by staff. But one of the replacement desks Pruitt selected instead has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/us/politics/scott-pruitt-security-furniture.html">compared</a> to the Oval Office’s grand and presidential <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/treasures-of-the-white-house-resolute-desk">Resolute Desk</a>, which has been used by almost every president since Britain’s Queen Victoria gave it as a gift to Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880. </p>
<p>The selection of such an imposing desk is no accident. Instead, it is consistent with his other actions in that it represents a display of power that Pruitt uses to send a specific message to all who enter his office: I am important and powerful.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eA-OBmYAAAAJ&hl=en">As a professor of management</a> researching <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681314001463">organizational politics</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/job.2240">abusive supervision</a>, I often explain that politics is a constant of organizational life. Workplaces are full of political power plays and attempts to influence others. </p>
<h2>Desks as symbol</h2>
<p>Desks are one of the most common symbols of power in society. </p>
<p>Starting at a young age, children are taught that the person behind the large desk at the front of the classroom is the one who holds the power. Just like the employees they will grow to be, children sit behind desks that are smaller and more utilitarian than their teacher’s. As people age into the workplace, the characters may change – the teacher or principal becomes our manager – but the scenery stays the same. The desk remains. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220844/original/file-20180529-80620-1zs2j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220844/original/file-20180529-80620-1zs2j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220844/original/file-20180529-80620-1zs2j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220844/original/file-20180529-80620-1zs2j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220844/original/file-20180529-80620-1zs2j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220844/original/file-20180529-80620-1zs2j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220844/original/file-20180529-80620-1zs2j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The person behind the large desk is the one who holds the power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How employees, managers and outsiders experience the physical spaces in a workplace or office is greatly influenced by the <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amr.1984.4277654">physical structure</a> of the building and the use of <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amr.1984.4277654">symbolic artifacts</a>. Buildings can send messages and affect behavior through their design. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Successful-Office-Workspace-1982-01-01-Paperback/dp/B012YXPKGE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1525179438&sr=8-2&keywords=the+successful+office+becker+1982">Client-centered offices</a>, where managers expect to meet with clients and others, are considered to be 99 percent image, according to Franklin Becker, professor emeritus of design and environment analysis at Cornell University. </p>
<p>Similarly, if managers want to be recognized or even revered as powerful and important, they will need to match this desired message both concretely and symbolically. This can be accomplished with the installation of a formal desk that signals to the follower the rank or position of the owner. </p>
<p>It should be noted that socially savvy managers <a href="http://www.crforum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Political-Skill-in-Organizations.pdf">consciously shape the image they present to their employees</a>. Conversely, it is possible for less astute managers to be quite unaware of the signals they are sending to employees through the choices they make in their office. </p>
<p>A large desk can increase the physical separation between manager and others, thereby supporting the symbolic or hierarchical distance between the two. Thus, desks can be used to reinforce the legitimacy and authority of a manager. </p>
<h2>Desks as power</h2>
<p>The office desk and the space it occupies is governed by social customs that dictate certain behaviors.</p>
<p>For example, subordinates do not cross behind the desk unless invited, objects on the desk are not touched without asking, and important information is passed over the desk to the manager. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220850/original/file-20180529-80658-2hnedc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220850/original/file-20180529-80658-2hnedc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220850/original/file-20180529-80658-2hnedc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220850/original/file-20180529-80658-2hnedc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220850/original/file-20180529-80658-2hnedc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220850/original/file-20180529-80658-2hnedc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220850/original/file-20180529-80658-2hnedc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Powerful people come out from behind their powerful desks to be less intimidating. Here, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois meets with a constituent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/photos/washington-dc-meetings-may-2014">Office of Sen. Dick Durbin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Early research on physical spaces found that face-to-face seating – which is inevitable when a manager is behind a desk – is generally used for <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/personal-space-the-behavioral-basis-of-design/oclc/4099">adversarial interactions</a>.</p>
<p>Professional persuasiveness coach Shari Alexander recommends that if <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228595">managers want to reinforce their formal position</a>, they should stay behind the desk. However, if managers want to connect with their workers on a more personal level, they need to step away from their desk. </p>
<p>William Whyte, <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/organization-man/oclc/500387673&referer=brief_results">an organizational analyst and author, wrote</a> that even the “neophyte organizational member quickly realizes that furnishings are usually synonymous with rank in the hierarchy.”</p>
<p>Certainly, if individuals were to tour an empty office building with the signs removed from office doors, they would be able to identify the offices belonging to senior managers simply by their contents.</p>
<p>Pruitt’s actions thus far are consistent with the image he conveys via his choice of desk: power, importance and authority. His office is his sanctuary, the place where he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/16/scott-pruitts-43000-soundproof-phone-booth-violated-spending-laws-federal-watchdog-finds/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.620517ab0ad3">shares his secrets</a>, wants to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scott-pruitts-security-team-bulletproof-car-and-furniture-2018-4">feel safe</a>, and likely takes comfort in knowing he is the master of his domain. </p>
<p>However, his actions thus far make clear that he certainly finds comfort in ensuring that all who stand before his desk, just on the edge of the carpet, know that he is the master of their domain as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95407/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charn McAllister does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A desk is a place to work. But it can also be a symbol of prestige and power, as EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has demonstrated in his choice of expensive and ostentatious desks for his office.Charn McAllister, Assistant Professor of Management and Organizational Development, Northeastern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/697622016-12-07T02:09:50Z2016-12-07T02:09:50Z‘Hail Trump’ salute recalls a powerful message of hate<p>During a Nov. 22 celebration of Donald Trump’s election triumph, members of a far-right organization, the National Policy Institute, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/richard-spencer-speech-npi/508379/">were filmed</a> extending a stiff arm in the iconic “Heil Hitler” salute of Nazi Germany. Ensuring there would be no mistaking the gesture, National Policy Institute President Richard Spencer shouted, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!”</p>
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<p>The video echoed, on a very small scale, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXST0wF5T4s">mass rallies</a> that were once held in Nazi Germany. Huge crowds with their arms raised “were an essential part of Nazi propaganda, designed to demonstrate public solidarity with the policies of the Nazi Party,” write Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell in <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/propaganda-persuasion/book239374">“Propaganda & Persuasion</a>.”</p>
<p>Two years ago, when I prepared slides on the Nazi salute for my rhetoric class on “The Art of Argument,” I had no idea that I would soon see that gesture reborn in the America political landscape.</p>
<p>Before the Nov. 8 election, the use of the Nazi salute by a fringe group might have been dismissed as a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmYIo7bcUw">“Springtime for Hitler”</a> moment, something too outrageous to be taken seriously, as satirized in “The Producers” <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063462/">movie</a> and Tony-winning Broadway <a href="http://broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/producers.htm">musical</a>.</p>
<p>Post-election, the gesture represents something that demands serious attention. Historically, hand and arm gestures have had as powerful an impact as slogans or symbols. That Nazi salute should be considered in that context.</p>
<h2>History of gestures</h2>
<p>Certain gestures can send powerful rhetoric and cultural messages. There’s even an <a href="http://www.gesturestudies.com/">International Society for Gesture Studies</a> which promotes gesture studies worldwide. </p>
<p>Consider a common two-finger salute. During World War II, the two-finger salute of <a href="http://time.com/3880345/v-for-victory-a-gesture-of-solidarity-and-defiance/">“V for Victory”</a> gave courage to Allied troops. A similar gesture morphed into the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/from-churchill-to-libya-how-the-v-symbol-went-viral/2011/03/18/AFzPiYYB_story.html?utm_term=.d39cb938adde">peace sign</a>, a gesture of resistance and solidarity during the 1960s protests against the Vietnam War. Turn the V-sign palm facing in, and you have a <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/10/15/the_up_yours_gesture_looks_like_a_peace_sign.html">gesture</a> that is considered rude in the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>The Vulcan salute, adopted by actor Leonard Nimoy for the original “Star Trek” series, came from a Jewish blessing, and has become part of the American lexicon of gesture. After Nimoy’s death, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/0228/A-sign-from-space-Live-long-and-prosper-Leonard-Nimoy-video">NASA astronaut Terry Virts</a> made the “Live Long and Prosper” sign while aboard the International Space Station and sent it to Earth via Twitter.</p>
<p>The current uproar over athletes kneeling during the National Anthem pales beside the outrage that greeted athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos when they each held aloft a black-gloved fist clenched in the “Black Power” salute during their <a href="http://time.com/3880999/black-power-salute-tommie-smith-and-john-carlos-at-the-1968-olympics/">medal ceremony</a> at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.</p>
<p>A three-fingered salute plays a key role in the book series “The Hunger Games.” According to narrator Katniss Everdeen, <a href="https://www.quora.com/Why-has-the-three-finger-salute-in-The-Hunger-Games-become-the-icon-of-resistance-even-though-it-means-showing-thanks-admiration-and-good-bye-to-a-loved-one">raising a hand with three fingers</a> extended is “an old and rarely used gesture [that] means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love.” In the book, the gesture becomes a sign of resistance.</p>
<p>Fiction became reality in May 2014, when three Thailand political activists protesting a coup held their hands up in a three-finger salute and were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/world/asia/thailand-protesters-hunger-games-salute.html?_r=0">detained</a>. Thai authorities likely never heard of Katniss Everdeen, yet they knew a sign of rebellion when they saw it.</p>
<h2>As old as politics</h2>
<p>“Gestures are as old as politics itself,” <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2014-09-03/isis-sends-message">writes</a> Nathaniel Zelinsky in a Foreign Affairs article that probes the use of gestures employed by radical Islamists and other groups in Middle East. Zelinsky argues that we must pay attention to these hand signals as they “communicate complex political messages that Western observers have largely ignored.”</p>
<p>Gestures, he <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2014-09-03/isis-sends-message">notes</a>, including the Nazi salute, became especially important with the advent of mass media in the 20th century:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Consider what is perhaps the best-known example: Adolf Hitler’s fascist salute. In a single gesture, Hitler communicated the power of National Socialism, the obedience of German crowds, and his own role as a supreme leader. And because pictures of him saluting were printed in newspapers around the world, the symbol reached billions.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Europe, the Nazi salute is so potent it can be considered <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/queen-nazi-salute-countries-where-gesture-is-illegal-10401630.html">hate speech</a>. To get around these laws, a controversial <a href="http://theconversation.com/why-dieudonnes-quenelle-gesture-poses-challenges-for-britain-and-france-22731">French comedian</a> created an inverted Nazi salute called the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-25550581">“quenelle,”</a> in which a stiff arm is held down, rather than up, and is interpreted as support of anti-Zionism. The gesture has spread across the internet through selfies, as <a href="http://www.jewishledger.com/2015/04/conversation-with-prof-gavriel-rosenfeld/">Gavriel Rosenfeld</a> explores in his book “Hi Hitler: How the Nazi Past Is Normalized in Contemporary Culture.”</p>
<p>Unlike in France, gestures may fall under First Amendment protection in the United States, affording protection to even Nazi salutes. The National Policy Institute may have taken advantage of this protection in that November meeting. Whether deliberate or not, Trump supporters have displayed a Heil Hitler-like gesture at more than one <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-right-hand-salute_us_56db50d8e4b03a405678e27a">Trump rally</a>.</p>
<p>The stiff-arm salute is not a trivial gesture. It is not <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-conservatives-guide-to-the-alt-right/">alt-right</a> so much as it is Third Reich redux, a revival of a dangerous ideology. Just consider the message from the National Policy Institute’s <a href="http://www.npiamerica.org">website</a>, which declares it is “dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.” It is not a stretch to compare this to the Nazi veneration of the supposed <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aryan">“Aryan”</a> or “ethnically pure” race. </p>
<p>Thus far, the president-elect has expressed more outrage over <a href="http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/22/13714604/donald-trump-twitter-hate-crime">the cast of “Hamilton”</a> addressing Mike Pence at the theater than neo-Nazis saluting in his name.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69762/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Schorow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The reboot of the Nazi salute should not be taken lightly, given its history of hatred and genocide.Stephanie Schorow, Adjunct Professor of Professional Writing, Regis College, Regis CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/500162015-11-02T19:06:23Z2015-11-02T19:06:23ZA day at the races: fillies, frocks and the oft-forgotten folklore of horseshoes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100484/original/image-20151102-16554-kuiy8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The horseshoe motif symbolises swift feet that win races for their owners and jockeys, but it symbolises much else too. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0BXZJA7KX29&SMLS=1&RW=1420&RH=1221#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0BXZJA7KX29&SMLS=1&RW=1420&RH=1221&POPUPPN=27&POPUPIID=2C0408WQBFHRK">Reuters</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s known as the race that stops the nation, but the Melbourne Cup carnival is about more than that. Betting and alcohol aside, it’s about two things in particular: <a href="http://fashionandpower.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/horse-power-symbol-in-french-fashion.html">horses and fashion</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100485/original/image-20151102-16519-tlnmtp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100485/original/image-20151102-16519-tlnmtp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100485/original/image-20151102-16519-tlnmtp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100485/original/image-20151102-16519-tlnmtp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100485/original/image-20151102-16519-tlnmtp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100485/original/image-20151102-16519-tlnmtp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100485/original/image-20151102-16519-tlnmtp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100485/original/image-20151102-16519-tlnmtp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arlena Jockey Print Dress by Ralph Lauren.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><br></p>
<p>Two motifs predominate in racing fashion: the horseshoe and the horse bit. The bit is synonymous with <a href="http://www.gucci.com/au/worldofgucci/articles/charlotte-casiraghi">Gucci</a> and Hermes; both esteemed saddlers. The motif of the horse and rider, of course, feature in the logos of <a href="http://www.longchamp.com/">Longchamp</a>, Ralph Lauren, Longchamp and Burberry. </p>
<p><br></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100470/original/image-20151102-16514-1fa4ret.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100470/original/image-20151102-16514-1fa4ret.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100470/original/image-20151102-16514-1fa4ret.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100470/original/image-20151102-16514-1fa4ret.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100470/original/image-20151102-16514-1fa4ret.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100470/original/image-20151102-16514-1fa4ret.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100470/original/image-20151102-16514-1fa4ret.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gucci handbag with horse bit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The single jointed snaffle bit adorns watches, bags, belts, shoes, jewellery, cufflinks and ties. Though it will adorn the ankles, waists, wrists and necks of thousands of men and women, few people give it, or the ubiquitous horseshoe, much thought. </p>
<p>In some ways this is a shame, because the symbolism of these objects is worth considering. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100471/original/image-20151102-16507-1qdfwg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100471/original/image-20151102-16507-1qdfwg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100471/original/image-20151102-16507-1qdfwg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100471/original/image-20151102-16507-1qdfwg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100471/original/image-20151102-16507-1qdfwg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100471/original/image-20151102-16507-1qdfwg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100471/original/image-20151102-16507-1qdfwg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100471/original/image-20151102-16507-1qdfwg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ryan Moore celebrates after riding Protectionist to win the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse, November 4, 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That a horseshoe motif is a recurrent symbol at a racetrack is hardly surprising. It is a metaphor for horses and the swift feet that win races for their owners and jockeys. </p>
<p>Echoing the shape of a crescent moon, the horseshoe is thought <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8613373-love-a-treatise-on-the-science-of-sex-attraction">by some</a> to reference <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis">Roman deities Artemis and Diana</a>. Its luck, they say, derives from the goddess herself (or more <a href="http://www.eburypublishing.co.uk/editions/illustrated-horsewatching/9780091877842">specifically her sacred vulva</a>). The Blessed Virgin Mary is often depicted by crescent moons or placed within <a href="http://arthistory.about.com/od/glossary/g/m_mandorla.htm">vulval mandorla</a> (the name given to the almond shape traced when two circles overlap).</p>
<p>In medieval Europe, pagan Moon goddesses <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2767918-animals-with-human-faces?from_search=true&search_version=service">echoing the same U shapes</a> were frequently displayed above the doorways of medieval churches for protection. The bewitching <a href="http://www.eburypublishing.co.uk/editions/illustrated-horsewatching/9780091877842">Irish sheela-na-gig</a>, for example, would stop the devil in his tracks by distracting him with her genitalia.</p>
<p>In 18th century Germany, the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0168159187900220">word “horseshoe” was slang for female genitals</a> - the saying “to lose a horseshoe” (Sie hat ein hufeisen verloren) meaning a girl had been seduced. </p>
<p>Today, across Europe and the US, horseshoes are still placed above the doorways of barns and stables to ward off evil spirits. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100493/original/image-20151102-16510-ahco8h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100493/original/image-20151102-16510-ahco8h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100493/original/image-20151102-16510-ahco8h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100493/original/image-20151102-16510-ahco8h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100493/original/image-20151102-16510-ahco8h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=678&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100493/original/image-20151102-16510-ahco8h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100493/original/image-20151102-16510-ahco8h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100493/original/image-20151102-16510-ahco8h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Saint Dunstan and the Devil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are however <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/534117?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">many possible origins of the lucky horseshoe</a>. One English folkloric tale tells of <a href="http://www.stdunstan.net/who-was-st-dunstan.htm">Saint Dunstan</a>, a blacksmith who when asked to shoe the devil’s horse nailed a horseshoe to the Devil’s hoof instead. When the Devil cried out in pain, Dunstan agreed to remove the shoe provided he promised never to enter a house with a horseshoe placed over its door. Charles Dickens refers to Saint Dunstan’s “red-hot tongs” in <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5326.A_Christmas_Carol">A Christmas Carol</a>. </p>
<p>Debate still surrounds whether the horseshoe should face up or down. In Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, and Latin America the rule is down; in Ireland and the US they face up. </p>
<p>The bit symbolises control and interference, an imposition of human will over and the appropriation of the horse’s might and power. Hung in the space between its front and back teeth, pressing on the horse’s tongue, the bit has been our default form of controlling horses for over 5,000 years.</p>
<p>In many ways, the mouth is to the horse as the hand is to the human. Horses explore their worlds through their mouths – feeling, licking, tasting, biting and chewing. Placing an apparatus of control in their mouths directly interferes with their ability to maintain a “horse” relationship to the world. The bit is central to <a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo3626707.html">literal and figural transformation of the horse from wild to tame</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100491/original/image-20151102-16532-1xbd90y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100491/original/image-20151102-16532-1xbd90y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100491/original/image-20151102-16532-1xbd90y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100491/original/image-20151102-16532-1xbd90y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100491/original/image-20151102-16532-1xbd90y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100491/original/image-20151102-16532-1xbd90y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100491/original/image-20151102-16532-1xbd90y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100491/original/image-20151102-16532-1xbd90y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Contestants on stage during the Fashions on the Field at Melbourne Cup day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP One</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These symbols do not belong solely to the domain of women’s race day attire - men wear them too in ties, cufflinks, scarves and handkerchiefs. </p>
<p>But the connection between horses and women, reiterated through seemingly playful yet endless linguistic puns around “<a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/melbourne-cup-fashion-form-guide-giving-top-fillies-the-inside-running-on-big-best-dressed-prizes/story-fni0cvc9-1227580808478?sv=289f14d637b0cdd61bb9346def10c080">fillies on the field”</a> is quite different. Horses and women share a history of being viewed as traditional objects of male desire and pawns of male competition.</p>
<p>After horse races, people bid for the honour of owning the shoes worn by the winning horse. It’s an amusing quirk that as this is happening, post-race media coverage delights in following women as they gleefully trot barefooted in the grass, relieving their feet from the constraints of the modern high heel. </p>
<p>So what are we to make of women covering their bodies with these equine symbols of protection and control? One possible interpretation is that of the woman as powerful, dangerous and headstrong, causing men to gamble with more than their money. Perhaps this woman is in need of a bit of control. </p>
<p>Another reading might be of her as vulnerable to the evil spirits that lurk track side. Perhaps she requires protection in the form a crescent shaped amulet. </p>
<p>After all, horse racing offers its own host of dangerous characters - bookies for starters. So whether you wear a figurative heart on your sleeve these races, or a symbolic vulva, may the goddess smile upon you. After reading this, you may even be inclined to smile upon yourself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirrilly Thompson is a Senior Researcher at Central Queensland University's Appleton Institute in Adelaide. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Bushfire & Natural Hazards CRC. She is also Vice Chair of the Horse Federation of South Australia and the President Elect of the Society for Risk Analysis Australia and New Zealand.</span></em></p>Two motifs predominate in racing fashion: the horseshoe and the horse bit. But what does it mean when “fillies on the field” dress in clothes adorned with stirrups, bits and other equine symbols?Kirrilly Thompson, Senior Researcher in Anthropology and Animal Studies, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/154102013-07-18T20:55:58Z2013-07-18T20:55:58ZAnne likes Alex but not Bob: what your name really says about you<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27216/original/t2qrnmq8-1373427738.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3771%2C2472&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What you name your child might affect them more than you know.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">foshydog</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine you’re on a spaceship with engine trouble. Your captain knows she must land the ship for repairs. The navigator identifies two viable planets that could do the job. Little is known of either, other than the Lamonians inhabit one, and the Grataks the other. </p>
<p>Which to choose?</p>
<p>With no other information to hand, the captain, if she is like most earthlings, is likely to select the former: Lamonia. Apparently, and by virtue of their name alone, Lamonians <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/18/ugliest-words-michael-jackson-biographies">seem “nicer”</a> than Grataks.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27213/original/68jdm98y-1373422587.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27213/original/68jdm98y-1373422587.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27213/original/68jdm98y-1373422587.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27213/original/68jdm98y-1373422587.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27213/original/68jdm98y-1373422587.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=984&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27213/original/68jdm98y-1373422587.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1237&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27213/original/68jdm98y-1373422587.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1237&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27213/original/68jdm98y-1373422587.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1237&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Which is Kiki and which is Bouba?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">R Van Der Zwan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The captain’s decision is an example of the effect on our behaviours of “<a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Uov84NavOR8C&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=%E2%80%9Cvisual,+tactile,+or+proprioceptive+properties+of+objects%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=6bZgUKniug&sig=dVDt5L_CYnYxt0Iv_G9XTfXDe0g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5sDcUdvJC4O2kgX0p4CwDw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cvisual%2C%20tactile%2C%20or%20proprioceptive%20properties%20of%20objects%E2%80%9D&f=false">sound symbolism</a>”. </p>
<p>Sound symbolism is a phenomenon whereby the visual, tactile or proprioceptive properties of objects reliably predict the sound patterns (or phonemes) of the words by which they are described.</p>
<p>The so-called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect">Kiki/Bouba effect</a> is another example. Individuals who must choose between Kiki and Bouba as names for a spiky or rounded figure most often assign to the spiky figure “Kiki”. Similar effects have been shown for words relating to <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/mark/2000/00000011/00000001/00242978">glimmer and speed</a> and for <a href="http://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/261706">size</a>.</p>
<p>Sound symbolism arose, it’s been <a href="http://www.imprint.co.uk/rama/synaesthesia.pdf">argued</a>, because early languages developed as mechanisms for internalising physical characteristics of the external world. How things look, sound or are otherwise perceived was effectively internalised in the process of developing effective languages.</p>
<h2>What <em>is</em> in a name?</h2>
<p>Consistent with old-fashioned social roles for each sex, names given to girls tend to sound more decorative or “pretty”. Those given to boys tend towards sounding more <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=17147">functional and powerful</a>. </p>
<p>Using English monikers as examples, female names tend to be longer than male names, are more likely to have unstressed/weak initial syllables, and tend to end on a vowel sound. Indeed, female names also typically have more instances of the letter “i” and so contain more vowel sounds generally.</p>
<p>Social roles have, of course, changed. Nonetheless, there is evidence that sound symbolism persists in the names given to kids.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27217/original/6hxcgms3-1373427915.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27217/original/6hxcgms3-1373427915.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27217/original/6hxcgms3-1373427915.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27217/original/6hxcgms3-1373427915.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27217/original/6hxcgms3-1373427915.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27217/original/6hxcgms3-1373427915.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27217/original/6hxcgms3-1373427915.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27217/original/6hxcgms3-1373427915.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">sensesmaybenumbed</span></span>
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<p>One reliable difference between the sexes is physical size: human female babies are typically smaller than male babies. And, perhaps surprisingly, even when they are the same size as their male counterparts, female babies are <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01547725">perceived as being smaller</a>. </p>
<p>Smallness is captured in words by using high-pitched sounds, of which the most extreme example is the ‘ë’ phoneme (as in the “y” in “baby”). Real and perceived size differences in babies are reflected in contemporary name choices. </p>
<p>A review of the names registered for babies born in New South Wales for the years from 2001 to 2011 shows the number of different female names containing the ‘ë’ phoneme exceeded the number of different male names by more than two to one: <a href="http://www.nsw.gov.au/baby-names">46% compared to 22%</a>.</p>
<p>For the same period, the popularity of those female names as a label for new bubs was far greater than the popularity of their male name counterparts: 50% compared to 20%. That is, there were more female names than male names with sounds consistent with smallness and those names were more often given. </p>
<p>That pattern of naming is not new. Of all baby names given in the US for a hundred years, beginning in 1910, the proportion of female names containing the ‘ë’ phoneme was 40%. For males the proportion was 24%. Just as for New South Wales, those female names containing the high pitched ‘ë’ were more often chosen than were male names containing ‘ë’: <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/">40% for females and 15.0% for males</a>.</p>
<h2>Your name is important</h2>
<p>The impact of name selection extends beyond sound symbolism. Assigned names correlate strongly with a number of life choices and outcomes, a phenomenon known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism">nominative determinism</a> (of which there are <a href="http://www.urologyteam.com/?q=dr-richard-chopp">plenty</a> of <a href="http://www.roe.ac.uk/%7Eafh/">interesting</a> <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2006/05/03/law-blog-lawyer-of-the-day-sullivan-cromwells-sue-yoo/">examples</a>). </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27229/original/7p92mwyf-1373435418.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27229/original/7p92mwyf-1373435418.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27229/original/7p92mwyf-1373435418.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27229/original/7p92mwyf-1373435418.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27229/original/7p92mwyf-1373435418.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27229/original/7p92mwyf-1373435418.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27229/original/7p92mwyf-1373435418.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27229/original/7p92mwyf-1373435418.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Green aka atoach</span></span>
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<p>One facet of nominative determinism is the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16000270">name-letter effect</a>: Audrey is more likely to drive an Audi than a Toyota. She is more likely to partner up with either Anna or Anthony than she is with Trudy or Tom. She is more likely to live in Acapulco or Adelaide than Tamworth or Taipei.</p>
<p>The mechanism by which that pattern of choice manifests seems to be associated with self-esteem. Own-name liking is associated with self-liking via unconscious or <a href="http://www.stat.columbia.edu/%7Egelman/stuff_for_blog/susie.pdf">implicit egotism</a>. </p>
<p>The catch is that the outcomes of implicit egotism are not always positive. For example, no one playing baseball wants to strike out. But those players whose names begin K, the letter indicating a strike-out on a scorecard, are <a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/18/12/1106.short">more likely to do exactly that</a> than are their teammates (begging the question: is Larry more likely than his teammates to get bowled LBW?).</p>
<p>Similarly, students whose names begin with an A or a B are more likely to have a higher grade point average than are students whose names begin with C or D! It appears the letters making up our initials can, unconsciously, be so important to us they reduce our need to avoid negative outcomes associated with those letters.</p>
<p>Name selection, it seems, is a high-value human behaviour. Parents beware: if you’d like your kids to be a leader in, say, business, Catherine Elizabeth Olive or Charles Edward Oakley might be a better label than Patricia Anne or Peter Alan.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/15410/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Imagine you’re on a spaceship with engine trouble. Your captain knows she must land the ship for repairs. The navigator identifies two viable planets that could do the job. Little is known of either, other…Ricky van der Zwan, Associate Professor in Neuroscience and Psychology, Southern Cross UniversityAnna Brooks, Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.