![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.une-sen.org\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/rethink.png\" "\\"rethink\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
With the Indigenous Games well under way in Brazil<\/a>, we felt this would be a great time to discuss our vocabulary. We took this opportunity to speak with Survival International, an organization that advocates on behalf of tribal peoples.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve recently launched a campaign called Stamp it Out<\/a>, aimed at challenging language that has, for centuries, belittled tribal people and portrayed them as somehow being in a transitional state towards inevitably joining industrialized societies.<\/p>\n These ideas are imbued in words such as \u2018primitive\u2019 and \u2018stone age\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cPrimitive is one of the words that people use in the media,\u201d said Kayla Wieche, a spokeswoman for Survival International.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an example of racism against tribal people,\u201d she added \u201cthat somehow industrialized societies are further along than tribal people \u2013 that\u2019s what the word \u2018primitive\u2019 really conveys.\u201d<\/p>\n And of course, if a society is deemed to be \u201cprimitive\u201d or \u201cstone age\u201d, it\u2019s not a far leap for some to decide that industrialized societies know what\u2019s best for them.<\/p>\n Wieche said the word was recently sprinkled liberally throughout a book review featured in the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really shocking to see that sort of racism in a major US newspaper.\u201d<\/p>\n Survival International is urging allies to send e-cards<\/a> to those who seriously need to rethink their vernacular.<\/p>\n The organization has followed up this campaign with a similar one aimed at India, where such words are freely used without a second thought. The campaign is named \u201cProud, not primitive<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n What other words do you think we should strike from our lexicon? Leave a comment below!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the Indigenous Games well under way in Brazil, we felt this would be a great time to discuss our vocabulary. We took this opportunity to speak with Survival International, an organization that advocates on behalf of tribal peoples. They\u2019ve recently launched a campaign called Stamp it Out, aimed at challenging language that has, for … <\/p>\n