Now, at UChicago, students of English are bound not by their own skin color, but by the skin color of those whom they wish to study
An embarrassing, senile decision from the University of Chicago.
Ironically using the wonderful English language, the University of Chicago blames English for many crimes, such as justifying colonialism, in order to claim that they will not offer the degree for 2020-2021. Instead, they will offer Black Studies, which they say covers “many languages”.
Er... yeah. As a Briton of Nigerian ethnic origin, I can assure you that one of those languages will be... English.
The reasoning here is asinine, particularly when you check out their “Programs of Study” website. A quick search shows that other languages with associations to historical crimes are offered as courses and have not been replaced with Black Studies. These include German and Arabic. Furthermore, you will find no shortage of courses discussing different ethnic and national groups, including African-Americans.
In the case of German (under Germanic Studies), they also offer Jewish Studies, Yiddish, and Israel and Jewish Studies under separate options. At no point have they said that they will replace the study of German, because of its use in atrocities against European Jews for centuries.
Even more galling: they offer Arabic studies. Surely they know the long history between Arabic and colonialism, which included the replacement of native languages such as Coptic? Arabic colonialism has affected people of African descent, so does that mean we also replace that language and culture with Black Studies? Not according to the University of Chicago, who keep that course up, as they rightly should. Arabic is a beautiful language with a rich literary heritage.
So is English.
Why the inconsistency? My only conclusion is: posturing.
I will leave the issue of tokenism and job prospects aside for now.
As a linguist and a patriotic Briton, I find this to be a distasteful attack on a rich and important linguistic heritage. English has produced some of the most important and transformative literary works, and its linguistic structure has a changing effect on many other foreign languages, because of its global importance. The idea that students are being deprived of access to brilliant works from Geoffrey Chaucer to the Victorian Golden Age of fiction, read widely by many different ethnicities and nationalities today, is appalling.
The reasons given are risible, particularly when you see their inconsistent application.
If there is anyone sensible left in the University of Chicago’s board, they should present the positive, logical case for offering an English degree-- far more beneficial for a wider range of jobs than the alternative provided.
This idea of obscuring one culture at “compensate” (supposedly) another is a false dichotomy and one that regresses the mind. It is perfectly possible to respect and love the linguistic, literary, and cultural history of English as well as appreciating different ethnic backgrounds. Ironically, they have achieved this on their own website with other cultures!
This one-track methodology applied by the University of Chicago turns them into embarrassing toadies for cultural absolutism, and desecrates academia.
What a mad world we live in.
