‘Truth is a Linguistic Question’ Talks by Five Trinity Scholars Relaunch Series on Language Discrimination

More than 50 people gathered in a Duke classroom both in-person and remotely this September to consider whether “Truth is a Linguistic Question” – a prompt provided by faculty leading the ongoing Sawyer Seminar Series on language discrimination in fragile and precarious communities.

Although Abbas Benmamoun may be best known at Duke as Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement, his scholarly expertise lies in language as a professor in Asian & Middle Eastern Studies. His talk focused on the perception and reality of declaring a language “endangered” – particularly in the Arab world. “When there is a linguistic anxiety, that may be real,” he said. “The loss of linguistic diversity is an issue. It is a real issue. This country used to have hundreds and hundreds of languages spoken and passed down through generations. But in other places, there is nuance. There is history and there is perception.”

Lee D. Baker, professor of Cultural Anthropology and African & African American Studies, closed the series of talks by digging into specific historical moments that exemplify race and racism in America. “Something that makes people crazy is when people say that America was built on a lie.” Baker began. “Maybe it wasn’t a lie, but it was a fabricated truth.”

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