Jude Seal's Notebook

We are at tipping point in a years-long struggle against racism.  Protests have sprung up all over the world, stemming from events in the USA.  This post is not intended to provide commentary on these events – there are many people far better placed to provide such comment – but rather to highlight something which I think is not completely understood regarding the etymology of a particular word, which can in context be considered a racial slur.  It has been in my mind to write this post for some time – stemming from conversations at the IMC in Leeds in 2019.  I decided to finish it off due to a recent conversation with a student with a similar background to me which revolved around the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of minority cultures.  Gibberish.   It’s a term that’s often thrown around in discussion and criticism.   A critic may condemn a writer’s prose style as ‘bordering on gibberish’.   A politician may call their opponent’s...

At the IMC Leeds 2018 the traditional session on medieval animals turned to the topic of bears.  Much was made of their significance of bears in the cultures of northern European nations.  Little was remarked upon of the existence of bears in the Central Eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East – primarily the Syrian Brown Bear ( Ursus Arctos Syriacus ).  In response to a question stemming from her paper Irina Metzler remarked on the legal restrictions which were placed on people described as ‘those who keep bears’ – with the implication that this speaks to individual people rather than a particular group of people.  I would suggest an alternative possibility, which may stem from a confusion over a single term – Ursari.