The coral tree originally had the Latin name Erythrina caffra, where ‘caffra’ referred to ‘Kaffir’, but the name has changed to Erythrina afra, where ‘afra’ refers to Africa. Photo Shutterstock Eric Schranz, professor of Biosystematics Eric Schranz at WUR, was present at the International Botany Congress in Madrid in July where this was decided. The reason is the racist connotation of the word Kaffir.
Did you vote?
‘No, I wasn’t at this nomenclature meeting. It doesn’t surprise me though that this was brought up. The time is ripe, as it fits into the broad ongoing discussion around colonization. Two issues were discussed: the hugely racist reference to Kaffirs and the naming of plant after controversial naturalists. No decision was made about the latter.’
What would you have voted?
‘I would absolutely have been in favour. The word Kaffir clearly has racist connotations. I see a strong similarity to the Dutch Black Pete debate. When I moved from the USA to the Netherlands 17 years ago, I was shocked by Black Pete. It reminded me of the problematic “Black Face” era in American jazz, which was clearly linked to racist Southern segregation policies. To see the same practice here was very unsettling. Kaffir is similar. It is very offensive to many people, whereas the word afra has no such connotation.’
The word kaffir comes from Arabic, where it means ‘infidel’. That has nothing to do with race?
‘True, but the meaning has changed. For example, in the US terms such as black or African-American are generally accepted, but the n-word is taboo. That word also had a different meaning originally. It is now clearly racist and there’s no excuse for using it. This also applies to Kaffir. For me, such a word has no place anymore.’
The word is clearly racist and there’s no excuse for using it
Can we expect more such changes? What’s next?
‘When the Dutch colonized South Africa, they gave their own names to plants that already had a name. Should we give up those Afrikaner names? The discussions about how Western societies deal with their colonial past is in full swing. You see it everywhere. Museums deciding whether to return objects, or street or building names being changed.’
What does it mean for the field of taxonomy when new names are introduced?
‘It is a change, but one we are used to. The purpose of phylogeny and taxonomy is to identify natural groups that represent evolutionary events. In that process, names are constantly changing, usually because new connections are discovered. So it’s not a major problem, especially since this is a uniform change to afra.’
