An invasive species has an ethnic slur in its common name. Entomologists are changing that

By Neelam Bohra and Radhika Marya | CNN

Ethel Brooks grew up in a Roma community in New Hampshire and grew up with other children who told her to stay away from “gypsy moths.”

Brooks failed to understand the connection between her Roma community – for whom the word “gypsy” was used as derogatory – and a destructive, invasive species of insect that “poses a threat to North American forests.”

In 2020, a complaint with the Entomological Society of America initiated efforts to end the use of the derogatory term. Last month, the Society’s board of directors voted to remove “gypsy moth” and “gypsy ant” from a list of common names that refer to insects.

They plan to consult a group of volunteers to rename the moth and ant, which will have their respective Latin names, Lymantria dispar and Aphaenogaster araneoides, until new common names are chosen.

ESA is the largest entomological society in the world and, according to its website, publishes eight internationally recognized scientific journals.

“We want everyone to feel welcome in the entomological community. So if we use a nomenclature that makes people feel excluded, excluded, or in any way contributes to it, there is no reason to continue using it, ”said ESA President Michelle Smith.

Brooks, a Romani scholar and professor of women, gender, and sex studies at Rutgers University, said the move was groundbreaking.

“This is a step to push ourselves back and say, ‘Hey, there are actually 12 million or more of us in the world. We have a story. We are people. We are human, ”said Brooks.

Lymantria dispar first came to the United States from Europe in 1869, and its caterpillars make trees susceptible to disease, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The name “gypsy moth” has been around for decades, Smith said.

Aphaenogaster araneoides, the ant, got its name in 2000 from Terry McGlynn, a professor at California State University Dominguez Hills. McGlynn told CNN that he regretted the name. He wrote about it in a 2019 blog post, saying he invented it out of “ignorance of the negativity of the term”.

The Roma community is discriminated against around the world. According to a 2020 study by the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University that examined Roma’s experiences of discrimination and prejudice in the United States, a majority of 363 Roma Americans surveyed said that the American media and television portray a negative image of Roma.

Margareta Matache, director of the Roma program at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, was consulted on the name deletion. She said that although the change appears small, it is relevant to the conversation on Roma rights.

“Words have power, and what’s more, racial slurs like the G-word were particularly offensive and dangerous to Roma,” said Matache. “We have been constantly dehumanized through the means of language and connections to insects, animals, crime, opulence.”

“Changing the name of this insect is very important in correcting the mainstream narratives about the Roma. Our people, history and culture have been misrepresented and mocked too many times, and prejudice has always been used to justify anti-Roma racism and discrimination against Roma around the world. “

The CNN Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia company. All rights reserved.