Que se vayan todos! Get them all out!

Que se vayan todos was a movement slogan in Argentina years ago when they aimed to kick everyone out of Congress (aka call for new elections) that has, for obvious reasons, been in my head again lately in the United States. 

Get them all out! I wish we had something so much better than the Dems. I think that ranked choice voting would give us way better choices (see NYC). If you are in the US please follow rankthevote.org. 
 

whiteness: blanquitud, not blancura

I have an article about whiteness in Colombia (see image) that I then got a version of published in Spanish. The copyeditor kept changing blanquitud to blancura. 

These both translate into whiteness in English but they are not the same thing! Blancura is a given a trait, a fact. It is appropriate for describing, say, the whiteness of clothes. Racial whiteness is a constant ongoing social production, commonly described in academic literature as blanquitud. This is yet another example of why back translation is a dangerous waste of time if what you are trying to do is see if you got a good translation. 

The journal where I published my article on whiteness in English has asked me not to post copies but I'm happy to send you one if you are interested. Sara (dot) Koopman (at) g mail (dot) com. 

 

guaceria: tomb raiding or looting?

Though 'tomb raider' is the more common term in English (for a guacero) I like tomb looting better because raiding has a more positive connotation. What do you think? This podcast about mummies in Colombia got me thinking about this. Emily Hart speaks to archaeologist Daniella Betancourt and I noticed that Daniella kept calling it looting. Highly recommend the Colombia Calling podcast and Emily's weekly Colombia headlines in English (both in writing and audio). I get them in my whatsapp and appreciate getting the nudge to listen there.