In France, the L’Académie française decides what qualifies as appropriate French language. In Iceland, a panel of experts passes judgment on which names are “Icelandic enough” to be allowed on official documents. In Canada, a percentage of all media broadcasted must be natively produced. These kinds of government-mandated attempts at cultural preservation are relatively common, but what sorts of ethical dilemmas do they create? Should parents really only be able to name their children based on an official registry of names? Is slang language really not language if it isn’t recognized by the appropriate board of experts? Does “culture” require government protections in order to sustain it? Should culture thrive without state intervention?
Join us Monday, March 25th in 103 West Duke Building from 3:30 to 5 for a student-led discussion about the ethics of cultural preservation. This topic was chosen in part due to arguments we’ve been having in response to Nihir’s recent blog post on Icelandic naming restrictions.