Last Saturday Brown hosted an all-day symposium on the "Linguistic and Lexical Signification of Ich und Der."
Linguistic analysis expert Hugo Hoffmann, chair of the Rosie O'Donnell School of Semiotic Research at the University of Berlin, began the symposium with a talk on "Semiotics for Just I and Me." Hoffmann observed that grammar creates a "regulating system" that simultaneously governs both how a thing is expressed and what it means."
Given the centrality of language to meaning and the inextricable relationship between meaning and colonial oppression, Hoffmann suggested a radical linguistic revolution that would eliminate the word "Ich" or "I" from what he called the "modern lexicon of imperialist abuse and disuse."
To the enthusiastic applause of those present, Hoffmann noted, "I believe that the word 'I' is an expression of the imperialist desire to remake the world in the image of individual desire. Because I desire to end the imperialism of individual desire, I would outlaw the word 'I' and replace it with the word 'we.' "
Professor Lilith Buttler followed Hoffman's groundbreaking talk with her thoughts on the semantics of the word "der" or "the" in 10th-century German monastic literature.
In an exhaustive and revolutionary study of the Monastery of the Happy Monks at Freiberg, Buttler noted her "disturbing finding" that the monks used the word "the" almost exclusively in sentences that related to themselves.
Particularly instructive for Buttler was how the word "the" reflected the monastery's patriarchal rule. For example, Buttler noted how the monastery's Rules of the Brotherhood stated, "The vow of chastity at 'the' monastery would strictly be enforced in accordance with rules of 'the' monastic order."
The word "the" was inextricably linked to the "proto-capitalist patriarchal control" the monks exercised, Buttler said.
She observed how her research on the monastery "unveiled the oppressive mask of masculine power in the service of proto-capitalism." Buttler argued that rather than work like peasants, the monks had the "temerity" to assert it was a "blessing to devote 'the' fruits of their labor to feed and clothe 'the' poor."
Because the word "the" has been tainted by its patriarchal and proto-capitalistic use, Buttler suggested it be excised from the modern lexicon as a "means of showing solidarity to those who have been oppressed by the system of linguistic oppression in the past."
A stirring and unexpected gesture ended the conference as Buttler urged attendees to protest the patriarchy of language by taking a vow of silence for at least one day. For the remainder of the day, both the lecturers and the audience communicated by pantomime only.
