Hi there! My question refers to the connotation of the word " plantation" I had no idea it can be considered offensive , until one of my students comments were hidden and labeled offensive on Insta

Fatima

Hi there! My question refers to the connotation of the word " plantation" I had no idea it can be considered offensive , until one of my students comments were hidden and labeled offensive on Instagram containing the word. I was teaching some collocations like tea plantation, coffee plantation, etc. I just guessed the AI catagorized the comment racist, (although it has nothing to do with it) just because cotton plantation reminded me of the novel Gone with the wind and slavery. I looked into some forums like Quora , people don't agree if it's bad to use or not. My question is should I add something to my lesson, giving a heads up to be careful with this word to the people I shared my lesson with? Is it really an offensive word? and if it is, Is it just considered offensive in the US ? or in other English speaking places as well? and should I really say tea farm ,for example, if it's huge, it's a business , and etc , there are no animals there, I should say tea farm not plantation? cause I don't want to offend anybody by my ignorance to their feeling or what's going on. I'd appreciate it if you would share your ideas with me on that?

Mar 5, 2021 7:33 AM

Answers · 15

Like you said you can have plantations for various things. It seems ludicrous to consider it racist.

March 5, 2021

The word itself is not offensive, but it is connected to many terrible things in American history. Now we say “farm” if it is something in current times. We only use the word plantation when talking about the past or, strangely, when talking about farming in other countries. So it is not a profanity, but it does call up painful memories for many people.

March 5, 2021

In America, the word “plantation” has a very specific connection to slavery and the kind of slavery African American people endured in America. It has not ever been used in America in any other way except to denote and depict slavery specifically in the southern states of America. The term in and of itself is not racist. But because it is so closely linked to this system of abuse and misuse of one group of people during a particular time period it may be hard to get a way from its racist historical connotations and connections.

March 5, 2021