It would be a superogatory 2c worth for me to chip in my views on either the death penalty as the most American of all issues or the ancient lore of defunct primitive desert tribes
– but there is a language-related point that is perhaps worth adding.
Dianna Eades
* has done detailed work on the intercultural issues arising from interaction between Aboriginal and other peoples. Her findings, in a nutshell, are this: the ways two different peoples use an apparently common language base (English) can be radically different because of their different cultural roots and assumed values. In particular she has demonstrated that this results in complete confusion in legal processes, where the participants from two different cultures are actually using completely different speech codes, without anyone acknowledging that this is happening.
It strikes me that, given the extraordinary imbalance between black and white citizens I know to exist on US ‘death rows’, perhaps more thought might be given to how far language issues may be compromising fair and equal access to justice before this most dreadful of sanctions.
References in case anyone’s more interested:
*EADES, D.M. (1988) ‘They don’t speak an Aboriginal language, or do they?’ in KEEN, I. (ed)
being Black: Aboriginal cultural continuity in settled Australia, Canberra, Aboriginal Studies Press
EADES, D.M. (1998) ‘Communicative Strategies in Aboriginal English’ in MABIN, J. (ed)
Using English: from conversation to canon, London & New York, Routledge
LIBERMAN, K (1981) ‘Understanding Aborigines in Australian courts of law’,
Human Organization, vol. 40 #3
