LANGUAGE GUIDELINES
These guidelines are general principles and will not account for the nuance of specific contexts. The editor(s) of Wort Journal* are really happy to help think through questions of language, style and content with you.
Developing radical and decolonial language practices is an ongoing work and learning/unlearning process and we welcome feedback on this.
Botanical and biomedical terminology
Whilst sometimes botanic and biomedical terms may be helpful in their precision or descriptiveness, care is needed around this language. Biomedical terms in particular can often serve to dehumanise or human-centrise in e.g. defining people in terms of their conditions/race/gender/label. The appropriateness of their use is likely to be context specific. Problematisation or interrogation may be needed. Where a term is likely to not be understood by some readers, a small explanation of its meaning is appropriate.
Biomedicine
This journal is not against biomedicine as an individual choice of treatment. Whilst political critique of the biomedical model can be welcome, any language that may imply judgement of individuals’ choices to engage with it should be avoided.
Gendered language
Plants – it is preferred that gender neutral language is used in reference to plants unless this is a feature being explored or interrogated.
Bodies – particular care is needed when referring to body parts that are typically gendered within the biomedical paradigm – a resource on gender inclusive clinical language can be found here.
People – this journal understands gender as a social construct. Language that undermines people’s autonomy or capacities to determine, choose or to interpret as they please their own gender is to be avoided.
‘Health’/’wellness’
This journal seeks to interrogate biomedical and social understandings of ‘health’ or ‘wellness’ as something individualised and as a prescriptive ideal to be attained: ‘health’ is conceived through a holistic lens as something that carries interdependent and ecological dimensions. It attempts to understand social context as always relevant to any consideration of individual health or wellness – especially experiences of oppression or marginalisation. Care must be taken around attaching normative value judgements to terms associated with concepts of ‘health’ and ‘sickness’. This journal does not admit of the conceptualisation of sickness as indicator of a spiritual deficiency on the part of the individual and caution should be taken around any language linking sickness with opportunity for spiritual or creative growth.This journal challenges narratives of sickness as a point along a path on a linear journey to health or of health/sickness as simple binary terms. Ultimately the guideline is just to consider these terms with the complexity, care and nuance that they merit – usage of them may be an indicator for reflection.
Herbal safety
For safety reasons, this journal aims to avoid publishing anything that could be construed as therapeutic or medical advice, however we appreciate that in talking about herbs and their gifts this is not always possible or sensible. Instead we encourage care around language, context and nuance. Information about herbal properties, actions or capacities should be referenced where appropriate and qualified language is generallypreferred (see universalising/absolutist language). Safety data or contraindications should be included where relevant.
Jargon
In the interests of accessibility, contributors are encouraged to offer explanation where it might be needed for any technical terms used (e.g. non-obvious herbal actions, chemical constituents etc.).
Place names
Places – where relevant, Indigenous or geographical terms are preferred over names that uphold colonialism unless the context necessitates otherwise (for example in critiquing the policies of a State).
People – Where relevant, people should be referred to using their chosen names or Indigenous names over legal names (sometimes it may be necessary to include these too for identification).
Terms with racialising/ableising connotations
Caution must be taken around using any language in relation to plants that could carry racist or ableist connotations from other contexts or be triggering in this regard. For example language around ‘non-native’/‘invasive’ plants, or species ‘fitness’. It may be appropriate to interrogate or problematise these terms. Similar care should of course also be taken when referring to people or bodies.
Universalising/absolutist language
Care must be taken with any language that speaks in generalising or universalising terms to interrogate its inclusiveness appropriate to context. This includes the universalising terms ‘we’/’us’/’our’ (who is being included here and is it appropriate/true?; who is being excluded?). It also includes absolute statements about plants, such as “x plant is good for x condition”, where it may be more truthful and appropriate to qualify this e.g. “x plant may be indicated for/can be used for x condition”. This journal conceives herbal medicines not as drugs to be prescribed, but as an interaction between a plant and person, taking account of time, context and constitution. Any discussion of the medicine that a plant may offer should allow for this contextuality.
‘Western Herbal Medicine’
This journal aims to interrogate the concept of the ‘West’ and specifically how it applies to ‘Western Herbal Medicine’ (‘WHM’) from a decolonial perspective as well as its standardisation and the thinking that this term encompasses. Inclusion of this term and the thinking/ideologies it represents is a signpost for reflection and will likely warrant critique/problematisation. Similarly, reference to other major systems of herbal medicine such as TCM or Ayurveda which have oppressive governmental influence and involve suppression of local indigenous practice may also warrant interrogation or critique.
* the editors of Wort Journal are Leo Qawas (lead editor) and Claudia Manchanda. The editorial collective may change with time and others will be named.