Aspinall P J
Centre for Health Services Studies, School of Social Policy, Sociology, and Social Research, University of Kent, George Allen Wing, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, UK.
Public Health. 2008 Jan;122(1):61-9. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2007.02.018. Epub 2007 Jul 23.
This review attempts to evaluate a proposed lexicon for African-descent populations from the viewpoint of saliency amongst those described and wider official and scientific usage, focusing on Britain and the USA. It is argued that it is unsatisfactory to privilege the term 'African American' over 'Black' for African-descent populations in the USA as the evidence base shows that both labels compete as self-designations on co-equal terms, while 'Black' is the prevalent term in scientific writing. Moreover, 'African American' is not an inclusive term for the African-descent population and it is not known how prevalent and enduring the term will prove to be. With respect to Britain, the census terms of 'Black African' and 'Black Caribbean' are well established, the increasing popularity of 'Black British' also being recognized in census labels. Given the increasing interest in the relationship between ethnic identity and health, there are arguments for documenting the diversity of terminology amongst different user constituencies in country-specific settings. The approach of synthetic glossaries of consensual terms may, through the need for economy and parsimony in the use of terminology, contribute to an unsatisfactory paring of that diversity.
本综述试图从所描述术语的显著性以及更广泛的官方和科学用法的角度，评估一个针对非洲裔人群的拟议词汇表，重点关注英国和美国。有人认为，在美国，将“非裔美国人”一词置于“黑人”之上用于非洲裔人群是不令人满意的，因为证据表明这两个标签作为自我称呼在同等地位上相互竞争，而“黑人”是科学写作中的常用术语。此外，“非裔美国人”并非非洲裔人群的包容性术语，而且该术语的普遍程度和持久性尚不清楚。关于英国，“非洲黑人”和“加勒比黑人”的人口普查术语已确立，“英国黑人”在人口普查标签中的日益普及也得到认可。鉴于人们对种族身份与健康之间关系的兴趣日益浓厚，有理由记录特定国家背景下不同用户群体之间术语的多样性。通过在术语使用上需要简洁和简约，共识术语综合词汇表的方法可能会导致对这种多样性进行不令人满意的简化。
