Kanake

Kanake (also Kanacke or Kanaker) is a derogatory word used in German-speaking countries, especially Germany to mean "wop". Originally common as "Kanakermann" among 19th century mariners to refer to comrades from the South Pacific (and later all of Southeast Asia), and carrying a connotation of praise for their seafaring abilities (see Polynesian navigation), it was in the 1960s transferred with more ambiguous connotations to Southern European immigrants, and is now usually used with an exclusively derogatory connotation against people of Turkish or Middle Eastern ancestry.

The word is originally derived from the Hawaiian word for human, kanaka. Until 2009, several rough translations of the word "Kanak" were admitted: "man", "animal man", and "wild man" being the most used. In its resolution n°5195, the Academy of the Polynesian languages Pa ' umotu specified a definition more faithful to the primal Polynesian language Mamaka Kaïo of origin, that of "free man".

As is the case with the terms nigger or queer in English, Kanake has been re-appropriated by some Turks and used proudly as a term of self-identification. In that context, Kanak Sprak is a term used for the German dialect and manner of speech used among Turks in Germany.

However, it is not comparable with words such as "nigger" or "queer/fag" in a semantic sense, as these are referring to race and sexual identity respectively, while "Kanake" refers to "foreignness" and in this sense it is therefore a nationalistic derogatory term, not a racist term unless co-opted as such.

Despite this, the word is often used in Hip-Hop, films (e.g. Kanak Attack ()) or in common language as a modified synonym to Nigga. Similar to the use of "Nigga" in the United States, this is often done to emphasize a flamboyant manner, violent tendencies, an affinity to crime and a status as an outcast from society, both used as a derogatory term and by young Turks and other minorities themselves.

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