Re-naming the Brownies shows the power of narrowing our understanding of language

Girl Guides of Canada re-named the Brownies, was this the right decision?

Photo by Pauline Loroy on Unsplash

Last week, Girl Guides of Canada made the announcement that the Brownies, the group for 7–8-year-old girls, will now be known as the Embers. Girl Guides of Canada explained that the reason for changing the name has to do with concerns raised by current and former members who claim that the name caused them harm, and contributed to decisions to delay or not join the organization among racialized girls. At present Girl Scouts USA has not made a decision as to whether it will be making the same change. 

I don’t want to invalidate anyone’s experience with being teased or made to feel uncomfortable. I was never a Girl Guide and am by default some steps removed from its specific ramifications. But what I can say is that it seems to be part of a larger trend that fails to acknowledge the multiple uses and, at times, meanings of words, and that shies away from taking the time to educate on this function of language. 

The Brownies were introduced as a rank of Girl Guides in 1914 (1920 in Canada) as a program to bring younger girls to the organization. They are not named for the chocolatey baked good, but instead after brownies, a Scottish mythical fae creature, generally depicted as an industrious fairy or hobgoblin that inhabits houses and barns and is only visible to wise, old women. The reliance on this mythology in the naming practice of the Brownie program was further visible in the names of the subdivided groups within the Brownies which include: Elf, Fairy, Gnome, Leprechaun, Pixie, Nymph, Dryad, etc. 

The descriptions of brownies in folklore vary by region: sometimes small, other times large; sometimes dark-skinned, other times covered in hair. Sometimes they are depicted as house-elves like in Harry Potter, dressed in rags, who if gifted clothing would be set free to leave the house forever. Given these varied descriptions, it is difficult to conclude one way or the other as to whether there are racialized undertones to the myth. 

A similar incident over the multi-faceted meanings of words recently took place at the USC School of Social Work where a decision was made to remove the term “field-work” from the program due to the possibility of racist connotations related to the history of slavery in America. Once again, while I have no desire to invalidate anyone’s experience, American slaves are not the only ones who worked in literal farm fields, nor is that the only use or meaning of the word (field of vision, field day, etc.). This decision reduces the word to having a single meaning and context in a way that is hard to find logical or reasonable. 

There is nothing wrong with revisiting terms and symbols from previous eras and asking ourselves if they still make sense in the present day. There have been plenty of instances when things don’t hold up, such as the failed Krispy Kreme promotion, “Krispy Kreme Klub.” But just as often, the approach necessitates nuance rather than outright overhaul. We need to be intelligent about the power we give to certain words, and failing to account for the many ways they can be used runs the risk of over-inflating the importance of certain uses.

On paper, there is nothing wrong with re-naming the Brownies, if Girl Guides of Canada thinks that it is the right move for keeping the organization relevant in the present day. The issue arises where this change happens without giving deeper consideration to the larger context of the language, history, and what making this change says about that. There is nothing inherently offensive about the name “Brownies” just like there is nothing inherently offensive about the term “field-work.” There was a lot of room for Girl Guides of Canada to have a discussion about folkloric stories about brownies and the reasons for naming one of the youngest groups of Girl Guides after an industrious magical creature. While it is absolutely unfortunate that some children were teased for being part of the Brownies and that it caused others to delay entering the organization, it all sounds like an opportunity for better displaying what the Brownies were named after, rather than a series of events creating a pressing need to do away with the name entirely. 

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