16 Journal of Undergraduate Ethnic Minority Psychology - ISSN 2332-9300 Volume 3, 2017 Manuscript received September 2016. 1 Bukun Adegbembo is a recent graduate from the University of Prince Edward Island (495 York Point Road Cornwall, PE, Canada C0A 1H4; badegbembo@upei.ca). 2 Colleen MacQuarrie is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Prince Edward Island (550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, C1A, 4P3; cmacquarrie@upei.ca). Abstract The present study addresses the ongoing issues around the reappropriation of the n-word in the Canadian context. It sought to find if, and how easily, slurs and language can change their meaning over time. While some prior studies viewed the n- word as too hateful to ever be used by anyone (Embrick & Henricks, 2013), other authors believed that it should only be used by Blacks (Galinsky, Hugenberg, Groom, & Bodenhausen, 2003), and yet others claimed that it has taken on a new meaning and can be used by anyone in society (Croom, 2013). An article titled Quebec considers removing N-word from 11 place names and its corresponding comments, which were posted on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website (http://www.cbc.ca), were used as data for this present study. The current research used Foucauldian Discourse Analysis to investigate both the discourses surrounding the n-word as well as power relations that emerged in those discourses. The two emergent discourses from this study were the Acknowledgement Discourse: Nigger is Racialized, and the Denial Discourse: Nigger is Non-Racialized. The subject positions created from both discourses, which were the privileged and unprivileged, used language in ways that either reinscribed or challenged White privilege. Through the language, word choice and tones used, comments exemplified the complex and complicated nature of the n-word and showed society's inability to come to a consensus on its meaning and use. Keywords: nigger, nigga, n-word, Foucaldian Discourse Analysis INTRODUCTION n his book, Tupac: Resurrection, 1971-1996, Tupac wrote, “Niggers was the ones on the rope, hanging off the thing. Niggas is the ones with gold ropes, hanging out at clubs” (Shakur, Shakur, Hoye, Ali & Einenkel, 2003, p. 155). This quote highlights the complexity of the word nigger and its derivative, nigga. The terminology nigger was first used to refer negatively to Black people, perpetuating stereotypes that they are intellectually and morally inferior, animal-like, undeserving of humanity and other such negative beliefs (Embrick & Henricks, 2013; Croom, 2013). Within the Black community, this word has been transformed into having a less violent definition and into a general term of endearment. The way of spelling the expression nigga versus nigger is usually the way to differentiate between the two meanings, with nigga being the positive term (Neal, 2013). As Neal (2013) stated, while the term nigger refers to “an embodiment of Black racial subjects in the pre-20th century South”, the word nigga “relates to concepts of [Blackness] as mobile, fluid, adaptable, postmodern [and] urban” (p. 557) How can a word come to have opposite definitions, and who determines which definition is at work each time the word is said? In the following paragraphs, I will explore how a word can be viewed as both a slur and a term of The Word Nigger as Racialized and Non- Racialized: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis on the N-Word in a Canadian Society Bukun F. Adegbembo Colleen MacQuarrie, Ph.D. University of Prince Edward Island I