What's in a Name?

Updating Names as I Finish My Organic History Book

Thought this pesky little critter was a gypsy moth? Not anymore. It’s a spongy moth now--including in my book.

Finally, after many years of research, my book on organic farming history is almost done! Healthy Food from Healthy Soil: How Organic Farming Came to America and Grew Despite Intense Opposition covers the history of organic farming in America up through June 7, 1971. (Why that date? You’ll have to read the book to find out!). This is mostly new material; I ended up using relatively little from my Acres articles because I have learned so much since I wrote them. I don’t have a release date yet, but it will be sometime this fall and definitely before Christmas.

As I go through the manuscript one last time before I submit it, I’m doing some fact-checking and updating place and people group names. Though most of the events I’m describing took place less than a hundred years ago, major global events in the intervening years have changed place names. World War II, decolonization, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and numerous other smaller wars drastically changed global geography.

For example, the city in India where Paul Keene taught at Woodstock School was called Muttra in the 1930s, but now it’s Mathura. Rudolf Steiner gave his Agriculture Course in Koberwitz, Germany in 1924, but that town is now Kobierzyce, Poland. The Dutch East Indies are now Indonesia. Ceylon is now Sri Lanka. In most places, I have decided to use the modern name to make things easier for the reader, unless the historical place name is a significant part of the story, in which case I note that the name has changed.

Similarly, many of the Indigenous people groups mentioned by the early organic leaders now self-identify with a different name than that used in the colonial era. Since in some cases the colonial name is now considered a racial insult, I have substituted the current name wherever possible. I’ve arbitrarily made some naming decisions for practical purposes—although “American Indian” is considered an acceptable term, I’ve used “Indigenous American” or “Native American” instead to prevent confusion because part of the book is about India.

Even the notorious pest that the USDA tried to eradicate with DDT has changed names since the 1950s. Back then, it was known as “gypsy moth,” but the Entomological Society of America stopped using that name in July 2021 “due to its use of a derogatory term for the Romani people.” The pest is now known as “spongy moth,” named after its spongy-looking egg masses. I’ve opted to use “spongy moth” in my book to be consistent with current usage, while noting that it was called “gypsy moth” at the time of the events described.

Updating names has generally been pretty straightforward, but I ran across one that even Google couldn’t figure out. In his travels through Africa, Weston Price listed the “Baitu Tribe, Nyunge, Ruanda, Belgian Protectorate. This district lies sough of Uganda and east of Belgian Congo proper, northwest of Tanganyika. It lies just east of Lake Kivu.” As far as I can tell, that’s modern-day Rwanda, but there isn’t a people group in Rwanda called the “Baitu.” I did discover that the Hutu are sometimes called “Bahutu”—did Price mean them? Or was this a different, minority people group? If anyone has any insight on who the Baitu are, please let me know!

I’m sure I missed something, but I’m hoping that by being sensitive to current usage I can make the book a more enjoyable read. And if you’re wondering how India, Poland, Weston Price, and the spongy moth all fit in the same book—well, you’ll have to read it to find out!