Camp Hom [Drew Owens]

Hom suggests that historical and contemporary racist institutions are the external source for the derogatory content of slurs. That is, the pejorative force of a slur is semantically linked with the relevant racist practices. When a speaker utters a slur, they are expressing the negative, socially constructed, aspects of the racist institution, as experienced within their speech community.

Camp's view maintains that within a speaker's use of a slur is a declaration of belonging to a perspective. This perspective's core and structure inform a speaker's thoughts regarding a specific group of people. In the case of slurs, this perspective is structured so that when indexed, it relays both the speaker's difference from the specified group, and at a fundamental level, the speakers lack of respect for that group.

I find that I am partial to differing aspects of both approaches. Hom's external, causal source of racist institutions seems a better foundation for the beliefs which contribute to Camp's internal perspective. Camp's perspective is necessary because it incorporates the internal ordering of beliefs, rather then suggesting that the force of a slur is only determined by the external social factors experienced in a speech community. This hybrid allows for a slur's pejorative force to range (or not) between interlocutors of both similar or dissimilar experiences of the relevant racist institutions.