Invitation to just language
For Mission 21, just language is more than just style or grammar: language shapes perception and creates reality. It can enable participation or reinforce exclusion. This guide is our practical working tool for gender-equitable and inclusive communication. It shows what decolonial and anti-racist language can look like. The guide is an invitation to develop language consciously and responsibly.
COMPASS OF JUST LANGUAGE
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Why does Mission 21 publish on fair language?
Mission 21 emerged from a missionary activity that was also intertwined with colonial systems and ideas. For this very reason, we do not see our history as an obstacle, but as a starting point and resource for self-critical learning and decolonization.
Language plays a key role here: it can strengthen identity and dialog or reproduce power relations and hierarchies. For us, just language is a long-term, reflexive process that explicitly takes mistakes, uncertainties and further learning into account.
Who is the guide for?
The guide is aimed at organizations and people who want to communicate and take responsibility for how they speak and write about people, societies and global contexts. In particular to:
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civil society organizations
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Educational institutions
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Parishes
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Media
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People interested in fair communication
Your contact person for the fair language guide
Dr. Barbara Heer, Head of Women & Gender Unit
Barbara Heer has a doctorate in ethnology, is politically committed to gender equality in the canton of Basel-Stadt and played a decisive role in the development of the guidelines for fair language. â–º E-mail
Intersectional approach
Equitable language is conceived comprehensively: gender-equitable, inclusive and anti-racist. Different dimensions of discrimination and privilege are considered together.
Decolonial perspective
Language is reflected in the context of historical and contemporary power relations. The guide invites you to question colonial concepts and thought patterns.
Practice-oriented compass
The „Compass of Just Language“ with ten points of orientation offers a concrete learning aid and checklist for writing and revising texts.
Concrete assistance
Strategies, formulation examples and a glossary help with linguistic uncertainties and promote a constructive error culture.
Invitation to reflect
The guidelines offer the opportunity to share experiences and facilitate reflection. We see equitable language as a continuous process - with openness to further development.
