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Kanake (orKanacke, Kanaa(c)k; pl. KanackenorKanaks/Kanax) is a German ethnic slur for people with roots from the Middle East and Northern Africa.[1] It is also used to designate working class and rural people, whom are referred to as "Ruhrpottkanaken". Many use it as a derogatory word, but also as a self-denomination.
The word is originally derived from the Hawaiian word kanaka meaning “person, human being” (from Proto-Polynesian *taŋata).[2] Towards the end of the 19th century, the word Kanaka was used on the plantationsofBritish colonies in the Pacific, referring to the workers who originated from various islands of Oceania.
German borrowed the term as Kanake, and assigned it a derogatory meaning referring to a broader array of populations. In the 1960s, the word was transferred with more ambiguous connotations to Southern European immigrants and the working class, it is now used with a strong derogatory connotation against people with roots in the "Orient" (including North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan).
The word has undergone some reappropriation since the 1990s, see e.g. Kanak Sprak.