Indigenous Place-Names in (Post)colonial Contexts: The Case of Ubmeje in Northern Sweden

2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Northern Sweden ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Post Colonial

scholarly journals Cult sites in northern Sweden

1990 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 458-489
Author(s):  
Stefan Brink
Keyword(s):  
Northern Sweden ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Religious Activities ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Christian Religion ◽  
Almost All

The pagan cult in northern Sweden, i.e, Norrland, has for some decades been a neglected chapter in our history, a situation which unfortunately applies to Sweden as a whole, at least where onomastics are concerned. The aim is thus to deliver an overview of the evidence that we have of pre-Christian religious activities in these northern parts — in this aspect, onomastic material is nearly almost all we have got — and some general remarks about the conversion to the new Christian religion. The area of investigation is what in the (Swedish) medieval period was known as Norrland. In other words, the part of Sweden considered here is modern Central Norrland. With our state of knowledge of today it is not so easy to pick out the place-names that have denoted some kind of pagan cult activity. The place-name material can be divided into: 1. Theoforic place-names 2. place-names denoting the site of a pagan cult, which do not however contain theoforic elements 3. place-names with a possible pagan cultic element.

scholarly journals Settlement and unsettlement in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Antarctica

Polar Record ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus J. Dodds ◽  
Kathryn Yusoff
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Cultural Politics ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
Territorial Claims ◽  
Ross Dependency

This paper is concerned with Aotearoa/New Zealand's changing relationship to Antarctica, and the Ross Dependency in particular. Through a consideration of post-colonial theory in the Ross Dependency, it is argued that a productive dialogue about the cultural politics of mainland Aotearoa/New Zealand can be opened up. After some reflections on the post-1945 political and cultural trajectory of the country, attention is given to the place of the Maori and their involvement in the polar continent and Southern Ocean. The adoption of Maori place-names on New Zealand maps of the Ross Dependency is considered further because it helps to illuminate the country's awkward and incomplete post-colonial transformation. Arguably, such an adoption of Maori place-names in Antarctica contributes to a vision of bicultural harmony. However, this is not a view shared by all observers. Developments affecting the crown agency Antarctica New Zealand, alongside recent heritage projects, are scrutinised further in order to consider how Maori–Pakeha relations influence and define contemporary understandings of New Zealand's presence in Antarctica. Finally, the paper briefly contemplates how a trans-Tasman dialogue with Australian scholars might enable further analysis into how geographically proximate settler colonies engage with Antarctica and their associated territorial claims to the continent and surrounding ocean.

Toponymic Inscription as an Instrument of Power in Africa: The case of colonial and post-colonial Dakar and Nairobi

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1174-1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambe J Njoh
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
West African ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Francophone Africa ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Western Power ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Place Naming ◽  
African Nationalism

This study analyses toponymic inscription, the exercise of street/place naming, as a tool for articulating power in Anglophone and Francophone Africa. The focus is on Dakar, Senegal and Nairobi, Kenya, which were respectively indispensable for the colonial projects of France and Britain in Africa. Dakar was for France’s West African Federation what Nairobi was for Britain’s colonial East Africa. It is shown that toponymic inscription was used with equal zeal by French and British colonial authorities to express power in built space. Thus, both authorities used the occasion to christen streets and places as an opportunity to project Western power in Africa. With the demise of colonialism, indigenous authorities in Kenya inherited the Western vocabulary of spatiality but speedily moved to supplant Eurocentric with Afrocentric street/place-names. In contrast, post-colonial authorities in Senegal remain wedded to the colonial tradition of drawing most important street- and place-names from the Eurocentric cultural lexicon. Consequently, although the vocabulary of spatiality in Nairobi projects African nationalism and power, that of Dakar continues to express mainly Western power.

scholarly journals The Post-Colonial Identity of Durban

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Koopman
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
Place Names ◽  
The South ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Name ◽  
Public Reaction ◽  
The City

Many scholars have pointed out that when changes in political regimes take place, these are frequently accompanied by politically-inspired changes of place names. In this article, I look at the naming of the South African east coast city Durban, starting with the name Durban itself, and the various suggestions that have been mooted for its replacement. In particular, I look at the Zulu name for Durban (eThekwini — 'the place of the bay') and its suitability as a new name for the city. The article then goes 'inside' the city and looks at the recent re- naming of a considerable number of Durban's streets, and the public reaction to this. Both the re-naming and the public reaction are placed within the context of re-naming globally.

scholarly journals Colonialism and Toponyms in Singapore

Urban Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Samantha JingYi Yom ◽  
Francesco Cavallaro
Keyword(s):  
Historical Data ◽  
Power Relationship ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Connotative Meaning ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Multicultural Context ◽  
Asymmetrical Power ◽  
Rich History

Place names do not simply refer to physical locations. They are linguistic symbols full of connotative meaning, carrying a range of cognitive, social, historical, cultural, and ideological significance. Naming (or renaming) has been a key aspect of the colonisation process, through which the colonisers have used language to assert their power over the colonised. Singapore has a very rich history, which includes pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods. This paper examines selected toponymic changes in Singapore that occurred against the backdrop of colonialism. Given Singapore’s colonial past, as well as its multilingual and multicultural context, the paper aims to provide a thorough and insightful documentation of selected toponymic changes, while uncovering the underlying reasons that motivated them. Four place names (as they are currently known) are investigated in this paper: Jalan Besar, Havelock Road, Middle Road, and the Padang. An analysis of historical data revealed that toponymic changes associated with these places during colonial rule mostly reflected the asymmetrical power relationship between the colonisers and the colonised. The paper also highlights the historical processes in which naming deviated from such expectations.

scholarly journals Rethinking the toponymic politics in Belarus in the 20–21 centuries: toward the post-colonial perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
Sergei Basik
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Local Population ◽  
National Language ◽  
Soviet Regime ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Historical Trends ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Language History ◽  
The World

The article explores the historical trends and patterns in the politics of space in toponymic landscapes of Soviet and postSoviet Belarus through the prism of critical toponymy and the post-colonial theoretical approach. This work aims to reveal the colonial essence of the toponymic politics and policies in Belarus during the Soviet era and explore the unique national (post) colonial context of the post-independent place names. Based on the idea of methodological convergence of post-colonial and post-socialist paradigms, this article analyzes the “top-down” hegemonic toponymic practices implemented by the Soviet regime in Belarus in comparison with the place name policies of the colonial regimes in other parts of the world. Using the comparative analysis of historical (re)naming cases from the regional toponymic system of Belarus, the work shows that the Soviet regime used similar goals, methods, and technologies as other colonial powers. Such examples include ignoring the national language, history, and cultural traditions reflected in place names, inadequate renaming criteria and arrogant methods of choosing the new names, banalization of toponymic landscape and inconsistency in renaming, removing the Belarusian vocabulary from the toponymic landscape and inserting the foreign words and terms into the toponymic system, phonetic and grammatical mutilations of national toponyms according to the norms of the foreign language, symbolic resistance of local population toward new place names. The post-independent period can be defined by the selective post-colonial toponymic practices, which include the co-existence of the Soviet and national toponyms, symbolic (re)naming processes typical for new independent post-colonial states, and the resurrection of the ideologically motivated “toponyms-zombies” from the previous period. Therefore, the modern toponymic landscapes in Belarus can be considered post-colonial, and methodological and theoretical post-colonial perspectives on toponymic research can be applied to post-socialist states.

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