Critical toponymies: the contested politics of place naming
By: by Lawrence D. Berg and Jani Vuolteenaho.
Contributors: Vuolteenaho, Jani.
Publisher: Ashgate Pub.; Routledge
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Burlington, Vt
Language: eng
Number of pages: 306
ISBN-13: 9780754674535
Subjects: Toponymy -- Political aspects; Names, Geographical -- Political aspects; Political geography
Description: "While place names have long been studied by a few devoted specialists, approaches to them have been traditionally empiricist and uncritical in character. This book brings together recent works that conceptualize the hegemonic and contested practices of geographical naming. The contributors guide the reader into struggles over toponymy in a multitude of national and local contexts across Europe, North America, New Zealand, Asia and Africa. In a ground-breaking and multidisciplinary fashion, this volume illuminates the key role of naming in the colonial silencing of indigenous cultures, canonization of nationalistic ideals into nomenclature of cities and topographic maps, as well as the formation of more or less fluid forms of postcolonial and urban identities."--Book cover.
Notes: Includes index.