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Critical toponomy: Place names in political, historical and commercial landscape

Critical Toponymy: Place names in political, historical and commercial landscapes contains a selection of double-blind peer-reviewed papers from the 4th International Symposium on Place Names that took place 18-20 September 2017 in Windhoek, Namibia. These papers present current thinking on how the critical turn in social sciences is manifested in toponymic research, not only locally but also internationally. As such it includes research on place names from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Austria, Slovenia, Central America and even the former Czechoslovakia. The contributions show that the etymology of place names are never purely linguistic – social, political, commercial and other factors influence the giving, use and adaptations of these linguistic and cultural artefacts. Furthermore, given their high symbolic content, place names also serve as political and commercial currency. Place names are therefore important symbolic markers in preserving or changing cultural identities, and in marking or facilitating socio-political changes and relations. Critical Toponymy showcases the many ways in which the representational potential of place names can be deployed in different contexts. Scholars as well as practitioners in toponymy and sociolinguistics will find this an illuminating read.

Authors:
Herman Beyer (ed)
University of Namibia
Matthias Brenzinger (ed)
University of Cape Town
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3799-9124
Theodorus du Plessis (ed)
University of the Free State
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0982-4842
Peter E. Raper (ed)
University of the Free State
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6570-8542
Categories:
PDF
Paperback

Product details

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424253

Chapters

  • Foreword
    Herman Beyer, Matthias Brenzinger, Theodorus du Plessis, Peter E. Raper
  • Multiple place names and their political aspects in the territory of the former Czechoslovakia
    Georg Schuppener
  • Geographical names standardisation in South Africa
    A name-planning perspective on activities, 2007-2016
    Theodorus du Plessis
  • Naming as a tool for cultural domination
    A case of toponym use in south-eastern Zimbabwe
    Steyn Khesani Madlome
  • The influence of missionary societies on place names in South Africa
    Cornelia Geldenhuys
  • Herero place names
    Lucie A. Möller
  • Unravelling the etymology of selected toponyms in Zimbabwe
    Godwin Makaudze
  • The role of toponymy in identifying cultural heritage
    A case study of place names in the Bushmanland, Northern Cape
    Jani de Lange
  • Three types of commercial place-name use – with examples from Austria
    Peter Jordan
  • The challenges of using Slovenian choronyms in brand names
    Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik, Katja Vintar Mally
  • Place names, place, and place related identities in the linguistic land scape of rural South Africa
    Chrismi-Rinda Loth
  • Naming a place, placing the self
    Toponymy and identity in two Central American republics
    Kathryn M. Hudson
  • The dialectics and politics of football as revealed in the names and nicknames of three selected Zimbabwe stadiums
    Liketso Dube
  • Naming, space and power in NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names (2013) and Lawrence Hoba’s ‘The First Trek – The Pioneers’ in The Trek and Other Stories (2009)
    Elda Hungwe

Author Biographies

Georg Schuppener, Univerzita Sv. Cyrila A Metoda V Trnave, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava

Department of German

Steyn Khesani Madlome, Great Zimbabwe University

Department of African Languages and Culture

Cornelia Geldenhuys, University of the Free State

Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies

Lucie A. Möller, University of the Free State

Faculty of the Humanities

Godwin Makaudze, University of South Africa

Department of English Studies

Jani de Lange, University of the Free State

Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies

Peter Jordan, Austrian Academy of Sciences

Institute of Urban and Regional Research

Matjaž Geršič, ZRC SAZU

1Anton Melik Geographical Institute

Drago Kladnik, ZRC SAZU

Anton Melik Geographical Institute

Katja Vintar Mally, University of Ljubljana

Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts

Chrismi-Rinda Loth, University of the Free State

Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies

Kathryn M. Hudson, University at Buffalo

Department of Anthropology and Department of Linguistics

Liketso Dube, Great Zimbabwe University

Curriculum Studies Department

Elda Hungwe, Midlands State University

Department of Applied Education

References

Published
March 1, 2019
Series
International Symposium on Place Names Conference Proceedings
Copyright (c) 2019 Herman Beyer, Matthias Brenzinger, Theodorus du Plessis, Peter E. Raper
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Details about the available publication format: PDF

PDF
ISBN-13 (15)
9781928424253
Date of first publication (11)
2019-03-01

Details about the available publication format: Paperback

Paperback
ISBN-13 (15)
9781928424246
Date of first publication (11)
2019-03-01
Physical Dimensions
175mm x 245mm

How to Cite

Beyer, H. ., Brenzinger, M. ., du Plessis, T., & Raper, P. E. . (Eds.). (2019). Critical toponomy: Place names in political, historical and commercial landscape (Vols. 3). UJ Press. https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424253