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

Theodorus du Plessis, Matthias Brenzinger, Herman Beyer, Peter E Raper

Description

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.

Sujets

• Littérature Sud-Africaine
• Littérature sud-africaine
• Autriche
• Afrique du Sud
• Zimbabwe
• Namibie
• Peter Jordan
• Bushmanland
• SS Central America
• Czechoslovakia
• Central America
• Namibia
• Politics
• Slovenia
• Toponymy
• Territory
• Etymology
• Cultural heritage
• South Africa
• Unravelling
• Austria
• Sudáfrica
• Eslovenia
• Zimbabue
• Political

Informations

• Publié par: UJ Press
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781928424253
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

Critical toponymy Place names in political, historical and commercial landscapes

Conference Proceedings

TH PROCEEDINGS OF THE 4 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON PLACE NAMES 2017

Wîndhoek, Namîbîa, 18-20 September 2017

EDITORS Herman Beyer Matthîas Brenzînger Theodorus du Pessîs Peter E Raper

Critical toponymy Place names in political, historical and commercial landscapes

Proceedîngs o the 4th Internatîona Symposîum on Pace Names 2017

Joînty organîzed by the Joînt IGU/ICS Commîssîon on Toponymy, the UFS, and UNAM

Wîndhoek, Namîbîa, 18-20 September 2017

Herman Beyer Matthias Brenzinger Theodorus du Plessis Peter E Raper E DITORS

Critical toponymy – Place names in political, historical and commercial landscapes

Published by Sun Media Bloemfontein (Pty) Ltd.

Imprint: SunBonani Conference

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2019 Sun Media Bloemfontein and the editors

This publication was subjected to an independent double-blind peer evaluation by the publisher.

The author and the publisher have made every eFort to obtain permission for and acknowledge

the use of copyrighted material. Refer all inquiries to the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, photographic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording on record, tape or laser disk, on microfilm, via the Internet, by e-mail, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission by the publisher.

Views reLected in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

First edition 2019

ISBN: 978-1-928424-24-6 (Print) ISBN: 978-1-928424-25-3 (e-book) DOI: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424253

Set in Cambria 10/15 pt Cover design, typesetting and production by Sun Media Bloemfontein

This printed copy can be ordered directly from: [e-mail] The e-book is available at the following link: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424253

Peer review Process

Abstracts submitted to the symposium was judged by the symposium’s scientiic committee (comprised of experts in the ield) with regards to relevance to conference themes, scientiic rigor, originality and contribution to the subject ield. Authors whose abstracts were accepted after the stage one review process were included in the conference presentation programme (a total of 29 papers). Authors who wished to do so submitted their full papers for the conference proceedings.

th The Proceedings of the 4Symposium on Place Names 2017 involved a International rigorous double blind peer review process of the full papers. The review panel comprised of national and international experts in the subject matter, namely place names. Based on the outcome of the peer review process, papers for the proceedings were selected based on the following criteria:

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Alignment between the abstract and the content of the paper

Whether or not the paper disseminates original research

Whether or not the paper presents a new development within the discipline

The rigorous double blind peer review process by the scientiic review panel provided valuable comments and constructive criticism. Authors whose papers were accepted were provided with the anonymous reviewers’ comments and requested to submit their revised full papers. Provided that all comments were appropriately responded to, the inal papers addressing the comments and responses were included in the conference proceedings (ISBN: 978-1-928424-24-6).

The members of the peer review panel were involved not in the review of their own authored or co-authored papers. The role of the editors and editorial secretary was to ensure that the inal papers incorporated the reviewers’ comments and to arrange the papers into the inal order as captured in the table of contents. Of the 19 full papers submitted to the proceedings, 13 were accepted for inclusion. This results in an acceptance rate of 68%/rejection rate of 32%.

TABLe oF coNTeNTs

Foreword .................................................................................................................................................. The Editors

Mutîpe pace names and theîr poîtîca aspects on the terrîtory o the ormer Czechosovakîa ............................................................................ Georg Schuppener

Geographîca names standardîsatîon în South Arîca: a name-pannîng perspectîve on actîvîtîes, 2007-2016 .......................................................... Theodorus du Plessis

Namîng as a too or cutura domînatîon: a case o toponym use în south-eastern Zîmbabwe ................................................................ Steyn Khesani Madlome

The înluence o mîssîonary socîetîes on pace names în South Arîca ............................. Cornelia Geldenhuys

Herero pace names .............................................................................................................................. Lucie A. Möller

Unraveîng the etymoogy o seected toponyms în Zîmbabwe ........................................ Godwin Makaudze

The roe o toponymy în îdentîyîng cutura herîtage: a case study o pace names în the Bushmanand, Northern Cape ..................................... Jani de Lange

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15

35

51

65

83

97

Three types o commercîa pace-name use  wîth exampes rom Austrîa .................... 111 Peter Jordan

The chaenges o usîng Sovenîan choronyms în brand names .......................................... 123 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik, and Katja Vintar Mally

Pace names, pace, and pace-reated îdentîtîes în the înguîstîc andscape o rura South Arîca ........................................................................ 145 Chrismi-Rinda Loth

Namîng a pace, pacîng the se: toponymy and îdentîty în two Centra Amerîcan repubîcs .................................................................................................. 159 Kathryn M. Hudson

The dîaectîcs and poîtîcs o ootba as reveaed în the names and nîcknames o three seected Zîmbabwe stadîums ............................................ 177 Liketso Dube

Namîng, space and power în NoVîoet Buawayo’s We Need New Names (2013) and Lawrence Hoba’s ‘The Fîrst Trek – The Pîoneers’ în The Trek and Other Storîes (2009) ................................................................... 189 Elda Hungwe

Appendîx 1 ............................................................................................................................................... 201

ForeworD

th The 4International Symposium on Place Names (ISPN) was held on 18-20 September 2017 in Windhoek, Namibia, on the campus of the University of Namibia. It was jointly organized by the Joint IGU/ICA Commission on Toponymy, the Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment (now the Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies) (University of the Free State, South Africa), and the Department of Language and Literature Studies (University of Namibia, Namibia). Hosted every second year, this symposium is the only one in Southern Africa that focuses on toponymy. The vision of the ISPN series is to create a platform for sharing and promoting international expertise and collaboration on all aspects of place names, local as well as international researchers and government oficials.

While etymology remains a fundamental component of toponymic research, the critical turn in social sciences research precipitated the need to situate linguistic analyses within broader social and symbolic contexts. As such, the theme for this fourth bi- annual international symposium was ‘Critical toponymy: Place names in political and commercial landscapes’. The papers presented at the symposium explored the social, cultural, economic, political, and etymological origins of place names, and also considered how their meaning(s) changed over time. Both of the keynote addresses focused on the contribution of the original name-givers on the toponymicon of southern Africa. Prof Matthias Brenzinger talked about ‘Place naming practices among the Khwe and other hunter-gatherers in southern Africa’, while Prof Peter E Raper explored ‘Bushman cognates of place-name components recorded at the Cape 1595-1799’.

These proceedings of the symposium are a selection of double-blind peer-reviewed papers from the symposium. The Editors wish to thank the reviewers for their invaluable contribution in ensuring the quality of this publication. These papers contribute to the preservation of indigenous, non-standardised or other types of geographical names by

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Crîtîca Toponymy

collecting and categorising them in a consistent manner. By exploring the etymology of this range of toponyms as well as their treatment, the authors advance our understanding of place names not only as cultural heritage, but also as political and commercial currency.

The multiplicity of place names present various challenges, whether because there exist multiple toponyms for one geographical feature, or because there are several versions of the same name. SCHUPPENER shows how this phenomenon is exploited politically in the former Czechoslovakia. He also points out the scholarly obligation to acknowledge this multiplicity. DU PLESSIS highlights the misalignment between place names policy and more generalised language policy in South Africa. He argues that including multilingual place names would contribute to the linguistic visibility of marginalised languages. MADLOME also argues for considering the importance of naming places in local languages. His case study in Zimbabwe inds that not doing so constitutes a form of linguistic and cultural domination. GELDENHUYS analyses the inluence of missionaries on place naming in South Africa. Surprisingly, she inds that the names reveal less religious intent and instead rather relects the role of the missionaries in perpetuating colonialist endeavours.

Returning to the issue of multiple place names, MÖLLER explores the linguistically diverse origin of toponyms in her case study of Herero place names in Namibia. Her indings support the notion that indigenous place names serve to convey cultural heritage and identity. The meanings embedded in place names are explored by MAKAUDZE. Instead of a linguistic approach, he explores the sociocultural signiicance of selected place names in Zimbabwe. This sheds light on how place names serve not only as linguistic, but also cultural artefacts. Coming from the argument that cultural heritage should be conserved, DE LANGE records and analyses non-standardised place names in South Africa’s remote Bushmanland. It this way she wishes to contribute to the preservation of these names and their history.

Another form of recording geographical names is by applying them to commercial enterprises and products. JORDAN, who identiies three ways in which place names are used for commercial purposes, argues that using place names in this way stabilises the local toponymicon, illustrated with examples from Austria. Continuing with the commercial application toponyms. GERŠIČet al explores the use of choronyms in branding in Slovenia. Favourable responses to this tactic, they ind, is based on the conception that it extends place-related identities. Place names are also used in other ways in the public space. LOTH, for example, inds that the written use of place names in the public space in rural South Africa is used both to construct place-related identities

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FOREWORD

and to manipulate power relations. HUDSON explores identity construction through place-naming in Central America, again also referring to the political use of toponyms. She emphasises the role of place names as symbolic markers of cultural identity.

Considering a different deinition of culture, DUBE shows how the politics of football in Zimbabwe is revealed through the names of stadiums and sitting bays. Furthermore, he speculates that the war-inspired names might even inluence the often violent reactions of spectators. Another form of social commentary is provided by HUNGWE. She explores the use of place names as tropes for social dynamics in two works of literature situated in Zimbabwe – a literary device that would not be possible without a shared understanding of the function of place names.

The Editors of this proceedings would like to express their gratitude towards Dr Chrismi- Rinda Loth for managing this publication in all its different facets and also would like to convey their appreciation to the Publisher for producing such a ine publication in their series on proceedings. The Editors are also grateful that so many colleagues have participated in the Windhoek symposium and appreciate the efforts of those whose papers are included in this proceedings for being so co-operative during the whole publication process.

Finally, the Editors want to express their hope that this proceedings may contribute to further stimulate toponymic research in the region and that future symposia in the series will draw even more scholars from the region and even from afar.

THE edItORS BOEmfOntEIn NOVEmbER 2018

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