Place Names in Africa : Colonial Urban Legacies, Entangled Histories

This volume examines the discursive relations between indigenous, colonial and post-colonial legacies of place-naming in Africa in terms of the production of urban space and place. It is conducted by tracing and analysing place-naming processes, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa during colonial times (British, French, Belgian, Portuguese), with a considerable attention to both the pre-colonial and post-colonial situations. By combining in-depth area studies research {u2013} some of the contributions are of ethnographic quality {u2013} with colonial history, planning history and geography, the authors intend to show that culture matters in research on place names. This volume goes beyond the recent understanding obtained in critical studies of nomenclature, normally based on lists of official names, that place naming reflects the power of political regimes, nationalism, and ideology Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction: Place Names in Africa: Colonial Urban Legacies, Entangled Histories....Pages 1-25 Sarah’s Globe and the (Un-)naming of Mobile Space....Pages 27-36 Bagamoyo: Inquiry into an East African Place Name....Pages 37-44 ‘The Trees Are Yours’: Nature, Toponymy and Politics in the Interpretation of Cultural Landscapes in Lusaka and Zanzibar....Pages 45-57 Transnational Aspects in the History of Lagos: Place Names and Built Forms....Pages 59-78 From ‘Avenue de France’ to ‘Boulevard Hassan II’: Toponymic Inscription and the Construction of Nationhood in Fes, Morocco....Pages 79-91 The Colonial Toponymic Model in the Capital Cities of French West Africa....Pages 93-103 A Toponymy of Segregation: The ‘Neutral Zones’ of Dakar, Dar es Salaam and Kinshasa....Pages 105-121 Generic Terminology in Colonial Urban Contexts: Garden Cities Between Dakar and Tel Aviv....Pages 123-141 Letters, Words, Worlds: the Naming of Soweto....Pages 143-157 South African Identity as Reflected by its Toponymic Tapestry....Pages 159-175 M(g)r. De Hemptin(n)e, I Presume? Transforming Local Memory Through Toponymy in Colonial/Post-Colonial Lubumbashi, DR Congo....Pages 177-194 Formal and Informal Toponymic Inscriptions in Maputo: Towards Socio-Linguistics and Anthropology of Street Naming....Pages 195-205 Glocal Naming and Shaming: Toponymic (Inter-)National Relations on Lagos and New York Streets....Pages 207-220 Afterword....Pages 221-223 Back Matter....Pages 225-229 This volume examines the discursive relations between indigenous, colonial and post-colonial legacies of place-naming in Africa in terms of the production of urban space and place. It is conducted by tracing and analysing place-naming processes, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa during colonial times (British, French, Belgian, Portuguese), with a considerable attention to both the pre-colonial and post-colonial situations. By combining in-depth area studies research--some of the contributions are of ethnographic quality--with colonial history, planning history and geography, the authors intend to show that culture matters in research on place names. This volume goes beyond the recent understanding obtained in critical studies of nomenclature, normally based on lists of official names, that place naming reflects the power of political regimes, nationalism, and ideology.-- Provided by publisher