CfP: 2026 Names Society of Southern Africa Biennial Congress

 The Names Society of Southern Africa (NSSA) has announced its 2026 Biennial Congress, to be held from 21 to 24 September 2026 at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, Boksburg, Gauteng, South Africa.

Organized in collaboration with the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), the University of Johannesburg (UJ), the University of the Witwatersrand, and the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, the congress promises to be a major scholarly gathering for researchers working on names and naming across disciplines.

The conference theme is:

“Naming and renaming in postcolonial contexts: Identity and political economy discourses in contemporary onomastics.”

This theme invites reflection on the power of names in shaping identity, memory, politics, culture, and social transformation. The organizers foreground naming and renaming as practices deeply embedded in colonial and postcolonial histories, but also as tools of resistance, reclamation, negotiation, and representation. The call emphasizes the interdisciplinary breadth of contemporary onomastics, welcoming perspectives from linguistics, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, literary studies, geography, law, digital humanities, media studies, and beyond.

The congress will explore a broad range of sub-themes, including theories of names and naming, names and culture, nation-building and statecraft, names and law, indigenous knowledge systems, socio-economic onomastics, (un)conventional naming, literary onomastics, and onomastics and digital linguistics. Among the many suggested topics are naming and identity construction, decolonial naming, translation and transliteration, naming and religion, names and power, renaming policies, eco-onomastics, brand names, nicknames, political nicknaming, fictional geographies, names in the performing arts, digital corpora, and the archiving of signed geographical names.

Abstracts should be 200–250 words, written in Times New Roman 12, and must include five keywords. The title should be in bold, and contributors are asked to provide the full names of authors, their affiliations, and a reliable email address.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 15 April 2026, with acceptance or rejection notifications by 30 April 2026.

The conference will be held primarily in person, although there will be limited online presentation options. Online participants will have access to proceedings taking place in the main plenary session. The programme will include both paper presentations and poster presentations.

Registration fees are structured as follows:

• Delegates: R5,500 early / R6,000 late

• Online delegates: R2,500 early / R3,000 late

• Students: R4,000 early / R4,500 late

• Exhibitors and stalls: R6,000 early / R6,500 late

Early registration is available up to 30 June 2026, while late registration begins on 1 July 2026.

The abstract submission link is:
https://form.jotform.com/260392069388568

For enquiries, correspondence should be directed to:
2026NSSAconference@tut.ac.za

This promises to be a stimulating event for scholars interested in the dynamic social, political, cultural, legal, literary, and digital dimensions of names. It will also be an important forum for discussing naming and renaming in African and global postcolonial contexts.