Offensive place names bugging you? Here's your chance to change it

Tines Live

The Western Cape will conduct an audit to identify all place names that are seen as offensive‚ as part of a process to develop a common national identity. (Image: Sharief Jaffer)

The Western Cape is keen to conduct an audit to identify all place names that are seen as offensive‚ as part of a process to develop a common national identity‚ social cohesion and inclusivity within the province.

Cultural affairs minister in the province‚ Anroux Marais‚ said in a statement that proposed name changes would be processed in accordance with the Western Cape policy for the Naming and Renaming of Geographical Features and the South African Geographical Names Council Act.

"On 2 February 1990‚ former President FW de Klerk announced the release of Nelson Mandela‚ which would set off a chain of events leading to the subsequent end of apartheid in South Africa‚" said Marais‚ adding the call for the audit was "in commemoration of the dawn of democracy‚ and as we celebrate Tata Madiba’s centenary".

Submissions of offensive names must reach the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport by March 31.

The online audit form can be accessed on this link:  and submitted by email to: geonames@westerncape.gov.za

The prescribed audit form (English‚ Afrikaans and Xhosa) is also available on the website of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport along with copies of the relevant policy and legislation. It can be accessed using this link.

Place Names in Africa

SPRINGER

Place Names in Africa

Colonial Urban Legacies, Entangled Histories

Introduction

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.

Keywords

Colonial Planning HistoryCultural GeographyIndigineous and Colonial Naming LegaciesToponymy in AfricaUrbanisation 

in Africa

Editors and affiliations

• Liora Bigon
  • 1

1. 1.The Institute of Western CulturesThe Hebrew 
2. University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

Bibliographic information

• DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32485-2
 
• Copyright InformationSpringer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
 
• Publisher NameSpringer, Cham
• eBook PackagesBiomedical and Life Sciences
 
• Print ISBN978-3-319-32484-5
 
• Online ISBN978-3-319-32485-2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: Place Names in Africa: Colonial Urban Legacies, Entangled Histories
Liora Bigon
Pages 1-25

Sarah’s Globe and the (Un-)naming of Mobile Space
Michel Ben Arrous
Pages 27-36

Bagamoyo: Inquiry into an East African Place Name
Walter T. Brown
Pages 37-44

‘The Trees Are Yours’: Nature, Toponymy and Politics in the Interpretation of Cultural Landscapes in Lusaka and Zanzibar
Garth Myers
Pages 45-57

Transnational Aspects in the History of Lagos: Place Names and Built Forms
Liora Bigon, Robert Home
Pages 59-78

From ‘Avenue de France’ to ‘Boulevard Hassan II’: Toponymic Inscription and the Construction of Nationhood in Fes, Morocco
Samira Hassa
Pages 79-91

The Colonial Toponymic Model in the Capital Cities of French West Africa
Hélène d’Almeida-Topor
Pages 93-103

A Toponymy of Segregation: The ‘Neutral Zones’ of Dakar, Dar es Salaam and Kinshasa
Luce Beeckmans
Pages 105-121

Generic Terminology in Colonial Urban Contexts: Garden Cities Between Dakar and Tel Aviv
Liora Bigon, Yossi Katz
Pages 123-141

Letters, Words, Worlds: the Naming of Soweto
Gordon H. Pirie
Pages 143-157

South African Identity as Reflected by its Toponymic Tapestry
Barbara Meiring
Pages 159-175

M(g)r. De Hemptin(n)e, I Presume? Transforming Local Memory Through Toponymy in Colonial/Post-Colonial Lubumbashi, DR Congo
Johan Lagae, Sofie Boonen, Donatien Dia Mwembu Dibwe
Pages 177-194

Formal and Informal Toponymic Inscriptions in Maputo: Towards Socio-Linguistics and Anthropology of Street Naming
César Cumbe
Pages 195-205

Glocal Naming and Shaming: Toponymic (Inter-)National Relations on Lagos and New York Streets
Wale Adebanwi
Pages 207-220

Afterword
Ambe Njoh, Liora Bigon

Pages 221-223