Vol. 67 No. 1 (2019)
Article

A Tale of Two Brazzas: Intertwining (Post-)Colonial Namescapes

PDF
  • Liora Bigon,
  • Michel Ben Arrous
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2018.1453288

Published 2019-01-02

Keywords

  • toponym,
  • field name,
  • landscape,
  • landscape character,
  • temporality,
  • persistence,
  • land use change
    • ...More
    Less

Copyright (c) 2018 American Name Society

Creative Commons License

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

Abstract

This article brings together and analyzes two toponyms: Brazzaville Street in Holon, Israel, and Quay of Brazza in Bordeaux, France. In the light of historical and contemporary developments at different points of time, geographies and socio-political contexts, the crisscrossing between both Brazza-related toponyms is useful in promoting a critical and more nuanced interpretation of space and nomenclature. In exploring the varied flows of power, ambiguities and tensions behind the two place names, and in bringing the Congo to the fore, the article also relates to geographies beyond Europe. This aspect of spatial intertwining contributes to the de-Eurocentrization of recent place names studies, which tend to be focused on Europe/the West and on nationalistic aspects. In addition, a variety of primary and secondary materials is employed, including visual and archival sources, and fieldwork.

PDF

References

  1. Azaryahu, M.
  2. , and
  3. A. Kellerman
  4. . 1999. “Symbolic Places of National History and Revival: A Study in Zionist Mythical Geography.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 24 (1): 109–123.10.1111/tran.1999.24.issue-1
  5. Bar-Gal, Y.
  6. “Naming City Streets: A Chapter in the History of Tel Aviv, 1909‒1947.” Contemporary Jewry 10 (2): 39–50.10.1007/BF02965570
  7. Bar-Gal, Y.
  8. “On the Tribal-Elders, the Successors and the New Ones in the Israeli Geography.” Horizons in Geography 51 (1): 7–39
  9. . in Hebrew.
  10. Ben Arrous, M.
  11. “Géographies de l’ailleurs. Imaginaires et production de l’espace.” Unpublished PhD thesis in geography, Université de Rouen.
  12. Ben Arrous, M.
  13. , ed. 2015. African Studies in Geography from below. 2nd ed. Dakar: CODESRIA.
  14. Ben-Rafael, E.
  15. ,
  16. E. Shohamy
  17. ,
  18. M. Amara
  19. , and
  20. N. Trumper-Hecht
  21. . 2006. “Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel.” International Journal of Multilingualism 3 (1): 7–30.10.1080/14790710608668383
  22. Benvenisti, M.
  23. Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land since 1948. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  24. Bigon, L.
  25. , ed. 2016. Place Names in Africa: Colonial Urban Legacies, Entangled Histories. Cham: Springer.
  26. Bigon, L.
  27. , and
  28. A. Dahamshy
  29. . 2014. “An Anatomy of Symbolic Power: The Israeli Road-Signs Policy and the Palestinian Minority.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 32 (4): 606–621.10.1068/d2613
  30. Bigon, L.
  31. , and
  32. Y. Katz
  33. . 2017. “De-Colonising Place-Name Historiographies: (Urban) Africa via Europe and Israel/Palestine.” Presented at the Specialist Session “The Pragmatics of Place: Colonial and Postcolonial Perspectives. International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) Conference, Belfast, July.
  34. Blanchard, P.
  35. ,
  36. B. Nicolas
  37. , and
  38. S. Lemaire
  39. , eds. 2005. La fracture coloniale. La société française au prisme de l’héritage colonial. Paris: La Découverte.
  40. Bonin, H.
  41. Les tabous de Bordeaux. Bordeaux: Le Festin.
  42. Eco, U.
  43. The Open Work. Translated by
  44. A. Cancogni
  45. . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  46. Fishman, J.
  47. ,
  48. M. Gertner
  49. ,
  50. E. Lowy
  51. , and
  52. W. Milán
  53. , eds. 1985. The Rise and Fall of the Ethnic Revival: Perspective on Language and Ethnicity. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  54. Foote, K.
  55. , and
  56. M. Azaryahu
  57. . 2007. “Toward a Geography of Memory: Geographical Dimensions of Public Memory and Commemoration.” Journal of Political and Military Scociology 35 (1): 125–144.
  58. Gregory, D.
  59. The Colonial Present: Afganistan, Palestine, Iraq. Oxford: Blackwell.
  60. Jones, R.
  61. , and
  62. P. Merriman
  63. . 2009. “Hot, Banal and Everyday Nationalism: Bilingual Road Signs in Wales.” Political Geography 28 (3): 164–173.10.1016/j.polgeo.2009.03.002
  64. Katz, Y
  65. “Identity, Nationalism and Place Names: Zionist Efforts to Preserve the Original Local Hebrew Names in Official Publications of the Mandate Government of Palestine.” Names 43 (2): 103–118.10.1179/nam.1995.43.2.103
  66. Katz, Y.
  67. “Reclaiming the Land: Factors in Naming the Jewish Settlement in Palestine during the Era of the British Mandate.” In These Are the Names: Studies in Jewish Onomastics, edited by
  68. A. Demsky
  69. , vol. II, 63‒112. Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press
  70. Light, D.
  71. ,
  72. I. Nicolae
  73. , and
  74. B. Suditu
  75. . 2002. “Toponymy and the Communist City: Street Names in Bucharest, 1948‒1965.” GeoJournal 56 (2): 135–144.10.1023/A:1022469601470
  76. Lozère, C.
  77. Bordeaux Colonial, 1850–1940. Bordeaux: Editions Sud-Ouest.
  78. Milo, D
  79. . 1997. “Street Names.” In Realms of Memory, edited by
  80. P. Nora
  81. , 363‒389. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
  82. Nash, C.
  83. “Irish Placenames: Post-Colonial Locations.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 24 (4): 457–480.10.1111/tran.1999.24.issue-4
  84. Oded, A.
  85. Africa and Israel: A Unique Case of Radical Changes in Israel’s Foreign Relations. Jerusalem: Magnes Press
  86. . in Hebrew.
  87. Péhaut, Y.
  88. “Le réseau d’influence bordelais: la ‘doyenne’ Maurel & Prom jusqu’en 1914.” In L’esprit économique impérial (1830-1970), edited by
  89. H. Bonin
  90. ,
  91. C. Hodeir
  92. , and
  93. J. F. Klein
  94. . Groupes de pression & réseaux du patronat colonial en France & dans l’empire, 225‒242. Paris: Publications de la SFHOM.
  95. Pétrissans-Cavaillès, D.
  96. Sur les traces de la traite des Noirs à Bordeaux. Paris: L’Harmattan.
  97. Raento, P.
  98. , and
  99. C. Watson
  100. . 2000. Gernika, Guernica, Guernica? Contested Meanings of a Basque Place. Political Geography 19 (6): 707–736.10.1016/S0962-6298(00)00002-0
  101. Randeria, S.
  102. “Entangled Histories of Uneven Modernities: Civil Society, Castle Solidarity and Legal Pluralism in Post-Colonial India.” In Comparative and Transnational Histories, edited by
  103. H. Heinz-Gerhard
  104. and
  105. J. Kocka
  106. , 77‒105. Oxford, NY: Berghahn Books.
  107. Richard, M.
  108. Spirit of Place and the Act of Naming: Restoring the Fascination of Geography. UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names. Working Paper 60(b).
  109. Rose-Redwood, R.
  110. “From Number to Name: Symbolic Capital, Places of Memory, and the Politics of Street Renaming in New York City.” Social & Cultural Geography 9 (4): 432–452.
  111. Rose-Redwood, R.
  112. ,
  113. D. Alderman
  114. , and
  115. M. Azaryahu
  116. . 2010. “Geographies of Toponymic Inscription: New Directions in Critical Place-Name Studies.” Progress in Human Geography 34 (4): 453–470.10.1177/0309132509351042
  117. Rosman, M.
  118. La France et Israël 1947-1970. De la création de l’Etat d’Israël au départ des Vedettes de Cherbourg. Translated by
  119. H. Karas
  120. . Tel Aviv: Resling, in Hebrew.
  121. Saugera, E.
  122. Bordeaux Port Négrier. Chronologie, économie, Idéologie, XVIIe-XIXe Siècles. 2nd ed. Paris: Karthala.
  123. Shohamy, E.
  124. , and
  125. S. Donitsa-Schmidt
  126. . 1988. Jews Vs. Arabs: Language Attitudes and Stereotypes. Tel Aviv: Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research.
  127. Shoval, N.
  128. “Street-Naming, Tourism Development and Cultural Conflict: The Case of the Old City of Acre/Akko/Akka.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 38 (4): 612–626.10.1111/tran.12003
  129. Subrahmanyam, S.
  130. “Connected Histories: Notes towards a Reconfiguration of Early Modern Eurasia.” Modern Asian Studies 31 (3): 735–762.10.1017/S0026749X00017133
  131. Suleiman, Y.
  132. A War of Words: Language and Conflict in the Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511819926
  133. Werner, M.
  134. , and
  135. B. Zimmermann
  136. . 2006. “Beyond Comparison: Histoire Croisée and the Challenge of Reflexivity.” History and Theory 45 (1): 30–50.10.1111/hith.2006.45.issue-1
  137. Yiftachel, O.
  138. “From Sharon to Sharon: Spatial Planning and Separation Regime in Israel/Palestine.” HAGAR Studies in Culture, Polity and Identities 10 (1): 73–106.
  139. Items number: 767, 1001-5, 3131, 7508, 9565, 10,043.
  140. Municipal Committee protocols: n° 50-51, 15 August 1962; n° 45, 18 November 1973.
  141. Items number: BIBM4/8, 13D203, 13D204, XL-A/227, XL-A/243.
  142. Municipal Committee protocols: 24 January 1906; 2 February 1906.