Fragments from many pasts: layering the toponymic tapestry of Milan

In the recent literature on the cultural politics of naming, toponyms and street names are increasingly read within the wider social–historical context upon which naming is contingent. In this perspective, naming is often seen as an act of power and a way to inscribe an ideological discourse into the landscape. In this article, we analyze the street names currently inscribed in the historical center of the Italian city of Milan, Italy as a reflection of its long and contested social and political history. Fragments of all the different toponymic regimes and hegemonic discourses that took over one after the other over time have remained inscribed in Milan’s street network, originating a complex tapestry in which different pasts revive and conflicting ideologies co-exist. In this context, we examine the role Geographical Information Science (GIScience) methods and technologies play in quantifying, revealing, and visualizing the spatial patterns of downtown Milan’s toponymic texture at the urban scale and at the scale of the six historical neighborhoods.     

Rabin’s road: The politics of toponymic commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin in Israel

Embedded into the language of the landscape and integrated into the routines of everyday life, toponymic commemorations belong to the political geography of public memory. The impact of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination on Israeli society and culture was made apparent in a space-time matrix of public commemorations, which introduced remembrance of the slain Prime Minister into the public sphere. This article focuses on the politics of Rabin’s toponymic commemoration, evinced in decision-making procedures at local and national levels of government in various stages of the commemoration project. It expands on toponymic commemoration as a measure of conciliation for a politically divided nation and as an arena where political struggles between Left and Right were waged. The article further elaborates on public criticism of the commemoration project, which was mainly directed against what seemed excessive commemoration and inappropriate naming practices. Focused on the extraordinary circumstances of the political assassination of a head of government, this paper offers insights into how toponymic commemoration in a politically divided society unfolds between a demonstration of national consensus and expression of political conflict. It also directs attention to the question of appropriateness of commemorative naming practices in a democratic society.     

Geomorphic reconstruction of formation and recession processes of waterfalls of the Kaminokawa river basin on Osumi Peninsula,southern Kyushu,Japan

To assess the geomorphological importance of waterfall recession in volcanic bedrock, we examined recession rates of six waterfalls in the lower reaches of Kaminokawa river basin on the Osumi Peninsula in southern Kyushu. The examination was performed with an empirical equation that uses a dimensionless parameter obtained by dimensional analysis of relevant measured factors, including erosive force, size of waterfall, and bedrock resistance. Welded Ata ignimbrite, formed at approximately 110 ka, may have played an initiating role to maintain such waterfalls because it resists weathering more than other local rocks. Estimated recession rates for the six waterfalls range from 0.2 to 3.0 cm/y, which compare with estimated rates for waterfalls in another region characterised by welded ignimbrite. Comparison of equation‐derived recession rates of waterfalls with actual recession distances from confluences supports the idea that an original waterfall will subsequently split into two distinct waterfalls when it recesses past an upstream junction of two channels. Our findings revealed that all six waterfalls likely would have been at almost the same point lower in the watershed in the past, marking the general site of the original waterfall. Moreover, the ancestral original waterfall is highly likely to have started from a point between the caldera rim and present river mouth. There, a knickpoint was likely caused by the river dropping into an inner part of the caldera, possibly just after the eruption of the Ata ignimbrite. The waterfall erodes upstream away from the caldera basin, and this happens to be to the east.     

Concerning Principles of Compilation of Small-Scale Landscape Maps

Analyzing the landscape maps of four regional atlases, the author finds an absence of consistent classification systems, excessively wordy legends, and an ignoring of man-induced changes in the natural landscape. He urges greater use of local geographic terms and place names to designate landscapes in one or two words.     

The Place of the Dog: AKC Breeds in American Culture

The American Kennel Club (AKC), the primary registry agency for purebred dogs in the United States, had recognized 138 breeds through September 1995. An investigation of the source areas of these breeds reveals the cultural authority of Great Britain in organized dog breeding in the United States. Although Great Britain accounts for more than one-third of the AKC breeds, however, its importance has declined. Dogs from Asia account for more than one-fifth of the breeds recognized since World War II. Breed names that contain toponymic elements (such as Sussex Spaniel) usually reinforce the importance of the area in which the breeds were developed. An analysis of the patterns of geographic names reveals a pronounced emphasis on Western Europe, particularly Great Britain. A decline in the prominence of names from Europe has occurred. Asian name sources have become more important, and Australia and Africa have begun receiving attention. North America as a source of breeds as well as a source of naming has occupied a relatively minor role throughout the AKC's history. American breeders and promoters of purebred dogs have tended to look outward, especially toward Europe, for sociocultural forms.     

The Experience of Waterfalls

Landscape beauty has long been a concern of geographers and other scholars, but relatively little work has been done on the aesthetic analysis of specific landscape features such as mountain peaks and waterfalls. In Australia, as in many other parts of the world, waterfalls are popular scenic attractions, and this paper attempts to explain the widespread appeal of these landforms by examining them in the light of theories of landscape aesthetics, from the Picturesque and Sublime to arousal and prospect‐refuge. While no single theory offers a complete explanation of our experience of waterfalls, this paper suggests that by using several theoretical approaches to the subject we are more likely to gain a full understanding of the way we respond to these landscape features.     

关中平原历史地名演变中的文化政治格局——基于批判地名学的研究

基于GIS技术，分析从夏到明清，关中平原历史地名空间格局和命名方式的演变规律。从景观表征和布尔迪厄符号权利视角，借鉴批判地名学研究理论，揭示关中平原历史地名空间格局和命名方式演变过程中的文化政治格局。研究发现：①作为关中平原历史地名空间置换的高密度区域，以西安—咸阳为核心的政治中心区，以及以潼关、陈仓（今宝鸡）为核心的军事中心区构成了政治权利空间斗争的中心；而零星分布于外围的自然景观类地名集中区则体现出其作为政治权利空间斗争边缘区的历史稳定性。②统治阶层和群众围绕宫殿陵寝、官宦氏族、人物姓氏、意愿祈福及祭祀庙宇类地名展开命名博弈，各阶层均希望借助地名这一社会文化符号表达“自我”价值和愿望。③关中平原历史地名具有鲜明的时代特征，地名的命名与变更整体上呈现出去阶层意识形态、关注民生文化的特征。     

Native Toponymy and territorial rights

Native place names are landmarks which may provide quantitative and qualitative evidence usefully referred to for the land claims question. This paper describes the context and the method of a research project which draws from the lower Mackenzie Valley toponymic data of the last century some useful conclusions related to the actual native land claims in that region.     

Cultural naming practices in children's literature with adoption themes

This paper analyzes texts for children ages 4–8 focused on adoption to understand how naming practices are presented. Findings show how books use naming (a) to connect children to their birth culture by keeping a given name or choosing one with special meaning associated with the child's nation, race, or ethnicity of origin, and (b) for assimilation by giving normalized names associated within parental culture. Naming is based on white middle class norms, which may be problematic since these norms likely fit with the parents and teachers who are purchasing books, but not with the adoptees that are being read to.     

Authorizing landscape: «authority», naming and the Ordnance Survey's mapping of the Scottish Highlands in the nineteenth century

A range of work in human and historical geography has discussed naming and mapping as reflections of social power. In historical contexts in particular, attention has been drawn to the ways in which native knowledges, even the natives themselves, were either «written out» by being excluded, or marginalized in the processes of «translation» and cartographic representation. This article examines the work of the Ordnance Survey in the nineteenth-century Scottish Highlands and the means this English-speaking body employed in providing authoritative names to what was, in placenames and in the language of the inhabitants, a Gaelic landscape. An examination of the Ordnance Survey's Original Object Name Books is used to explore how the landscape was «authorized», to discuss who was judged an authoritative source and, from this, to emphasize naming as a social process.     

基于数字高程模型的城市地貌与地名相关性分析——以兰州市为例

以兰州市为例,使用ASTER 30米分辨率的数字高程模型DEM并提取了兰州市周边所有地名信息;通过收集、整理地名,主要地名类型有:滩、坪、台、山、沟、湾、屲(洼)、岭、岘、梁、岗、咀等;通过地名与地貌分析,发现兰州地名命名及分布在很大程度上能够反映兰州市的地形地貌,且兰州地名类型的分布随高程呈现出一定规律;每一高程面上的地名数量与该高程面上兰州市的面积变化并没形成对应关系,在1800-1900 m、2100-2800 m高程,地名数量与面积对应较好;通过分析进一步证明了我国地名命名系统和地貌之间的关系,说明在我国文化地理及自然地理等学科的发展中具有融合现象。     

Mata'uvave and 15th Century Ha'apai: Narrative accounts and historical landscapes in the interpretation of classical tongan history

Abstract

Mata'uvave is a minor chiefly title from the northern Ha'apai Islands, Kingdom of Tonga. Traditional Tongan history, however, suggests this chief held a pivotal role in the assertion of political authority over this region by Tu'i Tonga Kau'ulufonuafekai in the mid‐15th century A.D. Published narratives and genealogies, recently collected oral accounts, place names, and archaeological sites, provide a basis from which this history is interpreted. These sources reveal much about the events and socio‐political processes of pre‐contact chiefly polity in Tonga. The account of Mata'uvave further illustrates the potential of historical landscapes as a supplementary order of data for traditional history in general. Through construction of monumental archaeological sites and through commemoration of associated activities in place names, Mata'uvave transcribed himself onto the cartography of northern Ha'apai. This landscape composes a mnemonic index by which oral accounts may be accessed and evaluated.     

《嘉禾吏民田家莂》中的田家姓名问题

“田家莂”简共计田家人名近2000个,且全是单名,其中有很多同姓同名者。田家单名问题实际上涉及两汉三国时期起名趣向的演变,而与书写便利与否无关。简中的同丘、同姓同名、同性别者,无论其身份是否相同.都存在属于不同人物的情况。此外,当时长沙郡民有一些反映历史时代特征、社会生活状况以及周围生态环境的起名趣向.还有一些田家人名则蕴含着有关道教、避讳等方面的某些信息。     

This Land is My Land: Oklahoma's Changing Vernacular Regions

Over 1000 long-term local residents responded to a survey of Oklahoma's vernacular regions. They indicated that their local regions had changed names over time. A majority of respondents in more than 40 of Oklahoma's 77 counties recall that their localities were called "Indian Territory" or some more specific variation on that theme in the past. Because "Indian Territory" was a term produced by the Federal government, this suggests that the central government exercised substantial control over the toponymy of that time. Other institutions currently dominate the state's toponymic process. Respondents in almost one-half of Oklahoma's counties refer to their local regions with names generated by the state's Department of Tourism and Recreation. Residents in a small number of multi-county regions employ terms derived from their local cultural and economic histories, and others inagroup of single-county regions use extremely localized terms. As a result, it appears that Oklahoma's state bureaucracy has become the dominant toponymic force among local residents, displacing the once-powerful Federal government. Interestingly, Oklahomans now recognize more locally-defined regions than they did in the past as well.     

The genealogy of personal names: towards a more productive method in historical onomastics

It is essential to combine genealogical and collective biographical approaches with network analysis if one wants to take full advantage of the evidence provided by (hereditary) personal names in historical and linguistic onomastic research. The naming practices of rural families and clans from the 18th to the 20th century can bring us much fresh information about their enduring attitudes and values, as well as about other mentalities of everyday life. Personal names were cultural symbols that contained socially shared meanings. With the help of genealogical method it is possible to obtain a more nuanced understanding of these past naming practices, for example by comparing the conventions of different communities. A long-term and systematic empirical research also enables us to dispute certain earlier assumptions that have been taken for granted in historical onomastics. Therefore, the genealogical method is crucial in studying the criteria for the choices of personal names in the past.     

Layers of the Landscape: Representations and Perceptions of an Ordinary (Shared) Sports Landscape in a Haitian and Dominican Community

Over the last decade, much research has assessed sport in relation to geographical perspectives of place, landscape, and identity. Using multiple qualitative methods, including mental maps, interviews and conversations, and participant observation, this inductive study attempts to better understand local perceptions of an everyday landscape. This work was conducted in Villa Ascension, a rural community in the Dominican Republic consisting of Haitian and Dominican residents. Football is a strong component of Haitian identity, and baseball is likewise important to Dominicans. Currently, the community has one site where two sports are actively played. Given the community's heterogeneous ethnic composition, Villa Ascension's sports landscape is recognised as having multiple layers of meaning. Knowledge produced in this case study revealed the emergent themes of perceived interpretations of ordinary landscapes, the forging of boundaries, communal relationships and support, and hazards and modification of limited spaces for play. The landscape being a layered one with multiple representations of place and identity, the Haitians' broader perceptions suggest that they view the site as a place of primary importance. Alternatively, the Dominicans are attempting to forge and maintain their sense of sporting identity in the landscape.     

Francisco Faleiro and Scientific Methodology at the Casa de la Contratación in the Sixteenth Century

Henricus Martellus's four world maps of c.1489 show a non‐existent Asian peninsula east of the Aurea Chersonesus (the Malay peninsula). For some decades a group of scholars in Latin America has been claiming that this so‐called ‘Dragon's Tail’ peninsula is really a pre‐Columbian map of South America. In this paper, the cartographical and place‐name evidence is examined, showing that the identification has not been proved, and that perceived similarities between the river and coastal outlines on this ‘Dragon's Tail’ peninsula and those of South America are fortuitous. Ptolemy's depiction of an enclosed Indian Ocean was invalidated when Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope. Consequently, a year or two later, Martellus adapted the east Asian section of Ptolemy's world map, providing China with an east coast and turning the southward extension of Asia into a peninsula. The non‐Ptolemaic place‐names on these maps were derived from Marco Polo's writings.