Critical toponymies beyond the power-resistance nexus

Multiple toponymies and everyday life in the (re-)naming of South China Sea Islands

Bibliographic Data

ID3978327
AuthorsWu Chenhui (0000-0001-9169-6258, Sun Yat-sen University), Chenhui Wu (0000-0003-2340-019X), Craig Young (0000-0002-4324-1483, Manchester Metropolitan University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume24
Issue10
Pages1732-1751
Publication date2023-11-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2022.2104357
OpenAlexW4288033889
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited40

This paper advances theoretical developments in critical toponymies through focusing on the renaming of South China Sea Islands and everyday use of names by fishermen in Hainan, China. Undergoing a series of historical renamings associated with European colonial influences and claims of sovereignty by the Chinese state, multiple official and vernacular toponymic systems co-exist and operate in complex ways in everyday life. By focusing on complexities in the everyday usage of these co-existing toponymic systems, this paper develops calls in the literature to engage with a more complex understanding of the operation of power in naming beyond a focus on a power/resistance dichotomy. Whilst acknowledging the role of political power, it develops this by analysing how renaming is also influenced by social and demographic change, developments in other areas such as heritage, and technological changes, which have received scant attention in the critical toponymies literature. The paper explores the naming of oceanic features to shift the focus of analysis away from the literature's concentration on cities and street names. Overall, the paper argues for a more nuanced and diversified approach to analyzing critical toponymies

Aesthetics · Archaeology · China · Colonialism · Everyday life · Linguistics · Nexus (standard · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Sovereignty · Toponymy · Vernacular · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Travel Writing and Literature

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