ISPN 2015
2015 International Symposium on Place Names:
“Place names, diversity and heritage”
Jointly organised by the IGU Commission/ICA Working Group on Toponymy and the Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, UFS
Protea Hotel, Clarens, Free State Province, South Africa, 16 – 17 September 2015
Topic of the Symposium: “Place names, Diversity and heritage”
Spaces obtain meaning because of the role they play in human events or conceptualisations of the world. The descriptions and interpretations of these spaces are intertwined with human objectives and values. These could be determined by prevalent ideologies, whether political, social or cultural. As such, names are artefacts of social, political, cultural and demographic discourses. They importantly also serve as a reflection of identity, both cultural and collective, thereby denoting a range of diversities
Given that society is dynamic and the accompanying determining factors are also in flux, names are sometimes changed to reflect new realities. In other instances they are left unchanged. Nevertheless, toponymic landscapes generally capture to a lesser or greater extent the diversity of their context and also largely relate strongly to the heritage of name givers. For many people changes in place names have a bearing on these aspects. One therefore often finds that orchestrated place name changes become an instrument of legitimation for one section of a society and are therefore being contested by another section of the society. This prompts questions about the management of place names in diverse societies and the role of heritage associated with place names.
This symposium follows on the one recently held in Rome, Italy (17 – 18 November 2014); and will follow shortly on the ones in Moscow and Rio de Janeiro, both in August 2015. It seeks to specifically investigate the relation between place names, diversity and heritage.
Potential subtopics
This is simply a list of suggestions; any papers relating to place names are welcomed:
- functions of place names on maps
- rendering of place names on maps
- ·names placement on maps
- principles for creating new place names
- place names as expression of time- or space-related identity
- place name/feature relations
- motives for place naming
- place names and administration
- place names and transportation
- place names in the cyber world
- social dimensions of place names
- historical dimension of place names
- authenticity and place names
- place names management
- place names, multilingualism and language visibility
- principles for solving place-name conflicts
Scientific Council and Paper Selection Committee
- Theodorus du Plessis (South Africa): Director, Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, UFS
- Peter E. Raper (South Africa): Member of the Steering Board, Joint IGU/ICA Commission/Working Group on Toponymy; Research Fellow, Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, UFS
- Cosimo Palagiano (Italy): IGU Chair, Joint IGU/ICA Commission/Working Group on Toponymy
- Paulo Márcio Leal de Menezes (Brazil): ICA Chair, Joint IGU/ICA Commission/Working Group on Toponymy
- Peter Jordan (Austria): Member of the Steering Board, Joint IGU/ICA Commission/Working Group on Toponymy
- Johan Lubbe (South Africa): Research Fellow, Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, UFS
- Johan Moll (South Africa): Research Fellow, Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, UFS
Keynote
Peter E. Raper (South Africa): Member of the Steering Board, Joint IGU/ICA Commission/Working Group on Toponymy; Research Fellow, Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, UFS
Languages of the symposium
English and Afrikaans (interpreting to English will be provided)
Conference proceedings
A selection of the papers will be published as conference proceedings in a special edition of the Nomina Africa, accredited journal of the Names Society of Southern Africa.
Contact
Visit our conference webpage at http://conferences.ufs.ac.za/ to for further details, to submit abstracts and to register, and to obtain more information about the venue.
Alternatively, contact Chrismi Loth of the organising committee with any queries at kongresETFB@ufs.ac.za.