Naming the abyss: The symbolic politics of the oceanic toponymic frontier

Abstract

With the recent, constantly growing interest in the critical geography of the oceans and critical toponymy, there is still plenty of space for theoretical, methodological and practical interconnections between these emerging subfields. Despite some sporadic examples of critical analysis of the names of the islands and seas, the ocean floor and the open ocean remain unexplored spaces in critical toponymic investigations. This paper aims to fill this gap by introducing the concept of the toponymic frontier, focusing on the spatial-political dimension of the names of the natural submarine features (bathyonyms). Drawing on critical toponymy and critical geography of the oceans' theoretical literature and using the empirical database of more than 5000 bathyonyms and the secondary resources represented by the international media, official reports and governmental websites, this paper develops a base for a conceptual framework for analysing the marine place names as (geo)politically and political-economically motivated symbolic elements of the oceanic voluminous realm. Finally, the paper paves the way for future debates related to the politics of place naming in the contested spaces of the hydrosphere and the generation of reinvigorated productive insights in critical toponymic studies.