Toponymic Politics and the Symbolic Landscapes of Minsk, Belarus

Abstract

Recently, within the theoretical and methodological framework of critical human geogra-phy, the main focus of the toponymic research has been redirected from the traditional linguistic and socio-onomastic methods towards a critical analysis of the spatial politics of naming and the studies of the socio-political role of the place names as the components of the symbolic landscape. The toponymic politics of (re)naming the streets and other elements of the urban landscape has been a valuable tool for the political regimes to legitimate their symbolic power. This paper aims to analyze the relationships between the political power, the toponymic practices, and the symbolic landscapes on the example of the eclectic topo-nymic space of the city of Minsk, Belarus, from a semiotic perspective through the prism of the critical place names studies approach and the theoretical concept of toponymic identi-ty. Using cartographic and archival research, on-site urban observations as well as com-parative analysis, the in-depth case study reveals that the toponymic system of the Belarus-ian capital city consists of several elements which connect to an assortment of the symbolic spatial strategies of nation-building adopted by the governing authorities. The findings indicate that the urban toponymic landscape and the toponymic identities of the city of Minsk are symbolically motivated, and the heterogeneity of the contemporary urban topo-nymic system reflects actual political agendas of the past and current political regimes.