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Call for papers
2015 International Symposium on Place Names : "Place names, diversity and heritage"
Organised by the IGU Commission/ICA Working Group on Toponymy and the Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, University of the Free State, Protea Hotel, Clarens, Free State Province, South Africa
17 – 18 September 2015
Dear Colleague,
You are cordially invited to submit your abstracts for the 2015 International Symposium on Place Names.
Dates of the symposium : 17– 18 September 2015
Venue of the symposium : Protea Hotel, Clarens, Free State Province, South Africa
Conference page : www.ufs.ac.za/ulfe
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 very recent one 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; papers relating to place names of any kind 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 committee
- Theodorus du Plessis (South Africa): Director, ULFE, 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, ULFE, UFS
- Johan Moll (South Africa): Research Fellow, ULFE, UFS
Keynote
- Peter E. Raper (South Africa): Member of the Steering Board, Joint IGU/ICA Commission/Working Group on Toponymy; Research Fellow, ULFE, UFS
Dates
- February 2015 First call for papers
- May 2015 Second call for papers
- 17 July 2015 Deadline for submission of abstracts (maximum 400 words)
- 14 August 2015 Registrations close
Languages
- English and Afrikaans (interpreting to English will be provided)
Fees
- To be announced
- Please note that the fees do not include transport or accommodation
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
- Please contact the organisational committee for any queries: kongresetfb[at]ufs.ac.za