Volume 7, Issue s5 - Ideology and commemoration in the urban scape; Editors: Małgorzata Fabiszak and Isabelle Buchstaller

In this editorial, we outline the theoretical framework underpinning the contributions to this volume, providing a succinct overview of the development of linguistic landscape research and pointing to the unexplored areas of overlap with its neighbouring disciplines, including critical toponomy, collective memory studies, language planning and policy and critical discourse studies. In doing so, we position the articles in this special issue with respect to current themes in research on the ideological struggles over the semiotic landscape.

This article examines the role of language selection in constructing the cityscape of highly multilingual, postcolonial places like Malaysia and Namibia. The relationship between language policy, the construction of a national identity as well as linguistic inscriptions in the cityscape can be seen as part of language planning in relation to what gets represented, by whom, and for what purpose. We focus on street names as a typical target of language policy. In postcolonial societies, these renegotiations of the cityscape can be analysed against the backdrop of different processes, such as the erasure of names commemorating the colonial past, the inscription of important figures of the newly established nations, or the curation of the language regime with respect to the presence and symbolical function of languages. Using contrastive data and methodology, we analyse the renegotiation of postcolonial cityscapes in Kuala Lumpur (historical city centre, map data, large time span) and Windhoek (entire cityscape, newspaper reports, short time span). Our analysis establishes a notion of how the cityscape as a complex sociosymbolic text is being constantly rewritten by its actors. We find different motives attached to such processes of cultural representation, including national identity building and ideological consolidation of the cityscape.

This contribution presents two case studies: Poznań in Poland and New Delhi in India, focusing on the media coverage surrounding the re-naming of one street in each location. We apply a uniform method – the Discourse Historical Approach – to analyse newspaper articles, below-the-line comments and Internet forum discussions. As symbolic marking of the territory can be recruited for a political agenda going beyond memory politics, this article not only investigates the public controversy surrounding the (re-)naming of the cityscape, but also addresses the questions of how these debates link inter-discursively with other issues in contemporary politics, such as the independence of the judiciary in Poland and social justice in India.

This paper presents a small-scale case study of commemorative street and place renaming patterns in Mumbai and New Delhi. Three distinct waves of such renamings are identified, driven by dramatic shifts in political and ideological orientation: the first signifies a break with India’s colonial past and the reclaiming of national pride and identity; the second is marked by the rise of the Shiv Sena, a radical right wing political party known for its strident form of identity politics; and the third reflects the resurgence of cultural nationalism and populism since 2014 with the coming to power of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), intent on pursuing its Hindu nationalist agenda – with each wave undeniably transforming the cityscape.

This contribution explores the bottom-up processes via which a community – or indeed special interest groups within a community – can influence the semiotic choices in the street-scape around them. I start by discussing the question to which extent the decision-making processes about street naming in different locales are transparent and open to public involvement. I also explore the instruments used by city councils and other administrative agencies to invite or indeed stifle public debate about street names, such as citizens surveys, op-eds in local newspapers and discussion fora as opposed to closed-off systems and exclusionary strategies. The paper moves on to consider grassroots movements opposing top-down decisions, including the mobilization of guerilla activity resulting in semi-spontaneous re-naming of street names and polls/lists of names and letters sent to the city council by concerned citizens. Finally, I consider politically motivated acts of vandalism resulting in semiotic erasure as well as resistance to official naming via inertia. The article closes with a brief discussion of the increasing commercialization of the linguistic streetscape, exploring the impact of market forces which claim authorship of the city text.

This paper investigates street naming practices in Luxembourg. Starting from a theoretical sketch of how the curation of a given cityscape by dint of cultural artifacts (e.g., street names) establishes complex orders of cultural representation , it discusses three case studies for street naming campaigns from Luxembourg. These case studies represent different types of action modes , ideological motives and linguistic materials involved in street naming. First, the naming process for a newly established neighborhood in Luxembourg City illustrates the default mode of street naming by administrative action . Second, the Germanization of Luxembourg City under German occupation during World War II demonstrates the forced alignment of a given cityscape through political octroi. And third, the recent first naming of preexisting streets in the rural municipality of Wincrange provides an example of a participatory naming process that establishes an order of cultural representation based on local traditions.

This paper analyses political and media discourse surrounding the UK government’s decision to change the name of the Second Severn Crossing, a motorway bridge over the river between Wales and England, to the Prince of Wales Bridge in order to commemorate the 70th birthday of Prince Charles. This decision, taken without the prior consultation of Welsh citizens, caused a public uproar and resulted in disputes among politicians as well as in mainstream and social media. This article explores the case of renaming this landmark construction by relating it to the concepts of colonial and postcolonial ideologies, power and national identity. A thematic analysis of media discourse and a debate in the National Assembly for Wales demonstrates how attempts to manipulate the cultural and linguistic landscape reveal political and social tensions within Welsh society, bringing to the fore current issues concerning Welsh identity.