Place Names and their Places: Considering layers of language, landscape, and relief

Keywords: Decolonial Studies, Settler Studies, Toponymy, Language, Place Names, Indigenous Peoples
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 59

Abstract

When we encounter most place names, we encounter the generalist and empty contraptions of colonial projects. As a result of settler violences, the existence of place names in Turtle Island becomes dynamically layered and complex, representing language that has been erased, language that aims to replace, and language that has resisted erasure and replacement. This paper explores the ways in which settler linguistic practices act to facilitate the interruption of authentic knowledge of place, and explores the ways that the restoration of indigenous place names, in contrast, offers an opportunity to disassemble linguistic violences within every-day landscapes. This paper argues that there is particular opportunity, in this moment, to acknowledge the contexts of ongoing colonialist projects within what is called the United States, and to trace some of the forces of erasure that colonialist place names represent. Grounded in the author’s toponymic work in the Hodino̱hsho:nih landscape that is called Upstate New York, this paper’s discussion suggests frameworks for thinking about future place name projects, whether in contexts of linguistic, cultural, environmental, or post-disciplinary work, and argues for the ability of place name restoration work to embody reparative and replenishing practice within the environments in which we live.