Sarah’s Globe and the (Un-)naming of Mobile Space

Arrous, Michel

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32485-2_2

Cited by 2 publications

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“…It is also rooted in cultural geography through the articulation between social representations and spatial practices (Claval and Staszak, 2008: 3), by identifying how young people’s way of being (culture) enables them to formulate a critical discourse that takes shape around neotoponyms 3 in Tokombéré. In this sense, the act of naming places, an act that is first of all harmless, should be seen as a form of territory’s appropriation, as demonstrated by reflexions in Francophone area (Ben Arrous, 2009; Bopda, 2001; de La Soudière, 2004; Garakcheme, 2011; Giraut and Houssay-Holzschuch, 2008; Guillorel, 2008; Leimdorfer et al, 2002; Nissabouri, 2006; Njoh, 2010; Siblot, 2006), as well as the English-language trend of critical toponymy, which is based on comparative studies in former settlements and highlights the relationship between analysis of place names and study of power (Alderman, 2008; Berg and Vuolteenaho, 2009: 6, 12; Bigon, 2016: 2–3; Bigon, 2020; Bourdieu, 1979: 79; Giraut and Houssay-Holzschuch, 2016: 4; Njoh, 2017; Njoh and Chie, 2019; Rose-Redwood et al, 2018: 457). Thus, the central question is how are neotoponyms indicators of the Tokombéré’s youth response to their marginalization from the public sphere by local authorities?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neotoponymy, Appropriation of Space and Youth Political Expression in Tokombéré, Northern Cameroon (1970–2011)

Shelley

2021

Journal of Asian and African Studies

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Using the example of neotoponyms proliferation in Tokombéré (Northern Cameroon) between 1970 and 2011, this paper questions the banal tactics of naming places as a site of public patriarchy contestation. In fact, young people play a crucial role in reinventing local political power forms of interpellation, which enables them to symbolically reappropriate the space. This helps to establish their presence in the public sphere from which they have been side-lined by social elders. Even though it reflects a political expression, the fact remains that the attribution of toponyms does not really help to reverse their domination into social field.

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