The Toponymic Inscription Problematic in Urban Sub-Saharan Africa: From Colonial to Postcolonial Times

Bigon, Liora; Njoh, Ambe J.

doi:10.1177/0021909613510246

Cited by 39 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The toponymic nomenclature imposed on African built space by colonial authorities and agents of Western civilization generously draws appellations from Eurocentric lexical vocabularies. Although the colonial origin of this proclivity is well-established (Bigon and Njoh, 2015), its raison d’être is not. Why did colonial authorities, and agents of Western civilization after them, draw from Eurocentric vocabularies of spatiality?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toponymic Inscription as an Instrument of Power in Africa: The case of colonial and post-colonial Dakar and Nairobi

Njoh

2016

Journal of Asian and African Studies

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study analyses toponymic inscription, the exercise of street/place naming, as a tool for articulating power in Anglophone and Francophone Africa. The focus is on Dakar, Senegal and Nairobi, Kenya, which were respectively indispensable for the colonial projects of France and Britain in Africa. Dakar was for France’s West African Federation what Nairobi was for Britain’s colonial East Africa. It is shown that toponymic inscription was used with equal zeal by French and British colonial authorities to express power in built space. Thus, both authorities used the occasion to christen streets and places as an opportunity to project Western power in Africa. With the demise of colonialism, indigenous authorities in Kenya inherited the Western vocabulary of spatiality but speedily moved to supplant Eurocentric with Afrocentric street/place-names. In contrast, post-colonial authorities in Senegal remain wedded to the colonial tradition of drawing most important street- and place-names from the Eurocentric cultural lexicon. Consequently, although the vocabulary of spatiality in Nairobi projects African nationalism and power, that of Dakar continues to express mainly Western power.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toponymic Inscription as an Instrument of Power in Africa: The case of colonial and post-colonial Dakar and Nairobi

Njoh

2016

Journal of Asian and African Studies

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Bigon and Njoh further assert that, in colonial contexts, place-naming reflected the racial hierarchical structure and spatial segregation created by the Europeans, leading to toponymic ambiguity in post-independence cities [19]. Ndletyana, in his analysis of the South African toponymic struggle, states that colonial toponyms 'reflected the cultural prejudice of colonial settlers .…”

Section: Critical Toponymy: a Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toponymy, Pioneership, and the Politics of Ethnic Hierarchies in the Spatial Organization of British Colonial Nairobi

Wanjiru

Giraut

2020

Urban Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Toponyms, along with other urban symbols, were used as a tool of control over space in many African countries during the colonial period. This strategy was epitomized by the British, who applied it in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya from the late 1800s. This paper shows that toponymy in colonial Nairobi was an imposition of British political references, urban nomenclature, as well as the replication of a British spatial idyll on the urban landscape of Nairobi. In early colonial Nairobi, the population was mainly composed of three main groups: British, Asians, and Africans. Although the Africans formed the bulk of the population, they were the least represented, socially, economically and politically. Ironically, he British, who were the least in population held the political and economic power, and they applied it vigorously in shaping the identity of the city. The Asians were neither as powerful as the British, nor were they considered to be at the low level of the native Africans. This was the deliberate hierarchical structure that was instituted by the colonial government, where the level of urban citizenship depended on ethnic affiliation. Consequently, this structure was reflected in the toponymy and spatial organization of the newly founded city with little consideration to its pre-colonial status. Streets, buildings and other spaces such as parks were predominantly named after the British monarchy, colonial administrators, settler farmers, and businessmen, as well as prominent Asian personalities. In this paper, historical references such as maps, letter correspondences, monographs, and newspaper archives have been used as evidence to prove that toponyms in colonial Nairobi were the spatial signifiers that reflected the political, ideological and ethnic hierarchies and inequalities of the time.

show abstract

“…While S'ncamtho toponyms may be seen by some as ephemeral and passing, studies have actually shown that some elements of slang last long enough to influence language change. Bigon and Njoh (2015) aver that the distinction between conventional and unconventional in African urban toponymy is not clearly determined as the colonisers supplanted toponyms in the colonies replacing them with their own culture, and after independence the colonised undertook name changes creating ambiguities. This study argues that S'ncamtho toponyms are an expression of urban culture and history, and may, in fact, create ambiguities.…”

Section: Characterisation and Social Impact Of Urban Youth Languages mentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation and social impact of urban youth languages on urban toponymy: S’ncamtho toponomastics in Bulawayo

Ndlovu

2018

Literator

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article focuses on the characterisation of S’ncamtho toponyms in Bulawayo and it goes on to measure the impact of these toponyms on the population of Bulawayo dwellers. S’ncamtho is an urban youth variety that is built on urbanity and streetwise style. The study assumes that, as S’ncamtho is the language of the youth in Bulawayo, people are exposed to S’ncamtho toponyms as the youth are found in all spheres of urban life in Bulawayo, especially the taxi industry which is used by the majority of people in the city. The research collected S’ncamtho verbal toponyms from Godini taxi rank in Bulawayo through undisclosed nonparticipant observations and some from the intuition of the researcher. Intuition and interviews were used to get the etymology of the toponyms and questionnaire tests of familiarity and usage were used to measure the impact of these toponyms on the population. Content analysis is used to characterise and classify S’ncamtho toponyms in Bulawayo and the metaphor comprehension test is used to measure their impact on the population. This article assumes that S’ncamtho has its own toponyms for locations in the city and that these are popular, especially with the youth, but people across age groups now use them.

show abstract

The Toponymic Inscription Problematic in Urban Sub-Saharan Africa: From Colonial to Postcolonial Times

Cited by 39 publications

References 20 publications

Toponymic Inscription as an Instrument of Power in Africa: The case of colonial and post-colonial Dakar and Nairobi

Toponymic Inscription as an Instrument of Power in Africa: The case of colonial and post-colonial Dakar and Nairobi

Toponymy, Pioneership, and the Politics of Ethnic Hierarchies in the Spatial Organization of British Colonial Nairobi

Characterisation and social impact of urban youth languages on urban toponymy: S’ncamtho toponomastics in Bulawayo

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About