Place-Name Politics in Multilingual Areas

This book explores the role of place names in the formation and maintenance of individual and group identities in multilingual and multi-ethnic situations. Using examples from Austria and Czechia as case studies, the authors examine the power of place names through an interdisciplinary and multi-methods approach that draws from the fields of anthropology, geography, sociolinguistics and toponomastics. The book contextualises both places within their social and political histories, and probes recent debates in the social sciences relating to place names, identity and power. It will be of interest to scholars and students focusing on place names and naming practices, minority communities and languages, and linguistic landscapes.

Compares and contrasts two multilingual and multiethnic areas in Austria and Czechia in an attempt to understand the role and power of place names in these contexts Explores the interface between concepts of 'identity' and 'home', and the symbolic power of place names Places the case studies within their academic and political contexts, positioning the book in relation to current debates in the social sciences and the political climates of the respective countries Draws on anthropological, geographic and socio-onomastic approaches to toponymy to take a truly interdisciplinary and multimethodological approach

Autorentext

Peter Jordan is Honorary and Associate Professor in the Institute of Urban and Regional Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria, and Research Fellow of the University of the Free State, Faculty of the Humanities, South Africa. P emysl Mácha is a Researcher at the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia. Marika Balode is currently pursuing an MA in the Institute of Geography and Regional Research at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Lud k Krti ka is Assistant Professor at the Department of Human Geography and Regional Development, University of Ostrava, Czechia. Urula Obrusník is currently pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen, UK. Pavel Pilch is Assistant Professor of Slavic Philology in the Philosophical Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, where he is also pursuing his PhD. Alexis Sancho Reinoso is a Researcher in the Centre for Global Change and Sustainability at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The Wider Onomastic Scope of the Research Topic.- Chapter 3: The Challenges of Studying Place-Name Politics in Multilingual Areas.- Chapter 4: Linguistic Minorities in Austria and Czechia: Historical, Political, and Cultural Contexts.- Chapter 5: The Two Minority Situations Compared.- Chapter 6: Research Results.- Chapter 7: Comparative Interpretation of Research Results.- Chapter 8: Conclusions.