Street Naming and the Politics of Greek-Cypriot Identity

This book is the first to explore street names and street-naming in the formation of a Greek-Cypriot identity in the cityscape of Nicosia between 1878 and 1975. Rather than treating toponymy as a direct linguistic act of spatial orientation, the book approaches street-naming as a contested practice involving those shared symbols and representations used to depict official history and collective identity as part of a political process. It considers how street names are part of the symbolic politics of space, and how authorities transformed the streets of Nicosia into arenas of struggle for the control of symbolic and material space. It documents historical efforts over the course of a century to impose a 'geography of forgetting' to buttress national identity and to cast out the 'other' from space both literally and symbolically so as to achieve territorial dominance and political legitimacy. The book is another step towards the development of a global perspective on the critical study of street-naming, thereby refining and expanding our knowledge of the political dynamics involved in the process. In their commemorative capacity, street names belong to the politics of public memory and identity.

Explores street naming in Nicosia/Lefkosia from 1878 to 1975 Considers the use of street naming in constructing hegemony and political control Illustrates the symbolic nature of space in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Cyprus

Auteur

Stella Theocharous is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Heraclitus Research Centre, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.

Texte du rabat

This book is the first to explore street names and street-naming in the formation of a Greek-Cypriot identity in the cityscape of Nicosia between 1878 and 1975. Rather than treating toponymy as a direct linguistic act of spatial orientation, the book approaches street-naming as a contested practice involving those shared symbols and representations used to depict official history and collective identity as part of a political process. It considers how street names are part of the symbolic politics of space, and how authorities transformed the streets of Nicosia into arenas of struggle for the control of symbolic and material space. It documents historical efforts over the course of a century to impose a geography of forgetting to buttress national identity and to cast out the other from space both literally and symbolically so as to achieve territorial dominance and political legitimacy. The book is another step towards the development of a global perspective on the critical study of street-naming, thereby refining and expanding our knowledge of the political dynamics involved in the process. In their commemorative capacity, street names belong to the politics of public memory and identity.

Contenu

1. Street-naming in a contested Island. - 2. The Politics of street-naming. - 3. An Island in turbulence - A historical review. - 4. From Western to Islamic World The Transformation of Nicosia's Cultural Identity. - 5. The evolution of national identities in Cyprus through street-naming. - 6. The Politicization of street-names. - 7. Nationalistic narratives in the streetscape. - 8. The struggle for symbolic dominance in space. - 9. The Rise and Fall of a Dictator The controversy over Metaxas Square in Nicosia. - 10. Afterword.