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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 9:1 (2023) ► pp.5–35

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Towards a taxonomy of arguments for and against street renaming

Exploring the discursive embedding of street name changes in the Leipzig cityscape

ORCiD logo with link | University of Duisburg-Essen
 | Universiteit Utrecht
ORCiD logo with link | GESIS | Northumbria University
Published online: 8 February 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.21016.buc
Abstract
In 2016, a special issue of the Linguistic Landscapes: An International Journal explored the nexus between LL and collective memory studies, calling for more research at the interface of these disciplines. Our analysis adds to recent studies by exploring the ways in which commemorative street renaming processes are discursively embedded. We build on research on memorialisation as well as critical toponymy to analyse media discourses that accompany, support or contest commemorative naming practices in the urban streetscape of a large East German city during the last century. Based on this dataset, we develop a typology of arguments against or in favour of street renaming. The longitudinal analysis of discourses in the local press vis-à-vis ongoing resemioticisation reveals a complex relationship between lived political history, freedom of the press, the type of argument and the stances encoded therein.
Abstrakt
Eine Sonderausgabe des Journal Linguistic Landscape, die sich mit disziplinübergreifender Forschung zum Ausdruck des kollektiven Gedächtnis in der Linguistic Landscape befasste, forderte bereits 2016 eine tiefergreifendere Untersuchung der Schnittstelle dieser Disziplinen. Die hier präsentierte Analyse knüpft an diese Studien an, indem sie die diskursive Einbettung von Prozessen der Erinnerung durch Straßenumbenennungen untersucht. Auf der Grundlage der kritischen Toponymie als auch der Erinnerungsforschung beleuchten wir Mediendiskurse, die kommemorative Umbenennungen von Straßennamen in einer ostdeutschen Großstadt während des letzten Jahrhunderts begleiten, unterstützen oder kritisieren. Auf der Basis dieses Datensatzes entwickeln wir eine Typologie von Argumenten für oder gegen Straßenumbenennungen. Die Längsschnittanalyse von Diskursen in der Lokalpresse im Hinblick auf fortdauernde Prozesse der Resemiotisierung öffnet den Blick auf ein komplexen Verhältnis zwischen Art der vorgebrachten Argumente und den darin kodierten Haltungen, relativer Pressefreiheit als auch gelebter politischer Geschichte.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The historical and geographical context of commemoration
  • 3.The city of Leipzig as a case study
  • 4.Commemoration, memory formation, and regime change
  • 5.Data sources
  • 6.Developing a typology of discourses surrounding street renaming
    • 6.1Historical-preservational arguments (n = 20)
    • 6.2Moral-ideological arguments (n = 95)
      • 6.2.1Indexing of officially sanctioned identity and ideology (n =  33)
      • 6.2.2Retaining memory/ ideology (n = 15)
      • 6.2.3Reversing the erasure of memory (n = 6)
      • 6.2.4Institutionalisation of cultural memory (n = 17)
      • 6.2.5Over- and underrepresentation of groups and individuals (n =  15)
      • 6.2.6Legimitisation of instigators of change (n = 10)
    • 6.3Practical concerns (n = 68)
      • 6.3.1Cost (n = 13)
      • 6.3.2Administrative burden (n = 16)
      • 6.3.3Orientational aspects (n = 20)
      • 6.3.4Avoidance of disgruntlement and potential future complaints (n = 3)
      • 6.3.5Linguistic reasoning (n = 8)
      • 6.3.6Legal issues and customs (n = 7)
    • 6.4Didactic arguments (n = 5)
    • 6.5Ideological instability (n = 9)
  • 7.Tracing arguments surrounding renaming over the last 100 years
  • 8.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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