Reference no: EM133672599

Assignment:

For this module's discussion board activity, we want to investigate the power of toponyms in language diversity and indigenous cultural identity.

Toponyms demonstrate the power of the person or country that assigned the name and legitimacy of the person for whom the place was named. Local governments have discovered that they can raise revenues by selling the naming rights to important, publicly owned facilities such as stadiums, public buildings, and transit stations. Toponyms also reflect political power. Colonial names imposed a new language and erased signs of indigenous culture. Thus, it is not surprising that post-colonial struggles would result in calls to change place names. In northern Canada, Indian and Inuit (Eskimo) place names are returning. The town of Frobisher Bay has reverted to its Eskimo name Iqaluit ("place of the fish"). The U.S. Board on Geographic Names is charged with standardizing foreign toponyms and designating official names of geographic features. The most recent action was the official name change of North America's highest mountain from Mount McKinley to Denali ("The tall one").

1. Have any public facilities in your city sold their naming rights? What do the new names suggest about who holds cultural and economic power? Where would you draw the line in allowing public facilities and landscape features to have their naming rights sold to the highest bidder?
2. Some people might argue that non-English or indigenous names are difficult to spell and pronounce. Is maintaining language diversity and indigenous cultural identity worth the inconvenience to English speakers who must learn new, unfamiliar names?
3. In 2019, Alexandria, Virginia, changed Jefferson Davis Highway to Richmond Highway because of the ongoing debate in the United States about Confederate Civil War names. Do you think it is important to keep offensive toponyms in order to remember the past, or is eliminating those toponyms an important step in overcoming the evils of the past? Explain your answer using facts and examples.

Cite references.