Vocabularies of Spatiality in French Colonial Urbanism: Some Covert Rationales of Street Names in Colonial Dakar, West Africa and Saigon, Indochina
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2019
Keywords
French colonialism, colonial urbanism, Dakar, Saigon, toponymic inscription, power in built space
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909619860248
Abstract
The study analyses toponymic practices in two colonial spaces on two continents. The colonial spaces, Dakar and Saigon, were capitals of the Federation of French West Africa and French Indochina, respectively. Toponymy is used as a tool to articulate socio-cultural and political power in both spaces; also, streets were christened after French military, politico-administrative and religious personalities. Two differences are noted. First, streets in colonial Saigon were named after French military heroes and clergymen, while streets in Dakar were named after French political luminaries. Second, post-colonial Saigon witnessed efforts to re-appropriate the city’s identity, but not so in Dakar.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Journal of Asian and African Studies, v. 54, issue 8, p. 1109-1127
Scholar Commons Citation
Njoh, Ambe J. and Chie, Esther P., "Vocabularies of Spatiality in French Colonial Urbanism: Some Covert Rationales of Street Names in Colonial Dakar, West Africa and Saigon, Indochina" (2019). School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications. 2254.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/2254
