The Problem of Sustainability and Mutability of Values in Historical Toponymy

Abstract

This article analyzes the process of value transforming in the course of renaming various objects in recent Russian history (names of cities, streets, squares, etc.). This phenomenon is not unique to Russia. The author points out the significance of this problem in present works of Western scholars working in the interdisciplinary field of history, cultural anthropology, and geography. The article raises the question of the causes and limits of the sustainability and mutability of toponymic structures. Special attention is paid to the consideration of the competition between St Petersburg — Leningrad and Volgograd — Stalingrad in the public and power discourse. The author concludes that there are two semiotic layers in this process: the “text” as a phenomenon of “rewriting” meanings, i. e., the renaming properly, and a “palimpsest” that continues to exist in the public consciousness under a layer of written “text”. As a result of the analysis, the author concludes that there are deep limitations in the construction of the socio-cultural toponymic landscape. The relationship between the “text” and the “palimpsest”, according to the author, is determined by several factors. The sustainability of the “palimpsest” is directly proportional to the historical and event content that the “old name” managed to absorb during its existence. The intensity, effectiveness and success of writing a new “text” — all these points directly depend on the scale of changes in the social development as well as the degree of changes in the socio-cultural view of the world. The outcome of the competitive struggle between the meanings of “text” and “palimpsest” is ultimately a marker that demonstrates the degree and limits of society’s readiness to strengthen civil confrontation in the struggle for the values of the toponymic landscape.