Place-names and objectivity in historiography: the case of Silesia in the 19th and 20th centuries

Tomasz Kamusella

doi:10.25071/1496-6778.8012

Place-names and objectivity in historiography: the case of Silesia in the 19th and 20th centuries

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Abstract

On the basis of an introductory analysis of the intimate bond established between territory and the nation/nation-state, the author points out that the main instrument of this bonding is the naming of places in the national language. When writing about the past of an area, deciding to use this or that language to render place-names is not an innocent choice. This is especially true of the 19th and 20th centuries when nationalism became the only globally accepted ideology. Such a choice may amount to repossessing the past of a territory in the interest of this or that nation/nation-state.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	35-57
Journal	Spaces of Identity
Volume	4
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.25071/1496-6778.8012
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 2004

Keywords

Nationalism
Objectivity
Anachronism
Place-names

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10.25071/1496-6778.8012Licence: Other

Kamusella-2021-Place-names-and-objectivity-SoI-4-1-35-CC
Copyright © 2004 by the author. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/).
Final published version, 219 KBLicence: Other

Cite this

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Place-names and objectivity in historiography: the case of Silesia in the 19th and 20th centuries

Abstract

Keywords

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