Street names in Bucharest 1990-1997: Exploring the modern historical geographies of post-socialist change

Authors: Light, D.

Journal: Journal of Historical Geography

Volume: 30

Issue: 1

Pages: 154-172

ISSN: 1095-8614

DOI: 10.1016/S0305-7488(02)00102-0

Abstract:

The renaming of streets is a significant, if often overlooked, aspect of post-socialist change in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Such renamings are one manifestation of the ‘reconfiguring’ of both space and history which is a central component of post-socialist transformations. Street name changes are part of the process of creating new public iconographic landscapes which accord with the values of post-socialist regimes and the study of such changes can offer significant insights into ways in which post-socialist states are redefining national identities and national pasts. This paper focuses on the renaming of streets in Bucharest, Romania over the 1990–1997 period as one component of the ‘modern historical geographies’ of post-socialist change. A central theme in street name changes has been the evocati

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