Toponymic politics and the role of heritagisation in multiethnic cities in Romania

ABSTRACT

Although scholars have made considerable progress in understanding the dynamics of heritagisation and toponymic politics, research is yet to explore how these may interact with each other. Drawing on a mixed-methods comparative qualitative study, this paper explores the politics of place naming and multilingualism in the context of heritagisation in three multiethnic cities in Romania: Târgu Mureş, Oradea and Baia Mare. We argue that the recent trends of heritagisation introduce a new element in the politics of place naming in ethnically diverse cities. Heritage becomes inclusive when it loses its importance in the power struggle between minority and majority political representatives. Once the demographic weight of the minority decreases and the appearance of minority language in public space does not anymore pose a threat to the hegemony of the majority, heritagisation initiatives – including the display of multilingual signs – may develop. In cities where ethnic proportions remain balanced, however, ethnic rivalry continues to prevail as the dominant element of toponymic politics. Nonetheless, while the simultaneous heritagisation and political commodification of historical toponyms offers better visibility for autochthonous minority communities, they equally risk eroding minority language rights under an ambiguous regime of political and economic calculation.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical toponymy
• place naming
• minority language rights
• heritage tourism
• multilingual signs

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank to the interlocutors and those who offered useful feedback on this article, including two anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Endre Ady (1877–1919) is one of the most important Hungarian poets. He worked as a journalist and published his first successful volumes while living in Oradea/Nagyvárad.

2. As local ethnic Germans constitute 0.2% of the total population their political representation (FDGR) is vastly disproportionate.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office [2020-1.2.1-GYAK-2021_00031].

Notes on contributors

Ágnes Erőss

Ágnes Erőss, PhD, is a research fellow at the Geographical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungary, and a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Opole, Poland. Her research interests cover the spatial representation of memory and politics of commemoration, with special regard to the symbolic politics and space appropriation strategies in Central and Eastern Europe. Her post-doctoral research concerns the politics of heritage in urban and tourism development in ethnically-culturally diverse urban settings. Besides, she studies the gender aspect of transnational migration in Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine.

Ákos Holányi

Ákos Holányi is a Master’s student of Balkan, Eurasian and Central European Studies at Charles University, Prague. He previously obtained a Geography BA from Durham University, UK (2021). He is currently involved in research studying the intersections of politics and culture in multiethnic cities in Central Europe.

Patrik Tátrai

Patrik Tátrai, PhD, is a senior research fellow at the Geographical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungary. His research interests concern the macro-level ethnic processes in Central and Eastern Europe and how this picture is shaped by micro-level identification and categorisation phenomena. Besides, he is engaged in exploring how politics and the visualisation of place names interrelate in multiethnic settings. He also focuses on cross-border migration in the context of kin-state policies in Transcarpathia, Ukraine.