Der Einfluss der Black Lives Matter-Bewegung auf die frankophone Toponymie

Fallbeispiele aus Belgien, Frankreich, Québec, dem Senegal und der Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

The Black Lives Matter movement, which has been effective (on an international level) since 2020, has been able to stimulate critical reflection on racist incidents. However, not only politically motivated racism or everyday racist acts are in the focus of the Black Lives Matter movement, but also the linguistic manifestation of racism. As far as onomastic issues are concerned, it is noteworthy that more and more place names are in the focus of critical debates. These are names whose signifier has a racist connotation for many speakers. Examples are the Brussels tunnel name Leopold II Tunnel, the Senegalese street name Place de l’Europe or the Québec hydronym Rivière du Nègre. As the toponymic examples illustrate, the racially perceived connotative meaning is conveyed via the name components associated with the European colonial period or via the transparency of certain lexemes such as nègre.

This article aims to present a first inventory on the debate about toponyms with racist connotations in francophone spaces. The presentations will first focus on the identification of toponyms that are perceived as racist. Subsequently, renaming processes that have taken place and are under discussion in European and non-European Francophonie will be described. For this purpose, case studies from Canada/Québec, Belgium, France, Senegal, and the Côte d’Ivoire will be considered.