The sixth EUGEO Congress
The sixth EUGEO Congress has been held in Buxelles/Brussels in the prestigious Palace of the Academies from September 3 rd to 6 th , articulated in 39 parallel sessions (78 sub-sessions, that included toponymy themes) and 6 plenary sessions. The participants, from all over Europe and more, were around 300. EUGEO is the Association of Geographical Societies in Europe. The aim of EUGEO is to represent its members at the European level and to coordinate and initiate joint activities of the members to advance research and education on the Geography of Europe and to promote the scientific discipline, the school subject and the professional practice of Geography in Europe. EUGEO Congresses are held every two years (Amsterdam,2007; Bratislava, 2009; London, 2011; Rome, 2013; Budapest, 2015) and are characterized by a very open atmosphere and with a large participation of young researchers.
Thanks to the excellent work of the organizers, the Brussels congress was also an opportunity to get to know the city better and to visit some of the areas that are less subject to tourist flows (eg a Molenbeeck walking tour and a city tour with trams).
During the congress the General Assembly of the Organization met, which thanked the outgoing President Henk Ottens for his extraordinary work during his mandates. The Executive Committee, collecting what emerged unanimously at the meeting, elected Zoltan Kovacs as the new President.
The Executive Committee also met a IGU delegation, setting to further strengthen cooperation between the two organizations.
More info about the Congress and paper abstract can be found at the link:
https://eugeo2017.sciencesconf.org; EUGEO website is www.eugeo.eu
2017 International Symposium on Place Names. Windhoek, Namibia, 18-20 September 2017.
2017 International Symposium on Place Names. Critical toponymy; Place names in political, historical and commercial landscapes, Jointly organised by the Joint IGU/ICA Commission on Toponymy, The UFS and UNAM University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia, 18-20 September 2017.
BRIEF SUMMARY
18-19 September 2017, in Windhoek on the main campus of the University of Namibia.
Theme: ‘Critical toponymy: Place names in political, historical and commercial landscapes’.
History of the ISPN: https://www.ufs.ac.za/conferences/conference/2017-international-symposium-on-place-names/2017-international-symposium-on-place-names/about.
19 September: Conference dinner at the Stellenbosch Wine Bar and Bistro in Windhoek.
20 September: Cultural tour. Visit to N/a’an ku Sê San and Wildlife Sanctuary (http://naankuse.com/), followed by a tour through Windhoek and its township, Katutura.
Two keynotes:
1) Prof Matthias Brenzinger, Director of the Centre for African Language Diversity (CALDi) at the University of Cape Town (http://www.caldi.uct.ac.za/) and General Secretary of the World Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL) ( http://www.wocal.rutgers.edu/).
2) Prof Peter Raper, former Chairman of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names and Extraordinary Professor in Linguistics at the University of the Free State (www.ufs.ac.za).
Delegates: 31 attendees
28 presentations (two of them by proxy): Austria: 1, Germany: 1, Italy: 1, Kenya: 1, Namibia: 3
Slovakia: 1, Slovenia: 2, South Africa: 9 USA: 1, Zimbabwe: 11
Two book launches:
1) “Of the Same Breath: Indigenous Animal and Place Names” (SUNMeDIA) by Dr Lucie Möller.
2) “Onomastics – A Multidisciplinary Field of Study. What’s in a Name” (Lambert Academic Publishing) by Prof Bertie Neethling.
Some selected papers presented: Lucie Möller, Herero place names, Felicitas Mberema et al., The meaning of the click sounding places’ names in the Kavangond east and west region, Namibia, Theodorus Du Plessis, Geographical name standardisation in South Africa, 2007-2016, George Kahari, A critical study of Zimbabwe’s toponymy of place names in historical, political and commercial landscapes, Jani De Lange, The role of toponymy in identifying cultural east place heritage: a case study of place names in the Bushmanland, Northern Cape, Chrismi-Rinda Loth et al., Using technology to raise awareness about place names as cultural heritage, Georg Schuppener, Plurality of names as a problem of historical sciences, Tendai Mangena, From Rhodes Memorial Preparatory School to Matopos Primary School: memory, history and symbolic resistance in Zimbabwe, Chrismi-Rinda Loth, Place names, place, and place-related identities in the linguistic landscape of rural South Africa, Peter Jordan, Three types of commercial place-name-use – with example from Austria, Cosimo Palagiano, Place names which made known a product, Geršić Matjaž et al., The challenges of using choronyms in brand names.
Recent Publications 2017
PETER JORDAN, PAUL WOODMAN (eds.), Place –Name Changes. Proceedings of the Symposion in Rome, 17-18 November 2014. Verlag Dr. Kovač. Hamburg 2016
JANA MOSER (Hrsg.), Forum ifL. Heft 30. IGU-UGI, ICA-ACI, Joint Commission Seminar on Historical Maps, Atlases and Toponymy. Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde, 2016
LUCIE MÖLLER (ed.) “Nomina Africana. Journal of the Names Society of Southern Africa”, 30(1) April 2016
MIRELA ALTIĆ, IMORE JOSEPH DEMAHARDT, SOETKIN VERWUST (eds.), Dissemination of Cartographic Knowledge, 6 th International Symposium of the Commission on the History of Cartography, Springer, 2017
RAIS AKTHAR, COSIMO PALAGIANO (eds.), Climate Change ad Air Pollution. The Impact in Developed and Developing Countries, Springer, 2017