Identity and Memory in the Urbanonyms of Vladikavkaz

• Main Author: V. Kh. Tkhakakhov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University 2020-01-01
• Series: Дискурс
• Subjects: identity; memory; urbanonyms; vladikavkaz; transformation; restoration; ossetian symbolic map
• Online Access: https://discourse.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/297

Introduction. Based on the concept of space of places, the author identifies and analyzes the sources, structure, dynamics and mechanism of the post-Soviet transformation of urban names of the capital of North Ossetia-Alania-Vladikavkaz. The starting point of the study is the understanding that urban toponymy is a symbolic form of arranging and consolidating social practices in the urban space for the construction of identity and memory. From a functional point of view, the urbanonyms of Vladikavkaz fulfill a political, ideological and sociocultural role for the region, local communities and the titular Ossetian ethnic group.Methodology and sources. When studying the claimed research topic, the author relied on the approaches recognized in world social science: the concept of places of memory of P. Nora; the theory of social space P. Bourdieu; ideas of J. Terborn about the role of capitals in the arrangement of the symbolic space of places; the concept of anthropology of the place M. Auger. The historical atlases and maps of Vladikavkaz of various periods and works of regional toponymy specialists were analyzed.Results and discussion. Six key areas of toponymic changes characteristic of the Ossetian capital are distinguished: a) desovetization; b) decolonization is ideological; c) restoration; d) ethnicization ("Ossetization", "Alanization"); e) positive conservation of the intra-Caucasian matrix of urbanonyms; f) reproduction of all-Russian cultural and military symbols of identity.The redistribution of structural components in the capital city urbanonyms is carried out in favor of anthroponymic, ethnonymic, cultural and military names.Conclusion. The increase in the number of personalized urbanonyms indicates: 1) the expansion of competition between social groups - carriers of various types of capital for the symbolic appropriation of the metropolitan space; 2) deepening regionalization in toponymic practices; 3) the orientation toward the construction of the Ossetian (Alan) identity and memory. A new symbolic map of Ossetians has been formed, in which their ideas and practices about social affiliation and memory are represented.