Урбананімічны дыскурс у постсавецкай Беларусі
Urbanonymic discourse in the post-Soviet Belarus

Summary/Abstract: This article attempts to analyze the current state of the Belarusian urban namespace. This toponymic study covers selected Belarusian cities and shows the clash of different discourses and strategies of social memory. Since the mid-nineteenth century state authorities intervened with urban place naming and created a symbolic space of the Belarusian city. During the 20th century names of urban objects were replaced completely. The aim of the paper is to discuss different approaches to the policy of urban place names. Characteristic motivational-semantic features of Belarusian urbanonymic design of the last 25 years are in coexistence with different semantic types, predominance of Soviet street names to the detriment of Belarusian. Thus it should be noted that the policies of current authorities seek to preserve Soviet toponimical heritage. Therefore street names still reflect historical figures and values of Soviet history. On the other hand the formation of the urbanonyms of Belarusian connotation is connected not so much with the decommunization of the urban landscape, but with the process of nomination of streets arising mainly for newly established streets in new districts in the outskirts of towns. No doubt, the only exception is Maladzechna where in the 1990s urban toponymy space had been decommunized. Finally, the article discusses numerous examples of Belarusian toponymic activism.

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