Title:

On the agentic power of words: The case of a square and auditoria without a name

Subtitle:

Analecta: Studies and Materials for the History of Science

Creator:

Wójtowicz, Aleksandra

Institutional creator:

Instytut Historii Nauki im. Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Publisher:

Instytut Historii Nauki im. Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2022

Date on-line publ.:

2022.06.30

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

semantics of space ; memory of space ; naming ; town square ; Staszic Palace

Abstract:

The author addresses the problem of naming the space associated with the Staszic Palace in Warsaw. She argues that along with its name, the square in front of the palace lost its both administrative and social distinctiveness and advocates for its restoration. Her analysis of the naming system, complemented by an investigation of archival sources and a reflection upon the history and cultural significance of selected parts of the palace, reveals a gap in the current naming conventions, which cover only urban areas. The article outlines an original proposal of naming typology for enclosed public places, developed in the course of the work on the selection of names for two auditoria of the Staszic Palace, which remained unnamed until 2020. Furthering the arguments that led to naming the auditoria under the author’s recommendations, she explores the connection between the placename and the meanings inscribed in the imaginary space. The theoretical background of the article has been provided by works of Edward Soja, Michel Foucault and Henri Lefebvre as well as the categories of collective memory of space (Hayden White and Frank Ankersmit) and affective heterotopy, defined by the author in her monograph on the Staszic Palace.

Relation:

Analecta : studia i materiały z dziejów nauki polskiej

Volume:

31 (2022)

Issue:

1

Start page:

133

End page:

156

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article : original article

Format:

PDF

Resource Identifier:

1230-1159

Language:

pol

Language of abstract:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-NC-ND 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, full text available at:

Original in:

Library of the Institute for the History of Science PAS

Access:

Open