The Role of Place-Names in Preserving Living Heritage in Matabeleland
This paper focuses on the role of indigenous place- names in Matabeleland as a way of preserving living heritage. Names serve an important function of connecting us with our environment and the cosmos. They connect us with our spirit world, physical natural and the built environments, thus they...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals http://hdl.handle.net/11408/5091 |
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| Summary: | This paper focuses on the role of indigenous place-
names in Matabeleland as a way of preserving living heritage.
Names serve an important function of connecting us with our
environment and the cosmos. They connect us with our spirit
world, physical natural and the built environments, thus they
and should be preserved as part of our oral history and cultural
heritage. Earlier toponomastics research done in Bulawayo and
the surrounding areas of Matabeleland has focused more on the
linguistic modelling and the etymology of these names without
attention to the role of names in the preservation aspect of living
heritage. Using the New Convergence Theory the study advances
the idea that indigenous place-names are key in preserving living
heritage, particularly wildlife as a form of living heritage. By
focusing on the intersections between toponyms and wildlife
within selected Matabeleland communities in Zimbabwe, this
article analyses and bring to the fore how the abundant wildlife
informs the place-naming in both rural and urban contexts |
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