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Renaming the Past in Post-Nazi Germany...

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Renaming the Past in Post-Nazi Germany...

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By: Maoz Azaryahu

Renaming "is a common strategy employed to signify the break with the past" (385).
"Place names are not mere signifiers of 'objective facts' in space, but are embedded into systems of meaning and partake in social and ideological discourses" (387-388)
"Renaming...is involved in the semiotics of political shifts and ideological reorientation...involves rewriting the history" (389).
"Renaming...has an immediate effect on daily life, on language, and on space...a conventional strategy of doing away with the past by consigning it into public oblivion.

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By: Facing History and Ourselves

"The operation was...painful and extraordinarily rapid...It seems that this is the real, true initiation: only by “showing one’s number” can one get bread and soup...we became used to showing our number...weeks and months were needed to learn its sound in the German language. And for many days, while the habits of freedom still led me to look for the time on my wristwatch, my new name ironically appeared instead, a number tattooed in bluish characters under the skin."

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Primo Levi was an Italian Jew who survived Auschwitz. A scientist, he also went on to write powerful poems and memoirs about his experiences in the camp. In the following passage, he describes his first days as a prisoner in Auschwitz.

In a moment, with almost prophetic intuition, the reality was revealed to us: we had reached the bottom. It is not possible to sink lower than this; no human condition is more miserable than this, nor could it conceivably be so. Nothing belongs to us any more; they have taken away our clothes, our shoes, even our hair; if we speak, they would not listen to us, and if they listen, they will not understand. They will even take away our name: and if we want to keep it, we will have to find ourselves the strength to do so, to manage somehow so that behind the name something of us, of us as we were, still remains.

We know that we will have difficulty in being understood, and this is as it should be. But consider what value, what meaning is enclosed even in the smallest of our daily habits, in the hundred possessions which even the poorest beggar owns: a handkerchief, an old letter, the photo of a cherished person. These things are part of us, almost like limbs of our body; nor is it conceivable that we can be deprived of them in our world, for we immediately find others to substitute for the old ones, other objects which are ours in their personification and evocation of our memories.

Imagine now a man who is deprived of everyone he loves, and at the same time of his house, his habits, his clothes, in short, of everything he possesses: he will be a hollow man, reduced to suffering and needs, forgetful of dignity and restraint, for he who loses all often easily loses himself. He will be a man whose life or death can be lightly decided with no sense of human affinity, in the most fortunate of cases, on the basis of a pure judgment of utility. It is in this way that one can understand the double sense of the term "extermination camp," and it is now clear what we seek to express with the phrase: "to lie on the bottom."

Häftling [prisoner]: I have learnt that I am Häftling. My number is 174517; we have been baptized, we will carry the tattoo on our left arm until we die.

The operation was slightly painful and extraordinarily rapid; they placed us all in a row, and one by one, according to the alphabetical order of our names, we filed past a skillful official armed with a sort of pointed tool with a very short needle. It seems that this is the real, true initiation: only by "showing one's number" can one get bread and soup. Several days passed, and not a few cuffs and punches, before we became used to showing our number promptly enough not to disorder the daily operation of food-distribution; weeks and months were needed to learn its sound in the German language. And for many days, while the habits of freedom still led me to look for the time on my wristwatch, my new name ironically appeared instead, a number tattooed in bluish characters under the skin.

1. What stands out to you in this account of being imprisoned in Auschwitz? Why is it important to hear the voices of survivors?

2. According to Primo Levi, what happened to the identities of prisoners in the camps? What connections do you see between the themes of identity that are explored in Chapter 1, The Individual and Society, and Levi's observations about identity in this reading?

3. How did being imprisoned in Auschwitz change the identity of Levi and other prisoners? What is the significance of losing one's name and becoming a number?

4. What might Levi mean by "the double sense of the term 'extermination camp'"? Who or what was exterminated in these camps?

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Primo Levi was an Italian Jew who survived Auschwitz. A scientist, he also went on to write powerful poems and memoirs about his experiences in the camp. In the following passage, he describes his first days as a prisoner in Auschwitz. In a moment, with almost prophetic intuition, the reality was revealed to us: we had reached the bottom.

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During WWII, Jewish people in concentration camps were tattooed with a series of numbers and were referred to by the number rather than their names.

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Cultural Memory: Reconfiguring History and Identity in the Postcolonial Pacific

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Cultural Memory: Reconfiguring History and Identity in the Postcolonial Pacific

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By: Jeanette Marie Mageo

This article talks about the practices of European's as they took over Pacific Islands.

"Shortland's narrative is flagged by bestowals of European names on all prominent landmarks - as if older place-names did not exist, as f it was the places themselves...that were to be 'discovered.' These naming practices were a typifying feature of European voyages of discovery" (20)

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How do foreign schemas and objects enter into indigenous ways of understanding the world? How are the cultural self and the cultural other constructed in acts of remembering? What is memory's role in the generation or degeneration of cultural meanings?

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Meta Incognita: Naming as Renaming in the Early Modern Exploration of the New World

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Meta Incognita: Naming as Renaming in the Early Modern Exploration of the New World

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By: Petruta Naidut

"To assign a name is to assign an identity, to write a history and create a cultural context which will stay with a place for a long time, if not forever" (51)
Renaming involves erasure and appropriation of "land, language and history" (51)
Columbus' "extraordinary possessiveness displayed in his propensity for naming and his avoidance of native names" (52).
"there is a growing consciousness among the English that the more they explore, the less they seem to know and such acts of naming become signs of this" (56).

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By: Mat Johnson

In this novel, characters fight over naming rights and ownership of their experiences for publication.

"since I was the one to discover it, I believe it should be referred to as, um, the Jeffree Tube. Yes. So if you could refer to it as the Jeffree Tube from this moment forward, I would appreciate that" (111).

"you're already invoking naming rights. You don't even know what this thing is...and already you're claiming it as your own property?" (111-112).

"If there is something down there, something huge...whose ownership claim is that going to be?" (113).

"Whoever goes down there owns this. Movie rights, book rights, TV rights. Action figures" (128-129).

"We've established first contact, and established our respective stakes in intellectual property and other rights of exploitation" (132)

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African slaves, when sold in America, were branded by their white "masters" to show ownership.

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By: Nnedi Okorafor

Characters in this book use nicknames or slurs that take away their native name and individuality. Binti reclaims her identity by using her full name. Later, she simplifies her name to pay respect to another culture. When someone does not respect her, they do not use Binti's name.

"'These 'dirt bathers' are a filthy people,' the first woman muttered" (16).

"'Tell the girl to sit up,' the chief said,...'this creature'" (61).

"'Look strong, girl'" (73).

"'I am Binti Ekeopara Zuzu Dambu Kaipka of Namib,' I whispered...'Binti Ekeopara Zuzu Dambu Kaipka of Namib, that is my name,' I said again" (31-32).

"'You may just call me Binti,' I whispered, keeping my head down. My first name was singular and two syllabled like Okwu's name and I thought maybe it would please the chief" (61).

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By: Ursula K. Le Guin

This novel uses nicknames to disrespect a native culture as the one in power tries to enslave them. The invading species also renames things in their own language without learning the indigenous tongue.

"'Damn sulky little green bastards'...creechies...'Primitive races always have to give way to civilized ones. Or be assimilated. But we sure as hell can't assimilate a lot of green monkeys'" (20-21).

"they labeled him 'creechie-lover'" (121).

"Selver, was his name. Sam, they'd called him, till Lyubov stopped Davidson from giving him what he deserved and made a pet out of him, then they'd called him Selver" (31).

"this world, New Tahiti, was literally made for men" (12).

Lyubov: "He had also come to like the Athsheans' names for their own lands and places...Sornol, Tuntar, Eshreth, Eshsen - that was now Centralville - Endtor, Abtan, and above all Athshe, which meant the Forest, and the World" (105).

"There aren't trees to cut on Rendlep. That's the place you call Dump Island" (181).

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"Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself"
-Philosopher's Stone, ch. 17

People in the books who have never had contact with Voldemort have a deep fear of him because their fear of the name makes him less human. In other first contact narratives, conquerors do not use names because it dehumanizes those they want power over.

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While discussing the fate of the Sorcerer's Stone with Harry in the Hospital Wing, Dumbledore encourages Harry to use Voldemort's name: " Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." Harry has not encountered that opinion prior to this moment, but he accepts the advice readily.

When Hagrid initially explains to Harry about his parents' killer and the reason for his fame in the Wizarding World, he struggles to say the name "Voldemort" aloud. Because the name is so widely feared and dreaded, few witches and wizards who understood its legacy would speak it-noteworthy exceptions being Dumbledore and (openly, once given Dumbledore's permission at this moment) Harry. Saying "Voldemort" became an awe-inspiring, almost political statement. Voldemort's followers refer to him more reverently as "My Lord," "Master," or "The Dark Lord," while most who fear him called him "You-Know-Who" or (the wordier, arguably more polite) "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

While those who fear the name shudder any time Harry says it in their presence, saying the name also affords him respect. Hermione picks up on this and uses it to her advantage by saying the name for the first time while trying to persuade Harry to lead the defensive organization later named Dumbledore's Army. Ron eventually, reluctantly, follows suit, and many members of the Order of the Phoenix do as well. Seeing this as a sign of disrespect but also cunningly using the knowledge to his advantage, Voldemort places a Taboo on the name shortly after Dumbledore's death. The Taboo allows Death Eaters to track Harry, Ron, and Hermione on Tottenham Court Road after the abrupt end of Bill and Fleur's wedding and the fall of the Ministry of Magic. Either instinctively or coincidentally, Ron grows uneasy with the name and demands that Harry and Hermione refrain from using it, which saves them from repeated discovery until they learn about the Taboo when Ron leaves them and returns with the information. Harry accidentally says the name while attempting to convince Hermione and Ron that Voldemort is after the Elder Wand, which results in their capture by the Snatchers and delivery to Malfoy Manor.

Notably, acromantulas also fearfully refuse to speak the name " basilisk," which results in Harry and Ron's continued puzzlement regarding the source of the petrified students after their encounter in the Forbidden Forest and prior to finding Hermione's note in the hospital wing.

From a psychological perspective, this quote from Dumbledore makes sense because it is understood that identifying and naming one's fears can allow one to investigate and address them. Dumbledore does not fear death; he is an exceptionally brave wizard. So what kind of experiences may have led to this insight? We can only speculate. It is very possible that he merely observed the growing societal fear as most of the Wizarding World began to refrain from using Voldemort's name. However, on a more abstract level, it could also be tied to his own reticence about the sorrows of his youth-his understanding that unspoken truths can fester, and that those truths have ways of manifesting themselves with or without permission or intent. Just as the Dursleys were unable to squash the magic out of Harry, who performed many instances of accidental magic, Credence Barebone was unable to contain his Obscurus, which killed his mother and Senator Shaw, Jr. Dumbledore lived through both events and likely numerous others, considering that his sister is speculated to have been an Obscurus as well, and that his relationship with Grindelwald seemingly prevented him from stopping his rise to power at the earliest opportunity.

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Fear of a Name ... - The Harry Potter Lexicon

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While discussing the fate of the Sorcerer's Stone with Harry in the Hospital Wing, Dumbledore encourages Harry to use Voldemort's name: "Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." Harry has not encountered that opinion prior to this moment, but he accepts the advice readily.

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By: Laila Lalami

Naming and renaming is a large theme in this novel. Every person and land that the Castilians conquer, is stripped of his/her/its original name.

"This book is the humble work of Mustafa ibn Muhammad ibn Abdussalam al-Zamori" (3).

"Estebanico was the name the Castilians had given me when they bought me from Portuguese traders" (7).

"Of all the contracts I had signed...it traded what should never be traded. It...erased my father's name. I could not know that this was just the first of many erasures" (82).

"Just Estebanico - converted, orphaned, and now dismissed with a boy's nickname" (149).

"my master had no nickname for me. A nickname is something you use to tease someone, whether out of spite or out of affection, whereas all the things he called me were said without a hint of humor or irony: El Moro, El Negro, El Arabe. On most days, he did not even call me anything" (49).

"I imagine that, in keeping with our naming conventions, my people would simply call it the Land of the Indians. The Indians, too, must have had a name for it, although neither Senor Dorantes nor anyone in the expedition knew what it was" (5).

"they gave new names to everything around them, as though they were the All-Knowing God in the Garden of Eden" (18).

"This was why, when he spoke of that village later, Dorantes called it Corazones. Only later did it occur to me that my Castilian companion had returned to the habit of giving new names to old places" (245).

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By: Catherynne M. Valente

Names are not as significant in Valente's novel, because there is more respect in the "conquering" of other species. However, one of the character's names plays a significant role.

"'Hello there, cutie! My name is Altonaut Who Runs Faster Than Wisdom Along the Milk Road, fourteenth Lyric of the Aaba Verse, and I'll be your galactic liaison this afternoon!'" (30).

"'It's a family name, honeybuns. Don't make fun, now. It's not nice.' 'You're the Road Runner. Meep, meep'" (31).

"'You're the roadrunner.' 'That's what you call me, and look, Dess, I like you a lot, but I've nibbled heaps of memories in the last twenty-four hours so I know what a Looney Tunes is, and frankly, I think it's a bit insensitive. Oo's time is far too valuable and volatile to dribble it away calling me Altonaut Who Runs Faster Than Wisdom Down the Milk Road, but at least he uses part of my actual name, because that's respect, isn't it?'" (130).