Translating place: orthography and the problem of place names at the Royal Geographical Society

翻译地点：皇家地理学会的正字法和地名问题

• 批准号: 2603889
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Royal Holloway University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2603889
• 关键词: Translating; place; orthography; problem; names

This project takes as its focus a problem that troubled the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) from its inception in 1830: how should the recording of place names on maps and other geographical publications be standardised given the international vagaries of language, alphabet, spelling, and pronunciation? The problem of "orthography" raised fundamental questions about who had the authority to adjudicate on place names, to determine their correct spelling or pronunciation, and to anticipate the cultural consequences particular practices of naming might have. Orthography was part of a wider imperial programme that sought to leverage Western scientific authority in bringing to order the geography of the non-Western world. Orthography sat at the intersection of science and colonialism, cosmopolitanism and geopolitics, linguistics and geography.The role of the RGS as an arbiter of geographical truth came into particular focus following its decision in 1878 to draw up a set of orthographic rules-a scheme documented extensively in committee minutes and reports, in correspondence, and in publications in the Society's journals. This project seeks not only to reveal the imperial and colonial underpinnings of the RGS's work on orthography, but also to demonstrate the cultural and political power that place names have and how, in the spirit of decolonisation, communities previously silenced by particular forms of orthography can counter that process through, for example, the production of their own maps and gazetteers (the printed indices or dictionaries of place names read alongside maps), employing their own systems of orthography. Working in collaboration withthe RGS-and drawing on the wider expertise of the AHRC-led Connected Communities Programme-the project will seek to involve new audiences in the development of alternative, non-Western orthographies by way of public engagement activities including workshops on counter-mapping, an interactive exhibition examining the relationship between language, place, and authority, and public lectures showcasing the project's findings.In specific terms, the project will address five key research questions:1. What factors led the RGS to develop a new orthographic system?2. What linguistic and geographical principles underpinned the development of that system's rules?3. How were those rules interpreted and what impact did they have on maps and gazetteers published after 1878?4. What does orthography tell us about the role of the RGS as an arbiter of geographical truth?5. What does orthography reveal about the exchange and authorisation of geographical and scientific knowledge in the age of empire? What is its legacy in a postcolonial present?Methodologically, the project will combine archival and bibliographical research (drawing on the Society's extensive archival and library holdings) with critical cartographical analysis. Primary and secondary sources will be used to reconstruct and explain the development of orthography in 19th- and early 20th-century geography and critical bibliographical and cartographical approaches will be employed to trace its influence on the production of maps and geographical gazetteers.The project is original in its focus and fundamentally interdisciplinary in its approach, drawing on key debates in the history of geography and science, and postcolonial studies.

该项目将其重点放在一个问题上，从1830年的成立开始困扰着皇家地理学会（RGS）：鉴于地图和其他地理出版物在地图上的地名记录应该如何被标准化，因为语言，字母，拼写和发音的国际变化？ “拼字法”的问题提出了关于谁有权裁定地点名称，确定其正确的拼写或发音的基本问题，并预测命名的特殊实践可能会带来文化后果。拼字法是一项更广泛的帝国计划的一部分，该计划试图利用西方科学权威来命令非西方世界的地理。拼字法坐在科学与殖民主义，世界主义和地缘政治，语言学和地理上的交汇处。在1878年决定在委员会的委员会和报告中广泛记录了一套正形规则，RGS作为地理真理的仲裁者的作用尤为重点。 This project seeks not only to reveal the imperial and colonial underpinnings of the RGS's work on orthography, but also to demonstrate the cultural and political power that place names have and how, in the spirit of decolonisation, communities previously silenced by particular forms of orthography can counter that process through, for example, the production of their own maps and gazetteers (the printed indices or dictionaries of place names read alongside maps), employing their own systems of拼字法。 Working in collaboration withthe RGS-and drawing on the wider expertise of the AHRC-led Connected Communities Programme-the project will seek to involve new audiences in the development of alternative, non-Western orthographies by way of public engagement activities including workshops on counter-mapping, an interactive exhibition examining the relationship between language, place, and authority, and public lectures showcasing the project's findings.In specific terms, the project will address five key research问题：1。哪些因素导致RGS开发了新的拼字系统？2。哪些语言和地理原则是该系统规则发展的基础？3。这些规则是如何解释的，它们对1878年以后出版的地图和宪报有什么影响？4。拼字法告诉我们RGS作为地理真理的仲裁者的作用？5。拼字法揭示了帝国时代地理和科学知识的交换和授权？它在后殖民时期的遗产是什么？从方法上讲，该项目将结合档案和书目研究（利用社会广泛的档案和图书馆藏品）与批判性的制图分析相结合。主要和次要来源将用于重建和解释在19世纪和20世纪初期的拼字法的发展，并将采​​用批判性的书目和制图方法来追踪其对地图和地理杂志的产生的影响。该项目的重点是其重点，并从根本上进行了跨学科的跨学科研究，并在其研究中绘制了关键辩论和科学的杂志，并绘制了科学的历史和科学，并构成了科学的历史和科学，并构成了科学的历史和科学。