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Topic

Dimensions of Tŝilhqot’in toponymy: Language, heritage, and meaning

Department of Anthropology

Date & location

• Tuesday, January 14, 2024

• 1:00 P.M.

• Cornett Building

• Room A319

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Brian Thom, Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

• Dr. Reuben Rose-Redwood, Department of Geography, UVic (Non-unit Member) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Jonaki Bhattacharyya, Dasiqox Nexwagwez?an

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Kelly Aguirre, Department of Political Science, UVic

   

Abstract

Tŝilhqot’in toponymy—the place names and place naming systems of the Tŝilhqot’in First Nation in British Columbia, Canada—is a complex, plural, multiplistic, and dynamic phenomenon rooted in notions of ancestral presences, happenings, perceptions, and territoriality that resonate across Tŝilhqot’in pasts, presents, and futures in culturally and ontologically specific ways. As contemporary applications call on Tŝilhqot’in place names—for example, to label maps, display on road signs, and adopt into official records—they put at risk the nuances of these more traditional dimensions. Novel toponymic practices of commemoration and recognition that call on Tŝilhqot’in place names are obfuscating deeper dimensions of heritage, language, and meaning, while paradoxically contributing to the preservation and dissemination of these important elements of Tŝilhqot’in heritage. This thesis explores these themes through an ethnographic methodology which emphasises ontological openness in order to highlight new theoretical possibilities that emerge from Tŝilhqot’in toponymic discourses in Tŝilhqot’in specific contexts.