colonial map Archives - Words Are Monuments

The New Frontier, Part IV: Reopening the Frontier

Dec 18th, 2025

“Part III: Place Names and the War on Woke” examined how renaming functions as an ideological weapon within the so-called “War on Woke,” dividing the public, legitimizing authoritarian control, and reinscribing a nationalist and xenophobic vision of “American Greatness” onto the maps people navigate every day. “Part IV: Reopening the Frontier” shifts focus from what … Read more

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Remapping The World: The Global Context

Apr 4th, 2022

Place-names locate us in place, but also in relation to other places, not just across the country, but around the world. Place-names also locate us in time. Indigenous-led renaming campaigns remind us that there are other naming traditions that refer to times before and after colonial rule. They dislodge the sense of inevitability and permanence … Read more

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