<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>During the communist period in Slovakia (1948-1989), street toponyms and monuments were a few of the many realms of ideological infusion by the communist government. Renaming streets and establishing monuments in honor of local and international socialist figures was intended to have an aggregate effect on public consciousness in a way that helped legitimize the political rule of the communist regime. However, because the nature of socialist commemorations is fundamentally more complex that those of other competing ideologies like nationalist movements, these commemorations took on complex and sometimes contradictory meanings in the public memory that, in some cases, cause them to persist to this day. This paper utilizes <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_mgrsd-2019-0009_ref_015_w2aab3b7b4b1b6b1ab1b6c15Aa">Turner’s (1975)</xref> concept of ‘liminality’ to examine elements of city text like toponyms and statues in the eastern Slovak city of Košice to demonstrate why many of these communist-era elements of city text remain as leftover landscapes of the communist period.</p></abstract>

During the communist period in Slovakia (1948-1989), street toponyms and monuments were a few of the many realms of ideological infusion by the communist government. Renaming streets and establishing monuments in honor of local and international socialist figures was intended to have an aggregate effect on public consciousness in a way that helped legitimize the political rule of the communist regime. However, because the nature of socialist commemorations is fundamentally more complex that those of other competing ideologies like nationalist movements, these commemorations took on complex and sometimes contradictory meanings in the public memory that, in some cases, cause them to persist to this day. This paper utilizes Turner’s (1975) concept of ‘liminality’ to examine elements of city text like toponyms and statues in the eastern Slovak city of Košice to demonstrate why many of these communist-era elements of city text remain as leftover landscapes of the communist period.

Post-communist city text in Košice, Slovakia as a liminal landscape

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville

Miscellanea Geographica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Post-communist city text in Košice, Slovakia as a liminal landscape"}

During the communist period in Slovakia (1948-1989), street toponyms and monuments were a few of the many realms of ideological infusion by the communist...

Post-communist city text in Košice, Slovakia as a liminal landscape

Published Online: Apr 30, 2019

Page range: 71 - 75

Received: Nov 29, 2018

Accepted: Feb 07, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2019-0009

Keywords
Toponyms, liminality, Slovakia, Košice, city text, communism

© 2019 Brett R.Chloupek, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Post-communist city text in Košice, Slovakia as a liminal landscape

Published Online: Apr 30, 2019

Page range: 71 - 75

Received: Nov 29, 2018

Accepted: Feb 07, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2019-0009

KeywordsToponyms, liminality, Slovakia, Košice, city text, communism

© 2019 Brett R.Chloupek, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Toponyms, liminality, Slovakia, Košice, city text, communism