engleski

From Velebit to Casablanca: (Re)construction of Geography and Identity in the Names of Croatian Enterprises

This article attempts to trace how both self-identification and image of the world are spatially expressed in texts on business signboards – an unavoidable part of contemporary landscapes. Every signboard not only sends a certain message to passers-by, invoking and reproducing certain values, but also represents society’ s popular cultural symbolism. The article primarily focuses on geographical designations (toponyms) expressed in the names of enterprises - ergonyms - which are written on signboards and thus become elements of the compound structure of cultural landscapes. Toponyms in ergonyms are indicators of imaginative mapping, they tell us which geographic areas and locations serve as the main frameworks and landmarks on the imaginative map and which of them fall into the obscure regions of ignorance and indifference. Analysis of geographical ergonyms in Croatia shows that the imaginary map (re)constructed on signboards is based on domestic myths and symbols, on European self-identification of Croats and their regional sentiments and attachments. This imaginary map, however is determined by global culture as well. The article discusses the questions of how the virtual world of film, advertising and global media is expressed in ergonyms and how the real world is transformed and filtered by advertising into imaginary world of “ favourable places” .

self-identification; name; cultural symbolism; landscape

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