Former Fellows

Street names as one of the elements in complex and dynamic urban systems could be considered to be much more than just instruments for practical spatial orientation within the city. The particular focus of the project will be on analysing the changing landscape of historical figures or events in Sofia’s street name signs. Street names are part of the symbolic culture and as such play a certain role in symbolic politics.  They can be regarded as a strictly official and an influential channel through which authorities transmit ideas, including their vision of the past. The project will thus seek to examine the place of street naming as a part of symbolic politics and to evaluate the specific roles in the process of different elites. The project will be mainly based on archival research analysing various official documents, including city-council proceedings. The long period to be covered is aimed at reconstructing various layers of changing national values and presenting in a meaningful way changing paradigms in Bulgarian society throughout its modern history.