Naming is remembering: female toponymy as a space of resistance and memory in schools of Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil

Abstract

Place names are key cultural references that reveal how communities express language, identity, politics, and social structures over time. This study examines female toponyms used to name schools in Palmas, the capital of the Brazilian state of Tocantins, as well as the political, sociocultural, and gender-related factors that shaped these designations. The article analyses how female toponymy in educational institutions reflects power relations, memory, and identity within the local context, and how these names help highlight women’s roles in the region’s history and culture. The study follows Dick’s (1990) inductive onomasiological method and draws on the theoretical and methodological contributions of Dick (2002, 2006), Seabra (2006), Nader (2007), Andrade (2010), and Araújo (2013). Foucault’s (1979) and Scott’s (1995) frameworks support the discussion on gender issues, complemented by the contributions of De las Heras Aguilera (2009), Saini (2024), and other contemporary authors. From a corpus of 80 educational institutions, 21 names referring to women were identified. The findings indicate that naming schools after women serves as a meaningful strategy to promote gender equity, cultural diversity, and social inclusion in the toponymy of Tocantins’ capital.