Identity and Memory in Toponymic Policy in Chechnya

The article analyzes the policy of identity and memory used by Chechen authorities in the toponymic urban space. Using an example of Grozny, the capital city of Chechnya, the author reveals the specifics and characteristic features of the toponymic redistribution. Materially and symbolically, this toponymic redistribution entrenches new Chechen religious, military and ethnocultural identity and memory. Constructed urbanonyms become places of memory and are actively used to replace Soviet symbols (revolutionary, communist and atheist symbols) in the urban space. The key resource of the toponymic changes is anthroponymic
when new symbols are constructed using, predominantly, a Vainakh’s pantheon of names. The author explains that the toponymic policy of Chechnya develops along four key lines, including attempts to establish a new federal toponymic agenda non-existent in today’s Russia.