Derek H. Alderman
@derekgeographer.bsky.social
Chancellor's Prof. at Univ. of Tennessee, Former Pres. of AAG, Geographer of Memory, Race, Social Justice, Naming, Mapping, Tourism, SE USA http://mlkstreet.com http://tourismreset.com https://derekalderman.com/
Trump"shows a clear understanding of the larger role that place names play in social life.He is clearly using naming as a 'technology of power,' a weapon for conferring legitimacy &public visibility on a particular ideological-political agenda" @derekgeographer.bsky.social www.rte.ie/news/analysi...
What's in a name? Florida airport renamed for Trump
Palm Beach International Airport is set to get a new name and call sign - move over PBI, here comes DJT.
rte.ie
A Raleigh Neighborhood Ditched Its Slave-Owning Namesake. Some Are Still Fighting to Keep It. indyweek.com/news/a-ralei...
A Raleigh Neighborhood Ditched Its Slave-Owning Namesake. Some Are Still Fighting to Keep It.
Many residents of the neighborhood formerly called Cameron Park say they’ve moved on under a new name, Forest Park. But some want a court to declare the name change invalid.
indyweek.com
Proud to publish w/ @sethographer.bsky.social. Summer camp nostalgia hides hard questions. Who got to attend? Who was excluded? What values were taught? And what vision of America did camp ask children to embrace? @geographers.bsky.social @utkgeography.bsky.social theconversation.com/summer-camps...
Summer camps remain a battleground over what it means to be American
At a time when Americans disagree deeply over the meaning of citizenship, belonging and education, summer camps remain places where visions of the nation are communicated to young people.
theconversation.com
Juneteenth reminds us of Black Americans’ long struggle for education following end of slavery theconversation.com/juneteenth-r...
Juneteenth reminds us of Black Americans’ long struggle for education following end of slavery
Enslaved people were not just enslaved physically, but mentally as well. as widespread laws in the South barred enslaved people from receiving an education.
theconversation.com
Always a pleasure to collaborate with @derekgeographer.bsky.social and @katgeographic.bsky.social! We’ve enjoyed our time writing articles for @theconversation.com and have found them to be of immense value in the classroom.
UTK Geography & Sustainability@utkgeography.bsky.social · 5mo agoDr. Derek Alderman, Dr. Katrina Stack, and PhD Candidate Seth Kannarr recently published a new article, “Bringing The Conversation into the Geography Classroom: Public Storytelling as Authentic Learning” in The Professional Geographer. Read at the 🔗 here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
FIFA’s Haiti jersey ban echoes the long campaign to discredit and downplay the Haitian Revolution theconversation.com/fifas-haiti-...
FIFA’s Haiti jersey ban echoes the long campaign to discredit and downplay the Haitian Revolution
The move is part of a longer history of obscuring and demonizing the Haitian Revolution and its leader, Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
theconversation.com
House panel votes to reinstate non-Confederate base names. Trump admin used the same stunt the [congressional naming] commission considered & rejected, finding new service members sharing the same last name as the "Confederate traitors,” Marilyn Strickland said. www.militarytimes.com/news/pentago...
House panel votes to reinstate non-Confederate base names and adopt ‘Department of War’
The House advanced a measure to return the names of nine U.S. military bases to those recommended by a congressional commission in 2023.
militarytimes.com
Maps are powerful political tools shaping a nation’s past, present and future – counter maps allow everyday people to reclaim the narrative theconversation.com/maps-are-pow...
Maps are powerful political tools shaping a nation’s past, present and future – counter maps allow everyday people to reclaim the narrative
From who gets to vote to how people travel and where taxpayer dollars are funneled, politicians and urban planners wield maps to control public imagination.
theconversation.com
Honored to discuss the work of my colleagues and me to examine the memorial politics & racial demographics of neighborhoods and streets named for the Confederacy. Listen to interview on Florida Frontiers #631 myfloridahistory.org/frontiers/ra... Our paper is available at: doi.org/10.1080/0887...
Florida Frontiers: The Weekly Radio Magazine | Florida Historical Society
myfloridahistory.org
At a time when geographic names are turned into political weapons, we need principled frameworks that are participatory, research-driven, reparative, & paired with education. New piece w/Christine K. Johnson on Reconciliation in Place Names @utkgeography.bsky.social escholarship.org/uc/item/4tp6...
escholarship.org
@geographers.bsky.social @americangeo.bsky.social Sharing video tutorials by Tenn Geographic Alliance to help teachers critically interpret place names as storytelling, use primary sources of geographical & historical data, gain tools to engage students tngeographicalliance.org/whats-in-a-n...
What's in a Name? Asynchronious Video Experience
This asynchronous learning experience offers a series of instructional videos and classroom resources focused on exploring place names as meaningful forms of social and geographic storytelling....
tngeographicalliance.org
Held captive in their own country during World War II, Japanese Americans used nature to cope with their unjustified imprisonment theconversation.com/held-captive...
Held captive in their own country during World War II, Japanese Americans used nature to cope with their unjustified imprisonment
Incarcerated in rough barracks surrounded by barbed wire and armed soldiers, Japanese Americans made functional and beautiful items to ease their suffering.
theconversation.com
Check out this editorial written by my close compadre @derekgeographer.bsky.social and @psugeo.bsky.social alum Reuben Rose-Redwood thehill.com/opinion/whit...
thehill.com
"He was not simply changing the name. He was actually enacting a different worldview..." Kudos to @derekgeographer.bsky.social for contributing remarks for another national news piece on place renaming! www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
The Gulf of What? Has Trump's name change caught on?
It's been a year since President Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. We asked people along its shores what they actually call it.
usatoday.com
Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump International Airport? This Has to Stop. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/o...
Opinion | Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump International Airport? This Has to Stop.
nytimes.com
"When you rename the Gulf, you're talking about extending territory in a symbolic sense...that you simply & in a unilateral way rename a place, claim it, that's a pretty old process that's been going on since the days of colonializations" @derekgeographer.bsky.social eu.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
The Gulf of What? Has Trump's name change caught on?
It's been a year since President Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. We asked people along its shores what they actually call it.
eu.usatoday.com
Women have been mapping the world for centuries – and now they’re speaking up for the people left out of those maps theconversation.com/women-have-b...
Women have been mapping the world for centuries – and now they’re speaking up for the people left out of those maps
Women have moved from mapmakers using their bodies to depict maps to being leaders shaping the field of cartography.
theconversation.com
Two geographers @geographers.bsky.social weigh in on gpush to rename U.S. places for Donald Trump. From “toponymic narcissism” to a political tribute-paying. Honored to join Reuben Rose-Redwood to explain why this naming moment is unprecedented & deeply political. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
What's in a name? Plenty, when that name is 'Trump.'
'Toponymic narcissism' describes someone's obsession with naming things after themselves. Trump's name now seems to be everywhere.
usatoday.com
Grateful to @derekgeographer.bsky.social for introducing me to @theconversation.com and providing me with valuable mentorship in writing articles. I’m five articles in and looking forward to writing many more in the coming years! artsci.utk.edu/writing-for-...
Writing for The Conversation Adds to Scholarship ROI - College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty from UT’s College of Arts and Sciences reach millions of people with their research by writing articles distributed through news organizations around the world. Faculty from the University of ...
artsci.utk.edu
Communities don’t choose names by accident. Honoring Lincoln is a way for places to weave themselves into a larger American story. Our place names reflect who we elevate, why, & to what political ends. Thanks @bridgemi.com for the interview bridgemi.com/quality-life... @utkgeography.bsky.social
Honestly, how many places are named after Abe Lincoln? In Michigan, a lot - Bridge Michigan
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, launching a November tradition. It was also tradition to name municipalities, schools and roads after Lincoln.
bridgemi.com
@nacis.bsky.social @livingmaps.bsky.social Black communities have long used mapping as a tool to challenge, survive, & transcend racism. The Living Black Atlas celebrates these traditions of protest, care & justice. Watch our new video @notebooklm.bsky.social to learn more tiny.utk.edu/LBAshortvideo
PhD Candidate Katrina Stack @katgeographic.bsky.social presented “Remapping Black Paris: Walking Tours as Embodied Archives and Cartographies” at the REP Conference last week in Albuquerque! Her collaborators are her advisor Derek Alderman @derekgeographer.bsky.social and Monique Y. Wells.
Before the American Revolution, Native nations guarded their societies against tyranny theconversation.com/before-the-a...
Before the American Revolution, Native nations guarded their societies against tyranny
Native American communities were elaborate consensus democracies, many of which had survived for generations because of careful attention to checking and balancing power.
theconversation.com
The Time That Martin Luther King, Jr. Was Almost Assassinated in St. Augustine, Florida. Dr. King said at the time: “We have worked in some difficult communities...but we have never worked in one as lawless as this.” www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-time-t...
The Time That Martin Luther King, Jr. Was Almost Assassinated in St. Augustine, Florida
A little known incident that could have changed history.
hamiltonnolan.com
Great piece on war-naming conventions & the power of language. Timely because of ongoing wars and the renaming of the Defense Dept. The way wars are referred to in the U.S. serves state interests & power rather than necessarily reflects the realities of conflicts. theconversation.com/when-it-come...
When it comes to wars − from the Middle East to Ukraine − what we call them matters
Convention suggests wars are named after the participants or the place it which fighting takes place. But who chooses − and why?
theconversation.com
"Maps are a form of storytelling, as well as an info source...the lines, colours, symbols &size of regions depicted...communicate social meaning. They subtly but powerfully educate people...about who &what matters" @jswab.bsky.social & @derekgeographer.bsky.social theconversation.com/world-maps-g...
World maps get Africa’s size wrong: cartographers explain why fixing it matters
Maps help shape how we make sense of the world.
theconversation.com
World maps get Africa’s size wrong: cartographers @utkgeography.bsky.social @geographers.bsky.social explain why fixing it matters. Grateful for the talent and collaboration of @jswab.bsky.social theconversation.com/world-maps-g...
World maps get Africa’s size wrong: cartographers explain why fixing it matters
Maps help shape how we make sense of the world.
theconversation.com
Escaped slaves on St. Croix hid their settlements so well, they still haven’t been found – archaeologists using new mapping technology are on the hunt theconversation.com/escaped-slav...
Escaped slaves on St. Croix hid their settlements so well, they still haven’t been found – archaeologists using new mapping technology are on the hunt
As many as 10% of enslaved people on St. Croix escaped. Where they went has remained a mystery, but scientists are using new mapping technology to find answers.
theconversation.com
@geographers.bsky.social @knoxnews.bsky.social @nolanews.bsky.social @americangeo.bsky.social #HurricaneKatrina Tattoos a Form of Coping, Storytelling. Reposting @utknoxville.bsky.social news piece about our NOLA study from several years ago. Might have renewed interest on 20th anniversary of storm.
