The Affective Atmospheres of Toponymic Commemoration: Place Naming, Nationalism, and the Multisensorial Politics of Yanqiao Road

Although memorial toponyms are often examined as semiotic texts through which authorities construct national identity, this article extends this scholarship by examining how such toponyms acquire affective force within atmospheric formations. Employing the concept of affective atmospheres, this article argues that the narrated past of memorial toponyms is not only “read” but also embodied and multisensory, producing the affective and political intensities of nationalism. Using the case of Yanqiao Road in China, named after two revolutionary martyrs, we show how a politically dormant toponym unexpectedly became a powerful site of national identification during the Party centenary, with consequences that exceeded official intentions. We make two arguments. First, commemorative toponyms activate national feeling through atmospheric formations in which toponyms, bodies, narratives, built environments, and sensory experiences reverberate; national feeling thus shifts among different tonalities and intensities across time, and official narratives remain only partially effective. Second, the article shows that place-name struggles extend beyond (re)naming: Publics mobilize “atmospheric misfits” to demand infrastructural change, whereas authorities extend naming power into place making to stabilize and intensify preferred national atmospheres around toponyms. This article not only contributes to the scholarship on toponymic commemoration but also enriches our understanding of the experience of national identity in contemporary urban China.