Academic

Squaw Peak (in Arizona) will be renamed for Lori Piestewa, a Hopi woman who died in action in Iraq.

By Ann Bartow

So reports a post entitled “U.S. board approves naming of Piestewa Peak” posted at the Ojibway Migisi Bineshii blog (via), and it makes me really happy. Using trademark law as a doctrinal launching place, I argued in this article that public naming acts are often undemocratic and unfair, privileging wealthy white men and carving their names into the public landscape to broadcast and reify their cultural and political hegemony. It’s nice to see Piestewa receive this honor, and also great to see a derogatory name erased from the physical public domain.

–Ann Bartow

Full post as published by Feminist Law Professors on April 16, 2008 (boomark / email).