Papers by Jack Keilo ( Jacques Keilo )
"After celebrating the council [of Nicaea] the Emperor [Constantine the Great]... fortified ... more "After celebrating the council [of Nicaea] the Emperor [Constantine the Great]... fortified the walls of Byzantium and embellished buildings, and made it equal to Imperial Rome, and gave it his name of Constantinople, ordering that it be named Second [New] Rome. The law was engraved on a column in the Strategium, by the equestrian statue of the Emperor." (Socrates Scholasticus, Church History, Chapter 16) ((In the Greek origin: Ὁ βασιλεὺς δὲ μετὰ τὴν σύνοδον [...] ἐποίει τε τοῦτο κατὰ τὰς ἄλ..
The Sciences, are small Power; because not eminent; and therefore, not acknowledged in any man; n... more The Sciences, are small Power; because not eminent; and therefore, not acknowledged in any man; nor are at all, but in a few; and in them, but of a few things. For Science is of that nature, as none can understand it to be, but such as in a good measure have attayned it. (Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapter X) The European Age of Discoveries has given us astonishing maps. Power relations of our present world were shaped out during that age. Today we have a short passage on the interesting power..
"Thus says the LORD God: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the centre of the nations, wit... more "Thus says the LORD God: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the centre of the nations, with countries all around her." (Ezekiel 5:5) We have seen Bunting's Map in a precedent post, a renaissance map where the world is centred on Jerusalem in a symbolic way, that is, the space of the world is constructed around the Holy City. Now Hereford Map is analysed: the difference here is that Hereford's is not meant to be only symbolic, but it was made to represent what was considered to be "real" ..
"It is to stand before the towers of New York and Washington, Chicago and San Francisco sayi... more "It is to stand before the towers of New York and Washington, Chicago and San Francisco saying in your heart, "I am the descendant of a people that builded Damascus and Byblos, and Tyre and Sidon and Antioch, and now I am here to build with you, and with a will. Young Americans of Syrian origin, I believe in you." (Gibran Khalil Gibran, I Believe in You) New York is one of financial and cultural capitals of the world. Lower Manhattan, the Downtown, is on of the Planet's most eminent financial..
David Gosset, 2012, "Chinese centralities", in Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpo... more David Gosset, 2012, "Chinese centralities", in Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-gosset/sinoamerican_b_1443787.html David Gosset, in this very interesting article, explains Chinese centrality or, better in plural, Chinese centralities. It is a given that China is called the Zhongguo: the Middle Kingdom, the Central Country (For more information cf. this post on centrality of China: http://centrici.hypotheses.org/70). China's central-ness and middle-ness can be articulated i..
Haec autem tria volumina a nobis composita tradi eis tam in regiis urbibus quam in Berytiensium p... more Haec autem tria volumina a nobis composita tradi eis tam in regiis urbibus quam in Berytiensium pulcherrima civitate, quam et legum nutricem bene quis appellet, , tantummodo volumus, quod iam et a retro principibus constitutum est, et non in aliis locis quae a maioribus tale non meruerint privilegium. (These three works which we have composed we desire should be put in their hands in Imperial cities as well as in the most fair city of Berytus, which may well be styled the nursing mother of la..
This article stems from The Centre and the Name, readings in Beirut's toponymy, a thesis defe... more This article stems from The Centre and the Name, readings in Beirut's toponymy, a thesis defended at the Sorbonne in May 2018. Hannah Arendt is not very present in studies and research related to geography. Yet the German-American political theorist, maybe one of the greatest of the 20th Century, did offer a political theory applicable on geography and spatial studies. Hannah Arendt. Source: Transcend Media One of the best applications on geography is Hannah Arendt's reflection on the city, ..
Hondius' Map, c. 1596, today at the British Museum This map, made circa 1596, is more than in... more Hondius' Map, c. 1596, today at the British Museum This map, made circa 1596, is more than interesting: before all it is the result of the age when Europe began to know the world and to try to shape it after her own interest. Then the map has no centre in the "spiritual" sense of the word and no centrality on Jerusalem or Rome or whatsoever. Instead, the "central line" of the world is to the west of the British Isles and in the mid-Atlantic (In what to become the "centre" of Europe and its No...
Janus, le dieu romain a deux visages. Credit image de livius.org Mircea Eliade, 1965 (reed. 1987)... more Janus, le dieu romain a deux visages. Credit image de livius.org Mircea Eliade, 1965 (reed. 1987), Le sacre et le profane. La recherche du centre (et du Centre), tel est l'objectif de cet ouvrage passionnant de Mircea Eliade. L'auteur a bien cherche le centre dans ses ecrits: il lui a consacre plusieurs recherches dont La nostalgie des origines (1971) et Psychologie et histoire des religions. A propos du symbolisme du "centre" (1951). Mais Le sacre et le profane peut etre considere comme le s...
Nous narrons la toponymie de Beyrouth, considérée comme partie intégrante de l’idéologie du corps... more Nous narrons la toponymie de Beyrouth, considérée comme partie intégrante de l’idéologie du corps politique du Liban, installé à Beyrouth depuis 1920. Nous commençons par une réflexion sur les rapports entre centre politique, ses principes fondateurs, et toponymie: l’inscription toponymique est l’insertion ultime du politique dans l’aménagement. La toponymie beyrouthine inscrit le Grand-Liban (1920), et la Constitution libanaise (1926), sur les cartes. Elle inscrit le confessionnalisme politique résultant du Pacte national (1943) et ses symboles « sacrés », ainsi qu’une présence confirmée des « Orient » et « Occident » et un récit national libanais partiellement réinventé et présenté « en continuité ». Elle présente les signes d’une continuité urbaine visible. Nous mettons l’exemple beyrouthin en perspective avec ceux de Damas et de Dubaï : le premier est « réécrit » avec l’avènement du Baath en 1963 et présente une rupture toponymique avec le passé syrien pré-baathiste, ainsi qu’un...
Nous narrons la toponymie de Beyrouth, consideree comme partie integrante de l’ideologie du corps... more Nous narrons la toponymie de Beyrouth, consideree comme partie integrante de l’ideologie du corps politique du Liban, installe a Beyrouth depuis 1920. Nous commencons par une reflexion sur les rapports entre centre politique, ses principes fondateurs, et toponymie: l’inscription toponymique est l’insertion ultime du politique dans l’amenagement. La toponymie beyrouthine inscrit le Grand-Liban (1920), et la Constitution libanaise (1926), sur les cartes. Elle inscrit le confessionnalisme politique resultant du Pacte national (1943) et ses symboles « sacres », ainsi qu’une presence confirmee des « Orient » et « Occident » et un recit national libanais partiellement reinvente et presente « en continuite ». Elle presente les signes d’une continuite urbaine visible. Nous mettons l’exemple beyrouthin en perspective avec ceux de Damas et de Dubai : le premier est « reecrit » avec l’avenement du Baath en 1963 et presente une rupture toponymique avec le passe syrien pre-baathiste, ainsi qu’un...
(...) All these considerations give us more than sufficient reason to renounce the King of Spain,... more (...) All these considerations give us more than sufficient reason to renounce the King of Spain, and seek some other powerful and more gracious prince to take us under his protection. (...) Dated in our assembly at The Hague, the Six and Twentieth day of July, 1581, indorsed by the orders of the States General (An extract from the Act of Abjuration of the United Provinces "Plakkaat van Verlatinghe", 26th July 1581) Dutch cartography has been one of the most elaborate and most refined in the...
Proceedings of the ICA, 2021
Abstract. This study questions the anachronism about Phoenicia, often thought to have ended when ... more Abstract. This study questions the anachronism about Phoenicia, often thought to have ended when Alexander the Great conquered the Levant. However, toponymic evidence suggests that Phoenicia came into existence with and after Alexander’s conquests. Then it became an administrative division of the Roman Empire, to subsist as an ecclesiastical title down to Ottoman times. It was only in 1861 that the French scholar Ernest Renan invented and mapped “Phoenician archaeology.” Later interpretations of Renan’s view, converging with Biblical projections, led to the anachronistic use of “Phoenicia.” This anachronism still governs historiography and politics in the Levant today.
Since the reconfiguration of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, the three major modes of transport... more Since the reconfiguration of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, the three major modes of transport -maritime, air and road- were incorporated in Dubai’s glo bal identity. However, an efficient intra-urban public transport system was lacking. Since its inauguration in 2009, Dubai Metro was presented as a response to the challenges posed by the local road network, by traffic congestion and pollution, and it is more and more present in the urban image of the city and in the construction of its global identity. However, RTA Dubai Bus, is the less-known public transport system. This paper will examine the role of the two intra-urban public transport systems in the building of Dubai’s global identity; it will compare the forceful role of Met ro Dubai with the more absent one of RTA Dubai Bus. A survey was implemented to identify the users of both the Metro and the Bus; accessibility was measured by an analysis of the routes. It is argued that Dubai Metro is being integrated in the global i...
"Au mois d'avril 1768, le chapitre de Notre-Dame de Paris a fait placer dans son parvis,... more "Au mois d'avril 1768, le chapitre de Notre-Dame de Paris a fait placer dans son parvis, au pied de la tour septentrionale de son eglise, une pierre triangulaire, du milieu de laquelle sort un poteau charge de ses armes. C'est de la, comme d'un centre commun, que l'on commencera a compter les distances que l'on a dessein de marquer sur toutes les grandes routes du royaume". (Jean-Joseph Expilly, Dictionnaire geographique, historique et politique des Gaules et de la France, 1762-1770, p.114) S...
Onoma
In capital cities, seen as "organised forms of remembrance", toponyms are markers of the state's ... more In capital cities, seen as "organised forms of remembrance", toponyms are markers of the state's "ruling socio-political order and its particular 'theory of the world'" and a "story without villains" of the official version of the national narrative. We assess toponyms related to France and the French in Beirut, the Lebanese capital. French toponyms dating back to the Mandate (1918/1920-1943) are still present in the Lebanese capital seventy-two years after the Independence: for example, Général H. Gouraud, the Mandate establisher, and other Mandate army officers (De Gaulle included) are still commemorated by means of street names. The religious aspect is firmly present, too: four French saints are commemorated in Beirut, two of them military and patron saints of the French Nation (Joan of Arc and King Louis IX). Other religious figures include numerous members of the Society of Jesus, founders of the Université Saint-Joseph. In conclusion, French toponyms in Beirut reflect not only the Mandate as a founding point of Lebanon, but also France's role as a traditional "protector" of religious minorities and Fille aînée de l'Église, still central to the relations between France and the Levant. JACK KEILO We find that France, as mandatory power, did not only write toponyms in Beirut, but it also set up "toponymic traditions" that are still used by the Lebanese Republic today. The result can be generalised: the study of toponymic rupture/continuity combined with that of invented toponymic traditions can inform more about postcolonial bodies' policies and their changes.
Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography
Toponymic inscriptions are an ‘authorized version’ of history written on space. This article aims... more Toponymic inscriptions are an ‘authorized version’ of history written on space. This article aims to explore the toponyms on a French map of Beirut published in 1936 to show how France, as a sovereign power, transformed her ‘Lebanese policy’ into place names and thus created a different reality, in rupture with the past. This reality still endures today on the map. The new polity was created under the mission protectrice of France. The ‘mission’ is read on the map through the names of Gouraud, Foch, Petain, and other generals of World War I, and by key features of the French Republic (‘The Marseillaise’, ‘the French’, ‘Paris’, and so on). With Lebanon being a ‘refuge for minorities’, the 1936 map of Beirut has thoroughfares named after saints, ulemas, and religious figures of Christians and of Muslims (‘rue patriarche Hoyek’, ‘rue Ibn Arabi’, and ‘rue Abou Bakr’). In 1918, political martyrdom was introduced to political discourse, but also to the map; thus the main square of the city is renamed ‘Place des Martyrs’, with numerous streets named after intellectuals hanged by the Ottomans and considered martyrs of the new Republic. These three ‘toponymic systems’ are in discontinuity with the toponymic past of Beirut. These toponymic dynamics still shape the map of Beirut; no constitution change or ‘toponymic cleansing’ happened after Independence in 1943. There are more ‘martyrs’ and religious figures added to the map and mandate army generals are still commemorated. Mandate-made maps continue to shape Beiruti place names today.
Cybergeo, 2016
Alors qu'une grande vague de contestation s'est étendue sur une vaste partie de la Syrie à partir... more Alors qu'une grande vague de contestation s'est étendue sur une vaste partie de la Syrie à partir de mars 2011, dans le Projet de l'Euphrate, ensemble d'aménagements hydro-agricoles de plusieurs centaines de milliers d'hectares, peu de manifestations contre le régime au pouvoir ont été enregistrées. L'objectif de cet article est double. D'une part, il s'agit d'insister sur un différentiel entre cette région et d'autres concernant le nombre de manifestations enregistrées. D'autre part, il s'agit de revenir sur l'histoire politique et économique de cette région afin d'émettre des hypothèses sur le rapport entre le pouvoir ba'thiste et les habitants de ces grands périmètres irrigués.
EchoGéo, 2013
Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 10 août 2021. EchoGéo est mis à disposition selon les... more Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 10 août 2021. EchoGéo est mis à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution-Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale-Pas de Modification 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND)
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Papers by Jack Keilo ( Jacques Keilo )
Nous narrons la toponymie de Beyrouth, considérée comme partie intégrante de l’idéologie du corps politique du Liban, installé à Beyrouth depuis 1920. Nous commençons par une réflexion sur les rapports entre centre politique, ses principes fondateurs, et toponymie: l’inscription toponymique est l’insertion ultime du politique dans l’aménagement. La toponymie beyrouthine inscrit le Grand-Liban (1920), et la Constitution libanaise (1926), sur les cartes. Elle inscrit le confessionnalisme politique résultant du Pacte national (1943) et ses symboles « sacrés », ainsi qu’une présence confirmée des « Orient » et « Occident » et un récit national libanais partiellement réinventé et présenté « en continuité ». Elle présente les signes d’une continuité urbaine visible. Nous mettons l’exemple beyrouthin en perspective avec ceux de Damas et de Dubaï : le premier est « réécrit » avec l’avènement du Baath en 1963 et présente une rupture toponymique avec le passé syrien pré-baathiste, ainsi qu’une présence triomphaliste du panarabisme; et le deuxième inventé afin de donner une profondeur historique à la carte de l’émirat et une dimension commerciale à ses noms des lieux. L’étude des inscriptions toponymiques, en parallèle avec les principes fondateurs du centre politique, permet d’approfondir la connaissance des systèmes politiques, leurs idéologies, et leurs politiques d’urbanisme.
http://www.theses.fr/s42782
Considérée comme l'insertion ultime du politique dans l'aménagement urbain, la toponymie (ou l'étude des noms de lieux) permet aussi bien d'approfondir la connaissance des systèmes politiques et leurs idéologies, que d'observer les continuités et ruptures dans les mécanismes d'exercice du pouvoir à travers les changements d'appellation des espaces urbains.