A critical toponymy of Humboldt County: Ethics and tensions within efforts to change place names

Author

• Serenity Aleta Wood, Humboldt State University

Graduation Date

Spring 2026

Document Type

Project

Program

Master of Arts degree with a major in English, emphasis in Applied English Studies

Committee Chair Name

Janelle Adsit

Committee Chair Affiliation

Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff

Second Committee Member Name

Renée Byrd

Second Committee Member Affiliation

Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff

Third Committee Member Name

Cutcha Risling Baldy

Third Committee Member Affiliation

Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Place names, Humboldt County, Humboldt County place names, (Re)naming, Indigenous activism

Subject Categories

English

Abstract

This project explores how Humboldt regional placenames enact toponymic silencing and how Indigenous activists challenge colonial names and geographies, advancing un-settled interpretations that position language revitalization/regeneration as a means of revitalizing relationships with the land. Mobilizing Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy’s concept of (re)naming, I analyze two case studies, the Baduwa’t documentary and the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation’s film A'-t'i Xwee-ghayt-nish: Still, We Live On, as well as three additional artistic works: Sarah Biscarra Dilley’s every pattern needs a passage, Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe’s Thunder Song, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s painting, State Names. In tandem with film and poetry analysis, I survey local placenames commemorating violent colonists and track how renaming debates have unfolded across both local and literary spaces, including opposition to (re)naming efforts. This step involves gathering archival sources, reviewing press coverage, social media comments and policy decisions, and stationing these within longer histories of colonial violence in Humboldt. Through comparison of colonial and Indigenous place-names, published community narratives, and scholarship on naming, I explore how names are agents that shape cultural landscapes, inform debates about Land Back and recognition politics, and advance “rhetorical sovereignty” (Scott Richard Lyons).

Citation Style

MLA

Recommended Citation

Wood, Serenity Aleta, "A critical toponymy of Humboldt County: Ethics and tensions within efforts to change place names" (2026). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2544.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2544