(Re)naming Hanoi streets after historical people from colonialism to postcolonialism: Creation and recalling collective memories

Naming streets after historical figures is a political-social trend that has emerged in Vietnam since the French colonial period, and then rapidly became a dominant trend in the process of (re)naming streets. This paper aims to reveal the process of creating and recalling symbols behind (re)naming Hanoi streets between French colonialism and postcolonialism. Based on analysis of archival documents, my paper will point out that (re)naming streets after people is not only the act of executing political power through creating and removing street names but also the PHNG TH THANH LM act of performing traditional values of the nation that can encourage citizens in that nation's war. Also, my paper will determine that Vietnamese political authorities in postcolonialism often inherited the ideologies of commemorating people from former governments. Particularly, names of people who were spiritual symbols in fights against invaders and names of victorious places often are combined to build collective memories which remind residents of the nation's heroic past.