Around the world, statues of historic figures who symbolize colonialism and oppression are being critically examined, and often removed. Across the United States, Confederate figures and statues with clear racist symbolism have been uninstalled or actively torn down. These removals reflect a shifting zeitgeist that seeks to include the history of Indigenous and racialized peoples. But some symbols of oppression are less tangible than a statue.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland recently initiated a task force to address derogatory place names on federal lands, including names using the word “squaw,” a derogatory term for an American Indian woman. But is everyone on board? Why are place names important?

According to a study released in the journal People and Nature(link is external), addressing place names could be a starting point for reckoning with the country’s history of dispossessing Indigenous nations from their lands. The paper reveals that derogatory names are only the tip of the iceberg — violence in place names can take many forms. The study quantifies the scale of the problem in U.S. national parks and puts the movement to change place names in context.

“As highly visible cultural symbols, place names help us collectively navigate and give meaning to our world,” said co-author Grace Wu(link is external), an assistant professor in UC Santa Barbara’s environmental studies program. “When those names are violent, derogatory, racist or colonialist, they perpetuate the harms of those violent acts and ideas.”