Words are monuments: Patterns in US national park place names perpetuate settler colonial mythologies including white supremacy.

In an attempt to differentiate traditional Indigenous place names from Indigenous-sounding names settler colonizers appropriated from Indigenous languages, we tracked (where possible) traditional Indigenous place names, that is, those in use before settler colonialism. Like the replacement of Indigenous names, place names that memorialize settler colonialism erase Indigenous knowledge and insinuate settler colonizers assigned names to a blank map. Based on our research of the origins and meanings of each place name in 16 national parks, we assigned each place name one exclusive class from each of four emergent categories: (a) Language origin - whether the place name is from an Indigenous or non-Indigenous (settler colonial) language or if it was unclear what language type if originated from. Keywords: national parks; place names; racism; settler colonialism EN national parks place names racism settler colonialism 683 700 18 06/10/22 20220601 NES 220601 INTRODUCTION Around the world, statues of historic figures who symbolize colonialism, settler colonialism and white supremacy are being critically examined, and often removed. [Extracted from the article]