Welcome to the Namescape blog
Hello from the unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Esquimalt and Songhees Nations) and WSÁNEĆ Peoples, on the lands known also as Vancouver Island.
"Namescapes" are the landscapes of place names, or toponyms, we create culturally and individually to name the places around us.
Namescapes are part of our shared knowledge systems and histories.
More about this blog
This blog is part of a journey to understand ways to encourage new harmonies between settler and Indigenous namescapes, especially in and around the Salish Sea. I also want to celebrate a growing chorus of those working toward reconciliation—an evolving and understandably contested term—through the acknowledgment, restoration, and creation of Indigenous toponyms.
As part of this journey, TEMOSEṈ, Jesse Campbell, and I collaborated on an art-installation project, the Untitled ṮEṮÁĆES map, which is intended to get us to think differently about how we learn about the SENĆOŦEN places and place names around us, cartographically and historically.
Click on the following image to see a virtual, interactive version of the Untitled ṮEṮÁĆES map: 
Read your own way through this blog's territories
- About introduces the first "haptic map" prototype, the Untitled ṮEṮÁĆES map, and those who made it.
- Creating looks at the making of the first "haptic map" prototype. These posts are intended to inspire you to make your own version of a haptic map by showing you how we made the first one.
- Reflecting explores some issues, considerations, and inspirations related to making art-maps, like the Untitled ṮEṮÁĆES map, and more.
- Links lists mapping resources with an Indigenous-led mapping emphasis, as well as information on Indigneous place-name restoration and creation, mostly in and around the Salish Sea.