Changing street names throughout the history of Timor-Leste demonstrate how, in each of these names, specific goals of the state are visible, analyzable, and interpretable.

Street names may be considered inscriptions of memory and ideology in the semiotic sphere; they inscribe insights of a culture into the memory of an individual, reifying and normalizing the socio-political order that they represent. This book traces the history of street names during changing administrations and occupations of Timor-Leste-Portuguese Timor, Japanese occupation during WWII Indonesian occupation, and, finally, independence.

This is a particularly rich line of investigation in areas which have been the sites of paradigmatic regime changes during which the State had a sustained and urgent interest in saturating the population with symbols of shared national unity. The use of language to introduce narratives of nationalism, commemorate mythologized histories, and establish linguistic dominance is especially visible in Timor-Leste. Melody Ann Ross collects data which follow six conceptual “lines” in the city of Dili, each of which has a contemporary colloquial name as well as an official name. She then analyzes the data chronologically and by administrative regime.