ABSTRACT
The Politics of Naming In this section, the importance of language and other cultural codes are explored in more depth. We have shown that the connotations of cultural codes are actively interpreted by the ‘reader’ and that, while they are open to different readings in practice, these tend to be constrained by dominant social values and popular conventions of interpretation that can be dissected along the lines of key social divisions from which they are viewed. Language can be a source of intense ethnic rivalry; in some instances it can be used to belittle, abuse or, as in the example quoted below, almost to deny the separate existence of unique and complex cultures.
