Introduction
The dataset Register of Migrant Women Landmarks has been developed as part of the COST Action Network 19112 Women on The Move. The idea of the dataset is to list European landmarks established in the memory of women who migrated in their lives. We registered not only street names but the vast array of urban toponyms, from monuments to varied urban infrastructure such as nurseries and hospitals, bridges and parks, as well as natural odonyms. According to our knowledge, this is the first time anyone has tried to map memorializations related to migrant women in the public sphere. With the register we explore what kind of migrant women landmarks exist and where they are located, mapping the presence of their stories in the cultural and political life of Europeans, as well as assessing the relative quantity of these specific landmarks associating notable women and stories of migration. The dataset makes these memorials and the stories of these migrant women visible and accessible and serves as a first sample analyzed in the ORE article ‘Materiality of Memorialisation: Mapping Women Migrant’s Landmarks in Europe’. It is the first data made available from an ongoing project collecting these landmarks, which are regularly transferred an interactive map that is available on the networks’ website (see Underlying data (Bakas et al., 2023))
Methods
The main aim of the landmark data table is to provide the variables of each occurrence in Europe of migrant women’s landmarks. The 1000 rows of landmarks are sorted in columns of variables comprising landmark categories, geo-coordinates, address, country, short description, the identified woman’s occupation, and her standardized names and biographical dates.
For the selection of landmarks, the following criteria were applied:
- We recorded sixteen different categories of commemorative landmarks: burial (cemetery, mausoleum, tomb...); cultural venue (cinema, library, museum, theatre...) educational venue (school, university...); former residence; green space (garden, promenade, square...); housing (flat, council homes...); institute (foundation, research center...); monument (bust, statue...); medical venue (hospital, retirement home…); natural site (bay, lake, waterfall...); plaques (murals, stepping stones); religious venues (church, mosque, synagogue...); sports venue (stadium, swimming pool); street (avenue, boulevard, road...); temporary installation; transport infrastructure (airport, bridge, bus stop, station...).
- All landmarks had to represent a woman or women with a significant episode of migration in their history. In some cases, landmarks with family, married couple or a collective were included if the migrant women had played a significant role and were specifically identified by name or by representation.
The individual migration trajectory should include cross-community or cross-cultural migration, if not cross-border migration. Short distance mobilities within the same cultural sphere, like moving house within a city or between same-nation cities were excluded.
- If there were several landmarks for one woman these would all be included. The landmarks could belong to the same category; for example, a number of streets dedicated to the same person, or represent different types of landmarks, such as street names, buildings and statues.
- All the landmarks recorded are located in Europe, and we did not place any historical boundaries to the selection of landmarks, or only record landmarks denoting European women.
For the selection of landmarks, the following methods were used:
To harvest the data, we mined a corpus of academic bibliographies, surveys, indexes and lists on toponyms and gender, as well as the collection of public information notices such as municipal and town hall minutes, local newspapers articles covering toponym news, and national registers and inventories of cadastral databases (with country specific geoportals such as the Romanian ANCPI geoportal, the Walloon Inventaire Centralisé des Adresses et des Rues (ICAR) or the French IGN Géoportail). We then effected a selection by identifying significant migration episodes in the women-based toponyms of the corpus. These results were then cross-referenced for the appearance of these women’s names in geolocalisation web services (such as OpenStreet Map, Google Maps or MapQuest) which included a wider range of toponyms. Landmarks identified were entered by a first contributor to a Google form and were then checked for conformity of data by a separate contributor before it was included on the landmarks register spreadsheet. This demanded extensive interdisciplinary cooperation within the COST network and allowed for outcome-oriented student workshops.
Ethics and consent
Ethical approval and consent were not required.
Acknowledgements
The following persons have contributed significantly to the collection of data (in alphabetical order
Barros del Río María Amor, Bostenaru Dan Maria, Bozat Derya, Bronstein Jenny, Comino Alba, Donato Stellamarina, Dobrivojevic Tomic Ivana, Drejerska Nina, Falk Franceska, Ferreira Sónia, Goginava Lela, Guerinoni Martina, Guerry Linda, Hamatsou Anastasia, Hristov Petko, Januszewska Edyta, Konstantinova Viktoria, Laidla Janet, Langrognet Fabrice, Le Normand Brigitte, Lukkarinen Jean, Mansell Charmian, Miljić Božena, Mitirc Jelena, Moriarty Elaine, Parsons Katelin, Peja Laura, Pelckmans Lotte, Räsänen Pauliina, Ristovska-Josifovska Biljana, Roman Nicoleta, Salenius Sirpa, Šarić Tatjana, Schunka Alexander, Sitchinava Tatiana, Souliman Victoria, Tarišková Natália, Topa Joana, Turbina Daria, Vella Mary Grace, Yingst Lee Alexandra, Zavarche Camelia
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