Based on sixteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Mediterranean port city of Oran, this article examines why Algerians, after nearly sixty years of independence, continue to use French colonial-era placenames instead of the post-colonial names commemorating the martyrs of the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962). I argue that vernacular place-naming, including the use of colonial-era names, should be understood as a component of what I call the “poetics of grievance,” whereby city dwellers simultaneously draw attention to linguistic and physical urban forms to express dissatisfaction with their post-colonial authoritarian state. By examining local taxi drivers’ detailed knowledge of vernacular placenames and the everyday talk that often accompanies them, this article demonstrates how the colonial past can become a powerful poetic resource for city dwellers, serving as a means to conceptualize the potential for grief and rage to bring about revolutionary change in post-colonial cities.

中文翻译：

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委屈的诗学：出租车司机、白话地名和阿尔及利亚奥兰的后殖民悖论☆

基于在地中海港口城市奥兰 16 个月的民族志实地考察，本文探讨了为什么阿尔及利亚人在独立近 60 年后继续使用法国殖民时代的地名，而不是纪念阿尔及利亚战争烈士的后殖民地名独立（1954-1962）。我认为，白话地名，包括使用殖民时代的名字，应该被理解为我所谓的“委屈诗学”的一个组成部分，城市居民同时将注意力吸引到语言和物理城市形式上，以表达对城市的不满。他们的后殖民专制国家。通过检查当地出租车司机对白话地名的详细了解以及经常伴随他们的日常谈话，