A street name is more than just letters and numbers on a plaque. It carries considerable meanings associated with the character of a place. Sometimes, those responsible for renaming streets can be a little mischievous. Take, for example, the creators of the Gay Street and Church Street divide in Nashville, Tennessee. In the Bosnia and other Central and Eastern European states, however, the task of renaming streets has not always been such a humorous matter. Many have been changed in Sarajevo following the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia and the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Manifestations of reconstruction subsequent to these geopolitical disturbances have arisen in various forms, such as with bank notes, but renaming streets in particular has been an inexpensive and relatively easy means of putting a new face on the city. In hopes of inventing a new Bosnian nationalism after devastating conflict, symbolic street names have been utilized as means for politicians to “impose their own ideology or values on the public space and strip former regimes of their legitimacy,” (Cosmeanu). However, on some occasions street names have indicated a divided nationalism, as with the tripartite cleavage between Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks/Muslims and their struggle for social and political acknowledgement in Sarajevo. What’s in a Street Name? Renaming Streets in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
 
Street names are symbolic and have the capability of “evoking powerful emotions and of cementing individuals’ identification with a group,” (Robinson et al.). Symbols can memorialize people, places, and events, and in stimulating sentiments of unity through street names, songs, and rituals, can potentially motivate individuals to associate on a larger scale as part of a collective identity with shared values and traditions. These symbolic internal elements can provoke emotions which can then be used to manipulate external features in Bosnia. External political, territorial, and economic functions have had profound influence over redefining national past and identity in a post-Communist society. Renaming streets is evidence to the “’reconfiguring’ of both space and history which is a central component of transformations,” (Light).