Perhaps referencing these definitions might help your explanation as well.

"What is a namespace?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namespace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namespace_(programming)

"Should namespaces be reified?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reification        [see third paragraph]

"Is there some kind of shadowing going on?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Lisp        [search for text: "shadowing"]
______

In the ideal... (a Smalltalker's domain...)

Curiously, no one mentions what would be the ideal use of identifiers as handles 
for classes, properties, variables, methods, functions, traits, use patterns, 
instances, computing devices, coding procedures, coding styles, tools, types (if 
needed), and/or concepts even more abstract.

In the ideal, how would you _really_ want to...
  create them,
  remember them, 
  store them, 
  allude to them indirectly,
  communicate with them between programmers, 
  communicate with them between machines/processes, 
  manipulate them (visually, mechanically, and automatically), 
  understand their context, use, language, and purpose, 
  identify who should use them or copy/change them and when,
  identify any restrictions due to authority or ownership,
  identify how they are used,
and/or understand their semantic relationship to natural languages and thought.

In the ideal, are we really limited to an ASCII or Unicode text representation 
of all programming identifiers? Is there nothing more? Are we truly chained by 
legacy systems, legacy programming languages, and common input devices?

Cheers,
Darius

Unicode (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode)