Shiloh Krupar, 2015, “Map Power and Map Methodologies for Social Justice,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 16.2, 91-101
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43773699
“The map, perhaps the central referent of geography, is, and has been, fundamentally an instrument of power. A map is an abstraction from concrete reality which was designed and motivated by practical (political and military) concerns; it is a way of representing space which facilitates its domination and control.”
Yves Lacoste, “An Illustration of Geographical Warfare,” 1973
“Maps are active; they actively construct knowledge, they exercise power and they can be a powerful means of promoting social change.”
Jeremy W. Crampton and John Krygier, “An Introduction to Critical Cartography,” 2006
INTRODUCTION:
Maps are efficient modes of communication with a strong hold on people’s imaginations. They are usually quotidian functional artifacts that help individuals find their way and comprehend the world (Caquard and Dormann, 2008:51). As graphic representations, maps are short-hand for complex processes, conditions, and concepts. They tell convincing stories by appearing objective through the conscious efforts of mapmakers or, on a more basic level, through what’s shown or left out of the map. With the use of geolocation in everything from hand-held devices to wind farm turbines, mapping is ubiquitous, authoritative, and taken-for-granted. The ways we map, however, are inextricable from violent forms of power: Mapping conventions reflect legacies of imperial exploration, resource extraction, colonization, and state control. These strategic activities have required the collection of more precise data and objective scientific procedures, resulting in what seems to be value-neutral “mirrorings” of space rather than interest-laden renderings of the surface of the planet.
This paper considers the role of maps and power dynamics of contemporary mapping in political struggles—specifically, how maps are political and how mapping can be a political act. First, the paper examines the genealogy of map power, defined as a way of representing space as an abstraction from concrete reality in order to facilitate its domination and control. Second, the paper argues that while maps reinforce dynamics of coercion and manipulation due to map power, maps can be—and are—used as tools to support social movements for liberation and social justice. This is substantiated through the article’s examination of two broad efforts: map critique as a social justice project, and mapping as a method of resistance. The paper concludes by exploring a number of social and policy issues related to mapping technologies and the geopolitics of representation, and by recommending map literacy as an educational tool for envisioning and advocating social change.