Two double lectures on The Map:

----------------------------------Week 4-----------------------------------

1. Maps and making knowledge2. Maps and philosophies of knowledge

----------------------------------Week 5-----------------------------------

3. Maps, domination and resistance 4. Democratisation and Subversion of

Maps

4. Democratisation& Subversion of Maps

In the next 40 minutes or so…

• Artistic subversions • Alternative world views through

projections• Mapping effects of power• Democratising mapping – parish

maps, participatory GIS and citizen cartography

Artistic subversions

Authority and representational power of the map has attracted artistic engagement and subversion

Guy Debord, 1957

Surrealist map of the world, from Variétés, 1929

Mapping power

Through technological advancements enabling access to and manipulation of spatial data, maps are used to more diverse ends, including mapping manifestations of power

www.worldmapper.org

Land Area

www.worldmapper.org

Fuel use

www.worldmapper.org

$1 a day

www.worldmapper.org

Wealth

Parish mapsLocal people mapping local significance, storiesOwnership of process, locally distinctive modes of abstraction and representationResists evacuation of meaning and particularity in conventional mapping, rather using mapping as means of cohesion and expression

Citizen cartography

• Citizen cartography – particularly using GPS and web 2.0 applications to create copyright free mapping data

• Contesting ownership – this time of mapping data itself

• E.g. openstreetmap.org

Democratisation and subversion of maps

• Political implications of conventional world views have been destabilised by alternative projections

• More radically, by artistic subversions• Recent technological developments

enabling the availability and manipulation of mapping data changing the location of cartography in relation to power

• Particularly, opening up more democratic and oppositional purposes

• Where will mapping go?

Two double lectures on The Map:

----------------------------------Week 4-----------------------------------

1. Maps and making knowledge2. Maps and philosophies of knowledge

----------------------------------Week 5-----------------------------------

3. Maps, domination and resistance 4. Democratisation and Subversion of

Maps

Key points about the map

• Maps are powerful representations of spatial realities

• Their power relies on their partiality – abstraction, mobility, stability

• Different framings of maps (tools, constructions, partial fictions) illuminate different philosophies of knowledge

• Considering the role of maps in relations of power illuminates the inseparability of philosophy from both lived experience of space and relations of power and resistance

Course Outline

• The City: Nicky Gregson (wks 2 & 3)

• The Map: Matt Watson (wks 4 & 5)• Nature: Rupert Friederichsen (wks

7 & 8):• The Body: Jessica Dubow (wks 9 &

10)