Link to Session Platform

Chairs(s):

Derek Alderman, Univeristy of Tennessee

; ,

Description:

Dr. Celeste Winston (2021), in her recent Annals of the American Association of Geographers, argues "infrastructures are material systems that organize and sustain life" (7). Within Geography, no piece of infrastructure is more closely associated with the discipline than the map. Long central to the way Geographers' have come to see the world and have visualized the organization of space and place maps and the attendant spatial understanding maps provide is an infrastructure of visualization that helps specialists and the broader public understand their place in the world. More recently, a range of technologies are being employed outside what many consider the more technical and specialized practices of trained cartographers. This development has opened broader discussions about how we visualize and use maps and their potential to affirm the organization of space for a more life-sustaining existence. This session aims to bring together a diverse set of scholars to engage with the broader question of counter-mapping, visualization, and the role of maps in broader struggles for social justice. Papers can either be historical or contemporary and focused on specific examples or the broader technical questions of how we map and how we can increase the infrastructure of empowerment central to the remaking of the world is more just and sustainable ways.

References:
Winston, C (2021). Maroon Geographies. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 1-15.

Non-Presenting Participants Agenda