Counter Currents

A journey down the River Don through six counter-cartographies

The practice of mapping, a process of interpretation, translation and representation, has developed modes of work understood today to be the reading of the land. However, by its very nature, the map is a manipulation of reality and a representation of the world the way the map maker sees it. Despite this inherent subjectivity in mapping, we have developed a culture of map reading that is not sufficiently critical of the maps we create. Representations of place, peoples and time continually portrayed through the visual, written and performed arts catalyse ongoing narratives of who and where we are. By contrast, the artefact of the map is not part of this discourse.

Much of this apparent certainty is awarded by the scientific connotations of the term cartography, and the belief that map making is a process of neutral transcription rather than equivocal spatial expression. This study will align with the fundamental motivation of critical cartographers such as J.Harley (1989) in actively seeking to deconstruct the hegemony implicit in many forms of conventional mapping. However, its motivation goes beyond Harley’s in attempting to reconsider what a map may be, not restricting the search to the walls of the geography classroom or the pages of a world atlas. In this manner we can give space for expressions such as the feminist and the anti-colonial and explore the great potential for emancipatory mapping as those such as N.Awan (2017) promote.

This study is intended as a provocation for reflection, rather than a How to... guide for alternative mapping. By interrogating the current conventions through six themes for exploration, I hope this document can become part of a dialogue that inspires a creative flexibility in future mapping.