Overview
This course offers students a conceptual and geographical grasp of key debates within human geography. Most notably, the course will explore how geographers have understood and examined issues of social difference, identity (gender, sexuality - along with race and ethnicity), morals and e...
GEOG10251 – Introducing human geography
Week 2 – Cartographies
Cartography – is the practice of map making. Which can involve: mapping, charting,
surveying, topography, geographic information science (GIS) and satellite imaging
Critical cartography – is the study of the relationship between maps and power
Cartography is considered a powerful tool, as it allowed geographers make claims
around the world
Cartography often involve determining what’s “reality” through different kinds of
representation
However, the decision of what represent reality and how it should be represented is
often very political
There are 5 cartographic ideas about the relationship between representation and
reality (of maps):
- Truths (positivist)
- Texts (postmodernist)
- Propositions (postmodernist)
- Inscriptions (postmodernist)
- Performed (post-representational)
Truth
Cartography seeks to accurately capture and represent relevant features, the scaled
abstraction and spatial arrangements of the earth’s surface through the medium of a
map
The claims of maps being neutral, objective, scientific, simply represent what we see,
aims for accuracy, truth and universal – are positivist and scientific claims
Maps seeks to be truth documents, representing the world as to how it really is.
However, maps cannot represent everything, only strive to represent spatial
information as truthfully and factually as possible
, Cartography involves determining how to best represent and communicate the truth
through: choropleth maps, contour lines and colours
Text
Text are things that can be read through a language, which is used to communicate
concepts and ideas
Maps are text because what and how they represent the world is shaped by: politics,
beliefs and the values of society & culture
Texts have context, which are socially and culturally constructed when it was made
and read
Text are also a form of representation
Propositions
Maps not only reflect how society see the world, but also propose how society
should see the world too, regardless of how different realities might be. Therefore,
making maps propositions
The idea of maps being proposition is reinforced by the cartographic gaze.
Cartographic gaze is: visual (a way of seeing), top-down or slanted view, imagined
(before aerial photography), superficial (focus on surfaces rather than depth) and
geometric
The different cartographic gazes include: imperial vs colonising gazes, militaristic vs
territorial gazes, scientific vs rational gazes, governmental vs disciplinary gazes,
moral or religious gazes
There’s 3 aspects of the cartographic gaze that motivate the western motion of
vision: the role of perspective, the importance of projection and the issues of the
construction of accuracy
It’s impossible to represent
everything, map-makers have to
choose what to represent and
they do so by thinking about
what they want map-readers to
see about the world. Map-
makers can also choose what
not to represent of places,
which is done by hiding these
decision under the perceived
perception of the map looking
accurate
Inscriptions
Maps are considered an inscription. They produce territory and is a tool that draw
conceptual power (such as ownership) into the world (along with the use of walls
and boarders). Therefore, either maps are inscribed into the world or the world is
reshaped into what the maps looks like
, The idea of maps producing territory, is a form of political tool that involves
measuring land and controlling terrain. Territory is also thought alongside economic
and strategic
Territories can be created through cartographic gaze – how you look at things
influence how you might inscribe them into the world
The different types of territory created by cartography:
- Political territories
- Economic territories
- Cultural scientific territories
- Moral territories
- Religious territories
- Imperial or colonial territories
- Historical territories
Performative
Maps are always in the state of “becoming” – it’s always mapping, being produced,
consumed and representing
Maps appear stable and natural, even when they’re constantly remade for different
usage. Therefore, maps cement the idea of stable socio-spatial relations within the
world, when in reality it’s not true
Maps not only propose how society should see the world, but they’re also moulding
the world. E.g. colonial mapping – colonial mappings saw the world as a blank
surface whereby power could be inscribed. This meant, present inhabitants were
ignored, or their culture were translated into the language of the coloniser
Maps are made according to how we’ve seen maps before
However, the term counter-mapping tries to redraw boundaries
Where, when, how and who maps influence the mapping outcome
Mapping is a constant negotiation of representation and realities, as mappers
redraw maps and landscapes constantly change
Summary
The representation of the world is highly politicised:
- Maps reinforce cultural, social and economic power (through the size of the
landmass)
- Map-makers are likely to make maps according to their own world views
- Those views can influence/shape how people see the world too
- Which in certain political, economic and cultural contexts - makes room for
territorial inscriptions into space
- That becomes an ongoing negotiation and reterritorialisation through mapping
and counter-mapping practices
Week 3 – Historical and Postcolonial Geographies
, What’s post-colonialism
Colonialism VS imperialism
Imperialism is an unequal human and territorial relationship involving the extension
of authority and control by one state or people over another.
Imperialism involve cultural, economic or political domination of metropolitan
centres over an outreaching territory.
The imperial arrangement is usually contiguous (as in a country took territories that
neighboured to them, e.g. the Mongol empire).
Colonialism is the implanting of settlements in distant territories.
The colonial arrangements are usually non-contiguous (as in a country took
territories that’s side-by-side).
Colonialism is the domination and/or dispossession (depriving people of land and
property etc.) of the majority of indigenous, and even enslaving them, by the minority
of colonisers.
The territories are taken specifically and strategically, to create a networked state
system where resources can be traded. E.g. Africa in 1900 is a very contiguous
continent, taken over by many different type of European empire like the French
West Africa, as they had minerals like gold and cobalt. The British empire is non-
contiguous, very spread out but not many territories, however the British empire is a
strategic territory – as they had territories along the route of travel around the
world, such as Gibraltar because it controls the Mediterranean, so it has strategic
importance
Are we currently in post-colonialism?
We currently live in a relatively free-colonial world. As colonial states gain
independence through decolonialisation/withdrawal.
The degree in which the colonial impact/presence has left those colonial states is
debateable, as there’s still ongoing instability and economic & political & cultural
tension that remained, e.g. northern and southern Ireland. So, it can be argued the
process of decolonialisation is ongoing
Post-colonialisation – are nation-states or regions that had colonial state or power
withdraw territorial control over them (aka decolonisation). E.g. India, Pakistan and
Egypt
Settler-colonialism – are nation-states that had colonial powers withdraw to a
devolved political structure, which continues to hold territorial control over an
indigenous minority. E.g. Australia, USA and British Overseas Territories
The process of colonisation and decolonisation continue to have a major impact on
international geopolitical structures, which mean it doesn’t fit into either category of
post-colonialisation and settler-colonialisation. E.g. Hong Kong and Palestine
What make post-colonialism geographic
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