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Geography 4711: Winter term, 2002 (3 credits)
Cartographic Representation: Critical Perspectives on Mapping and GIS

Brief Outline
Designed primarily as a ‘capstone’ course for students who have completed the third-year GIS and Cartography course or a combination of cultural and historical courses, this course investigates the manner in which cartography has been engaged as a means of codifying space, place and territory over the past millennium. The course covers three themes:
        1. agency and motive in historical and contemporary cartography, including GIS;
        2. science, method and the mapping of modernity; and
        3. Mapping third spaces of post-modernity - alternative map spaces and other media.
In all of the above, the intention is to focus our attention on the theoretical issues of mapmaking and GIS, issues we so often neglect in favour of practical, ‘how to’ approaches. In setting this broad context, the course also provides opportunities to evaluate your own discussion and research into mapping and GIS. A ‘project’ portion of the course provides a large amount of flexibility for individual work, in secondary sources or through a practical GIS project in physical or human geography. These projects will be reported on at the end of the course, providing material for the key analytical themes of the seminar outlined above.

Administrative information
Instructor: R. Summerby-Murray
Pre-requisites: Geog 3711 and third year standing; or permission of the department
Format: Seminar
Time and location: Tuesday 2:30-5:20pm, Hart Hall 215
Texts:
J. Pickles (ed) Ground Truth: The Social Implications of Geographic Information Systems (New York: Guilford, 1995)

Ground Truth is the first book to explicitly address the role of geographic information systems (GIS) in their social context. Contributing authors consider the ideas and practices that have emerged among GIS users, demonstrating how they reflect the material and political interests of certain groups. Chapters also discuss the impact of new GIS technologies on the discipline of geography, and evaluate the role of GIS within the wider transformations of free-market capitalism. Presenting thought-provoking essays by leading scholars, the book lays the groundwork for a critical rethinking of GIS that will open up an important debate. (For reviews from the publisher's web page, click here)

Structure and Evaluation
Weeks 1 - 6: Exploring theoretical literature on cartography and GIS

Weeks 1-4: Historical cartography, agency and motive, colonial mapping, new media
Weeks 5-8: GIS as representational tool, its role in geographic education, the seduction of scientific method, the terra incognitae of ‘cybernetic capitalism’ and ‘technoscience’.
Assessment: 3 presentations to class on a directed reading with associated written commentaries posted to the class web page for discussion prior to class) (3 @ 15%)
For Tuesday 15 January, please read J.B. Harley (1989) "Deconstructing the Map" Cartographica 26(2), 1-20 (Will be on course reserve and I'll try to have a copy in my office by tomorrow afternoon!)

Weeks:9-11: Individual projects

Individual directed research on a variety of topics with a brief weekly reporting process to the seminar members as a whole and the opportunity for GIS lab or other research assistance.
Assessment: Research paper (40%).

Weeks 12-13: Reporting

Evaluation of individual research projects, not specifically of their research topics and substantive materials/findings, but of the methods of cartographic representation used. The critical evaluation makes connections to the themes developed in the theoretical section of the course and is presented orally in class and then submitted as a written critical essay.
Assessment: Critical Essay (15%)

In detail:
The seminar is particularly concerned with issues of agency, motive and structure within historical and contemporary cartographic practice, including the application of GIS. Readings will consider the use of cartography as an instrument of nation state control, both historically and in contemporary settings. Further, our discussion will address the use of scientific method and rationalism in cartographic practice, arguing that both historical mapping and contemporary GIS practices need to be evaluated critically. There is a growing literature on social and theoretical implications of GIS, of which the Pickles volume is just one example. Further, the seminar will explore the role of GIS in geographic education.
Why is this topic important? First, the ‘new’ cultural geography, with its emphasis on identity, control, authorship and power, offers a useful set of analytical tools to evaluate historical mapping and contemporary GIS. In subjecting historical and contemporary cartography to this sort of questioning, we are engaging debates about text, context and meaning. Second, over the past decade, researchers, scholars, business and the media have adopted GIS technologies uncritically without questioning the motivations and manner of thinking that lies behind them. As critical thinkers, we must ask the same questions of this latest mode of representation as we have of earlier methods. Ultimately, all of these approaches to cartographic representation are ‘geographical information systems’ and one of our responsibilities as informed geographers is to understand these systems, their methods, motivations, strengths, weaknesses and societal context.

Optional Readings for the really keen:
There is a vast literature here. Some worthwhile recent additions that I may make brief reference to include:
J. Black 1997 Maps and History: constructing images of the past (Yale University Press) [An assessment of largely post-19th century historical atlases, with particularly attention to 20th century nationalist, political and military mapping. Useful introduction on the history of cartography to 1800.]
D. Cosgrove 1999 (ed) Mappings (Reaktion Books) [An edited volume of articles that draws heavily on Harley's view that traditional positivistic cartography is much more problematic than initially meets the eye. We will use some of these articles in class.]
J. Cowan 1996 A Mapmaker's Dream: the meditations of Fra Mauro, cartographer to the Court of Venice (Warner Books) [A novel dramatising the supposed thoughts of Fra Mauro, a real historical figure, as he constructed a mappa mundi and thus his world.]
J. Dawson 1988 The Mapmaker's Eye: Nova Scotia through early maps (Nimbus Publishing and the Nova Scotia Museum) [A collection of annotated maps and commentaries on Nova Scotia's cartographic history. Includes the work of significant cartographers in the mapping of colonial Canada.]
C. Delano-Smith and R. Kain 1999 English Maps: a history (University of Toronto Press) [An exquisitely-detailed exploration of English cartography of various sorts. For true cartographic connoisseurs only!]
S. Hall 1992 Mapping the next millennium (Vintage Books) [Applies cartographic technique to numerous scientific applications, including the mapping of 'atoms and chromosones and galaxies'. One of those books where technical science meets philosophy and changes our thinking.]

J. B. Harley (2001) The New Nature of Maps: Essays in the History of Cartography (Johns Hopkins University Press), edited by Paul Laxton
"Focusing on historical examples and the practices of modern cartography, J. B. Harley (1932-1991) offers an alternative to the dominant view that Western cartography since the Renaissance has been a progressive technological, scientific, and objective trajectory of development. This traditional view asserts that maps produce an accurate relational model of terrain and, as such, epitomize representational modernism, which is rooted in the project of the Enlightenment; in sum, maps banish subjectivity from the image. Accordingly, cartographers have promoted a standard scientific model for their discipline, one in which a mirror of nature can be projected through geometry and measurement. Cartographers often mistakenly assess early maps by this modern yardstick, excising from the accepted canon of mapping not only maps from the premodern era but also those from other cultures that do not match Western notions of accuracy. In these essays Harley draws on ideas in art history, literature, philosophy, and the study of visual culture to subvert the traditional, "positivist" model of cartography, replacing it with one that is grounded in an iconological and semiotic theory of the nature of maps. He defines a map as a "social construction" and argues that maps are not simple representations of reality but exert profound influences upon the way space is conceptualized and organized. A central theme is the way in which power--whether military, political, religious, or economic--becomes inscribed on the land through cartography. In this new reading of maps and map making, Harley undertakes a surprising journey into the nature of the social and political unconscious." (For table of contents and reviews from the publisher's web page, click here)
Under construction below. Beware of falling references....

QUICKLINKS TO SEMINAR READINGS AND COMMENTARIES: Click on a highlighted link in this table

Jan 18: Scafi, Mapping Eden	Jan 25: R.S-M, Jefferys	Feb 1: Pickles, Propaganda	Feb 8: Pickles, Democracy
Feb 15: Ethics	Feb 22: Pickles, Virtual Sign

Click here for Individual Research Project Updates

Schedule of Topics and Readings

January 11 Mapping multiple meanings
D. Cosgrove (1999) “Introduction: mapping meaning” in D. Cosgrove (ed) Mappings
J.B. Harley (1992) “Deconstructing the map” in T. Barnes and J. Duncan (eds) Writing Worlds: discourse, text and metaphor in the representation of landscape (London and New York: Routledge).
Brian Harley's essay entitled "Deconstructing the map" created quite a storm in the world of academic cartography when it first appeared. Why was this article (and Harley's other contributions) so important in shaping our present views of cartography as a representational science?
January 18From cosmography to geography: Western European mapping on the eve of the modern era
Seminar reading: A. Scafi (1999) “Mapping Eden: cartographies of the earthly paradise” in D. Cosgrove (ed) Mappings
Other reading:
M. Wintle (1999) "Renaissance maps and the construction of the idea of Europe" Journal of Historical Geography 25(2), 137-
J. Brotton (1999) “Terrestrial globalism: mapping the globe in early modern Europe” in D. Cosgrove (ed) Mappings
J. Cowan (1996) A Mapmaker's Dream: The Meditations of Fra Mauro, cartographer to the Court of Venice (New York: Warner Books. (for the keen)

January 25 Modern cartography and the project of rational, territorial enlightenment
R. Summerby-Murray (forthcoming) “Eighteenth-century Atlantic cartography and Thomas Jefferys’ 1755 map of Chignecto” Cartographica
In what ways might maps be used as mechanisms of exclusion and control? Confine your discussion to either cartography of the European Enlightenment, twentieth century propaganda, twentieth century cartographic literacy, or twentieth century commercial uses of cartography.
Other reading:
P. Carter (1999) “Dark with excesses of bright: mapping the coastlines of knowledge” in D. Cosgrove (ed) Mappings
L. De Lima Martins (1999) “Mapping Tropical Waters: British Views and Visions of Rio de Janeiro” in D. Cosgrove (ed) Mappings

February 1 The uses of cartography in the twentieth century
J. Pickles (1992) “Texts, hermeneutics and propaganda maps” in T. Barnes and J. Duncan (eds) Writing Worlds: discourse, text and metaphor in the representation of landscape (London and New York: Routledge).

Other related reading:
D. Matless (1999) “The uses of cartographic literacy: mapping, survey and citizenship in twentieth-century Britain” in D. Cosgrove (ed) Mappings

February 8 GIS and the new ‘space cadets’
J. Pickles (1995) "Representations in an electronic age: geography, GIS and democracy", Ch1 in J. Pickles (ed) Ground Truth
Much time and energy has been devoted in the academic literature to the discussion of the role of GIS in education. Is GIS a tool or a means of analysis? A technique, or a way of capturing spatial thinking? Review the various ways in which GIS has contributed to the literature on geographic education.
Other related reading:
M. Goodchild (1995) "Geographic information systems and geographic research", Ch2 in J. Pickles (ed) Ground Truth
P. Taylor and R. Johnston (1995) "Geographic information systems and geography", ch. 3 in J. Pickles (ed) Ground Truth

February 15 Ethics, access and commodification

P. McHaffie (1995) "Manufacturing metaphors: public cartography, the market and democracy", Ch. 6 in J. Pickles (ed) Ground Truth
Other reading:
J. Goss (1995) "Marketing the new marketing: the strategic discourse of geodemographic information systems", Ch. 7 in J. Pickles (ed) Ground Truth
M Curry (1995) "Geographic information systems and the inevitability of ethical inconsistency", Ch. 4 in J. Pickles (ed) Ground Truth

February 22Using GIS and the purposes of representational space
S. Roberts and R. Schein (1995) "Earth shattering: global imagery and GIS", Ch. 8 in J. Pickles (ed) Ground Truth

Other related reading:
J. Pickles (1995) "Conclusion: toward an economy of electronic representation and the virtual sign", Ch. 10 in J. Pickles (ed) Ground Truth
D. Wright, M. Goodchild and J. Procter (1997) "GIS: Tool or Science: Demystifying the persistent ambiguity of GIS as ‘Tool’ versus ‘Science’" Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 87(2), pp.346-362.
J. Pickles (1997) "Tool or Science?: GIS, Technoscience, and the Theoretical Turn" Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 87(2), pp.363-372.

February 29 Reading week/independent research

March 7 Independent research (weekly reporting, electronically)

March 14 Independent research (weekly reporting, electronically)

March 21 Independent research (weekly reporting, electronically)

March 28 Reporting and conclusions

April 4 Reporting and conclusions

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Last modified: 22 November 2001