-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: counter-maps and map collections/libraries
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 14:02:07 -0400
From: Grabach, Kenneth A. Mr. <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]>
This question, "Should counter-maps be part of a maps collection?", I
think deserves a good answer. The simple answer, of course, is "It
depends". Here is a longer answer that deals with the question the
short answer raises.
What does it depend upon? It depends, mostly, on the collection, but
also on some other factors.
First, of course, is whether such a map is available to be acquired for
a collection. It is moot to consider acquiring a map for which there is
no source, either as an online link, or to acquire a physical copy.
Second, one would need to know that the map in question is indeed a
counter map, as opposed to something else. It could be that counter
maps are available, but not necessarily identified in any way that one
would be aware of, unless possessing knowledge about the issue for which
the map is a counter argument. It seems to me that thematic maps, being
opinion of authors or a collective body, are counter maps to others, anyway.
Third, and most important, is the real answer: Does the map fit into
the collection in terms or geographic coverage, thematic content, or
significance of the creator or producer. If yes to these questions,
then probably it doesn't matter whether it is a counter map, or not.
Thematic importance to a collection would help determine whether counter
maps, as such, should be in a collection. That is, counter maps as
thematic content. However, this one is more difficult, and touches on
the question of identifying maps as counter maps, in the same way one
might look for propaganda maps, or what have you, where the argument is
part of the theme, rather than merely to be an example of presentation
of some other subject matter. Threats to Western Europe during the Cold
War, or the hegemony of Western Europe on Russia by a European missile
defense system, are examples that come to mind. These often show up as
ephemera in news articles and the like, rather than as separately
published maps. It seems to me that this is the challenge for
identifying this category, as well. If the intent of the map is to
present a view-point not covered by conventional cartographic means or
sources, the challenge is to find such maps in the first place. One
would need !
to obtain access to non-mainstream voices for the subject in question,
and to know or expect that maps expressing the views of these voices are
to be found.
This last suggests that someone would have already identified a need for
such maps, at least for some particular issue (rights of an indigenous
population, or of various indigenous populations, as an example).
Again, and in summary, the answer really depends on the interests,
focus, thematic and geographic coverage of the collection, and of the
organization the collection supports. Gone is the day when a library
collection can aim to collect 'everything,' because of space, financial
considerations, and subject interests. It is too expensive of space, or
of computer server bandwidth, to try to cover everything in the world,
in the hope that someone, someday, might want it. It is also costly in
time to try to identify items. Again, this is for the general interests
of a collection. A specialized interest pre-supposes that space,
finances, and the time to find them, are available to a collector.
Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
Maps Librarian Phone: 513-529-1726
Miami University Libraries
Oxford, Ohio 45056 USA
-----Original Message-----
From: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Angie Cope, American
Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 9:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: counter-maps and map collections/libraries
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: counter-maps and map collections/libraries
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2011 08:34:15 -0400
From: Peter Rogers <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Greetings:
I am a MLS student at the University of Buffalo who has a background
in Environmental Studies and GIS teaching and research. One of my
interests is the topic of "counter-maps." The term, counter-map, dates
from a 1995 article on forest resources in Indonesia by Nancy
Peluso. Harris and Hazen (2006) define counter-mapping as "efforts
to contest or undermine power relations and asymmetries in relation to
cartographic products and processes [and] any effort that fundamentally
questions the assumptions or biases of cartographic conventions, that
challenges predominant power effects or mapping, or that engages in
mapping in ways that upset power relations" (p. 115).
There is an extensive discussion of the concept in Wood (2010). Some of
the approaches related to and overlapping with counter-mapping are
participatory mapping, community mapping, ethnocartography,
self-demarcation, and protest mapping (Chapin et al, 2005). An early
and important example discussed by Wood is the Inuit Land Use and
Occupancy Project of the late 1960s and 1970s.
As part of my MLS studies, I am exploring how such counter-maps might
fit into more conventional map libraries and collections. I have a
couple of questions that I would like to put to the Maps-L community.
1) Is anyone aware of any map collections/libraries which include such
counter-maps and/or have a counter-map section? I have so far been
unable to find one.
2) Should counter-maps be included as part of map collections/libraries?
If so, should they be integrated directly into the main collection or
should they have a separate section?
3) Should map collections/libraries provide tools and resources to
enable counter-mapping? This would include books, articles, links to
groups such as http://www.ppgis.net/, and freeware mapping software.
Thanks for your consideration of my questions,
Peter Rogers
References
Harris, Leila and Helen Hazen. (2006). Power of Maps: (Counter) Mapping
for Conservation. ACME 4(1):99-130.
Peluso, Nancy. (1995). Whose woods are these? Counter-mapping forest
territories in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Antipode 27(4): 383-406.
Wood, Denis. (2010). Rethinking the Power of Maps. Guilford Press.
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