A Cultural Interpretation of Inuit Map Accuracy

Rundstrom, Robert

doi:10.2307/215479

Cited by 77 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Recognition of the cognitive gaps between local, especially indigenous, interpretations of space and values ascribed to places, and the pitfalls in 'mapping' them to 'western conventional' twodimensional maps (or GIS layers) in Euclidean space, was strongly asserted early on by e.g. Rundstrom 1990Rundstrom , 1995Orlove 1993. This critical assessment of the potential for mapping or PGIS has been carried forward by e.g.…”

Section: Elite Accumulation Of Benefits Of Pgismentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping Territories, Land Resources and Rights: Communities Deploying Participatory Mapping/Pgis in Latin America

McCall¹

2014

Rev. Dep. Geogr.

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Section: Elite Accumulation Of Benefits Of Pgismentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping Territories, Land Resources and Rights: Communities Deploying Participatory Mapping/Pgis in Latin America

McCall¹

2014

Rev. Dep. Geogr.

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“…Inuit facility with cartography was much remarked on by early explorers, and continued to make a favourable impression on Arctic explorers well into the twentieth century. Many of the early maps of the Arctic, according to Rund-Arctic development and historical analysis strom (25), were in fact drawn by Inuit and then transcribed by explorers. Modern epistemology considers maps to be artifacts, tools to guide exploration and eventually to establish political control.…”

Section: "Disenchantment" Natural History and European Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once this had been done, Inuit maps became scientific knowledge, subject to verification and replication. It also led to a decline in interest in Inuit mapping skills, first by explorers and scientists, and finally by anthropologists (25).…”

Section: "Disenchantment" Natural History and European Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arctic development and historical analysis: the use of historical methodology in addressing current issues in the Arctic

Douglas

2008

International Journal of Circumpolar Health

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Objectives. To demonstrate the applicability of historical methodology to current issues in the Canadian Arctic. Study Design. This is a literature-based analytical historical study, which draws on material from database searches of MEDLINE, Anthropology Plus, POLARInfo, the Arctic Blue Books and Historical Abstracts. Material was also obtained from physical searches of the University of Alberta Libraries and Library and Archives Canada collections, as well as from field research in the records of the Inuulitsivik Maternities. Methods. The historical technique of tracing epistemological change over time, pioneered by Michel Foucault and further developed by Ian Hacking, was applied to the history of Canadian authority in the Arctic. This was linked with epistemological changes occurring throughout Western/Southern culture in this period. The applicability of this historical analysis for current issues in the region was then evaluated.Results. An epistemological shift in Western society has moved authority from traditional human actors in government, medicine and, increasingly, science to statistics, which is seen as both impartial and accurate. Human authorities now routinely appeal to statistical authority to validate policy decisions. This change is as apparent in the Arctic as elsewhere, but it has also opened a space for Inuit practices, rooted in traditional Inuit epistemology, to reassert themselves, provided they can satisfy demands for statistical validity. Conclusions. Historical analysis provides a means to identify the spaces which epistemological change and historical contingency have opened in which social and cultural change can occur.

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“…Arguing that mapping derives from systems of assumptions, logic, human needs, and human cognitive characteristics, they deduced that as cartography increases in complexity, the analytical and intuitive effort needed to produce successful maps will increase. Other scholars emphasize the cultural embeddedness of mapping; maps lend order to the world, not least by materializing a way of experiencing (Rundstrom, 1990;Geertz, 1976). Thus we can conceive of mapping as acting, as opposed to merely recording, and Rundstrom stresses the importance of maps as intracultural communication tools.…”

Section: Gis: Data or Design?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping whose reality? Geographic information systems (GIS) and “wild science”

Duncan

2006

Public Underst Sci

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In taking the landscape-scale view increasingly demanded of natural resource management, scientific assessments make considerable use of geographic information systems (GIS) maps to convey the research findings they develop. Public interaction with scientists over natural resource management issues is therefore frequently mediated by such maps, which can directly influence how the landscape is viewed, and how science findings are communicated and understood. Analysis of the Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study (CLAMS) project in western Oregon reveals that GIS maps play a significant role in how we frame and address natural resource management issues. They can support the role of privileged knowledge as held by the map makers, typically scientists, and may reinforce it by the de facto "map tyranny" that gives primacy to scientific worldviews. But they can also enable broader kinds of inquiry through multiple frames of reference, enhancing story-making opportunities for stakeholders. Which of these trajectories is followed is affected by resource availability and new perceptions of responsibility, each of which reflects social power structures. The CLAMS case study suggests that map user/non-scientists appear less likely to be victims of "map tyranny" the more familiar they are with the technology. Accordingly, they become more likely to push for usable results from it, and more confident about engaging their own knowledge with that of the map maker/scientists.

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A Cultural Interpretation of Inuit Map Accuracy

Cited by 77 publications

References 11 publications

Mapping Territories, Land Resources and Rights: Communities Deploying Participatory Mapping/Pgis in Latin America

Mapping Territories, Land Resources and Rights: Communities Deploying Participatory Mapping/Pgis in Latin America

Arctic development and historical analysis: the use of historical methodology in addressing current issues in the Arctic

Mapping whose reality? Geographic information systems (GIS) and “wild science”

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