Feminist cartography and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality: Emotional responses to three thematic maps

Abstract

Key Messages• We researched users' emotional states before and after interacting with three map types visualizing data about female genital mutilation/cutting from the Sustainable Development Goals. • We found that maps evoked users' emotions, but some users found the maps to be clinical and neutral despite the sensitive phenomenon they portrayed. • Our findings support feminist critiques of existing cartographic methods as rational, disembodied science.Thematic maps facilitate spatial understanding of patterns and exceptions. Cognitive ability, spatial cognition, and emotional state are related, yet there is little research about map readers' emotions. Feminist critiques of cartography recognize emotion and affect as legitimate experiences on par with quantitative ways of knowing. We conducted an online survey to measure users' affective states before and after engaging with three thematic map types. The maps showed data from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to achieve gender equality, on the proportion of girls and women aged 15 to 49 who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting. Participants viewed a choropleth, a cartogram, and a repeating icon tile map; completed map-related tasks; rated certain map qualities; rated their affective states before and after engaging with the maps; and answered open-ended questions. The maps piqued curiosity and evoked emotions for most users, while some users perceived the thematic maps as clinical or neutral despite the sensitive topic. After viewing the maps, female participants who were affected expressed deeper engagement in their open-ended comments than males. Traditionally, cartography construes the human experience as male experience and denies or trivializes women's experiences. Our findings corroborate feminist critiques of this disembodiment and entrenched rational rhetoric of maps.La cartographie féministe et l'objectif de développement durable des Nations Unies sur l'égalité entre les genres: les réactions émotionnelles à trois cartes thématiques Les cartes thématiques facilitent la compréhension spatiale des schémas types et des exceptions. Il y a pourtant très peu de recherches au sujet des émotions des lecteurs de cartes, notamment sur la capacité cognitive, la cognition spatiale et l'état émotif qui sont tous reliés. Les critiques féministes de la cartographie reconnaissent l'émotion et l'affect comme étant des expériences légitimes au même niveau que les façons quantitatives d'apprendre. Dans cette optique, nous avons effectué un sondage en ligne afin de mesurer l'état affectif des utilisateurs avant et après avoir consulté trois types de cartes thématiques. Les cartes affichaient des données associées à l'objectif de développement durable des Nations Unies pour réaliser l'égalité entre les genres, soit des cartes sur la proportion de filles et de femmes âgées de 15 à 49 ans qui ont subi une mutilation des organes génitaux féminins (excision). Les participants ont examiné une carte choroplèthe, un cartogramme et une carte carrelée d'icô...

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