Is This Is Not an Atlas an Atlas? On the Pitfalls of Editing a Global Collection of Counter-Cartographies

Abstract

As part of kollektiv orangotango+, we co-edited an international collection of activist, academic, and artistic “counter- mappings.” Because counter-mapping is historically closely connected with, and indebted to, anti-colonial struggles and decolonial politics, we hoped to locate our work within the wider debates about decolonial cartography and the decolonizing of the map. At the same time, preparing, producing, and distributing this publication posed a number of questions and problems. We use this short article as an opportunity to reflect on the editing, publication, and dissemination of This Is Not an Atlas, as well as to trace possible ways beyond the book for Not-an-Atlas as an ongoing project.

From Making Automated Decision Making Visible to Mapping the Unknowable Human: Counter-Mapping Automated Decision Making in Social Services in Australia

“…Mapping is a deeply political act. Halder and Michel (2019) explain, in This Is Not an Atlas , that “maps articulate statements that are shaped by social relations, discourses and practices, but these statements also influence them in turn” (p. 12). The act of mapping is to render a preferred representation of the world, and through this process constitute future relationships between people, culture, space and resources.…”

“…The act of mapping is to render a preferred representation of the world, and through this process constitute future relationships between people, culture, space and resources. To understand this process, critical cartographers scrutinize maps in various ways—methodologically and theoretically—using semiotics, discourse analysis, and deconstructivism (Halder and Michel, 2019; Haley, 1989; Wood, 1992).…”

“…However, the act of mapping is inherently political. Through the act of carving up the landscape with cartographic lines, and through the presumption to name it, flow historical, cultural, economic and political power inequalities and devastating colonial oppression (Halder and Michel, 2019). Categorizing the landscape seems like an abstract act, but it has very real impact on those whose alternative understandings of the landscape are not represented.…”

Kritische Kartographie, kritische Praxis und kritisches Kartieren. Mündige geographische Bildung mit digitalen Karten und Geodaten

“…Kritisches Kartieren öffnet das etablierte und professionalisierte Feld der Kartographie für andere Akteur*innen, sei es in Form von partizipativem Kartieren durch marginalisierte Gruppen, die hiermit eine kartographische Stimme erhalten, dem Feld von Public Participation Geographic Information System oder auch neuen Formen kollaborativer Onlinekarten (Duggan 2019;Bittner & Michel 2018). All dies ist oft verbunden mit Praktiken und einer Ästhetik, die sich gegen die hegemonialen Formen richtet, und vielfach mit einer reflexiven Perspektive, die den konstruierten Charakter und die Entscheidungen kartographischer Rationalität und Positionalität offenlegt und damit zu einer produktiven Destabilisierung der Karte als Medium der Raumkonstruktion beiträgt (Halder & Michel 2018).…”

Contra-cartografias de povos tradicionais nas mtrópoles paraenses: repertórios para um urbano amazônico plural

“…Elas foram reconhecidas como instrumentais para a justificativa dos discursos hegemônicos em favor de formas de viver de sociedades ocidentais, particularmente em suas versões urbano-industriais (ARES; RISLER, 2013). Essas narrativas atingiram de modo particularmente intenso regiões de grande diversidade social e ambiental, como a PanAmazônia, ao promoverem a inferiorização dos povos, o silenciamento de atores sociais e o apagamento dos registros de suas múltiplas formas de vida, tanto daqueles que viviam nas cidades, quanto de outros que habitavam o espaço rural;deixando-o, desse modo, cada vez mais apropriado para a produção de commodities (HALDER, MICHEL, 2018;ALMEIRA, DOURADO, BERTOLINI, 2018).…”