Dear list members,
I am sending out a CFP for the International Symposium on the History of
Cartography in Arlington, Texas, 10-13 October, 2010.
We are inviting for a session that aims to rethink silences and secrecy in
maps (see below or in attachment).
Best wishes,
Jorn Seemann
PhD cand. Geography, Louisiana State University
Departamento de Geociencias, Universidade Regional do Cariri
Call for Papers
Rethinking silences and secrecies in the history of cartography
3rd INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE HISTORY OF CARTOGRAPHY,
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON (UTA)
10 -13 October, 2010
ICA Commission on Maps and Society
Commission chair: Chris Perkins, University of Manchester
Session organizer: Jörn Seemann, Louisiana State University/Universidade
Regional do Cariri, Brazil
In 1988, J.B. Harley’s inspiring paper on silences, secrecy, and hidden
agendas in early modern cartography stimulated a debate on power-knowledge
relations in the history of cartography. Harley addressed maps as political
discourses through which geographic details had been added or left out,
whereas issues such as censorship, intentionality, and strategic interests
underlined Harley’s argument that maps were “socially constructed
perspectives on the world”, conceived “as actions rather than as impassive
descriptions”.
During the last two decades, discussions on authorship, access, and agency
in the mapmaking process have gone beyond Harley’s original ideas that were
based on scholars such as Foucault and Derrida and were limited to chapters
of early colonial cartography. Time is ripe for a call to rethink silences
and secrecy in the history of cartography within the framework of more
recent epistemological debates. What do openness and secrecy constitute in
different contexts? How is mapping enrolled into very different conceptions
of the public and private according to different social contexts, in
different times and places? How are these maps inserted in their respective
societies, and how can they be compared to other forms of power-knowledge?
Within the overall theme of the symposium, the session seeks to present
theoretically informed papers that explore the hidden agendas of maps as
power-knowledge devices in general and/or relate and interpret the
cartographic activities of chartered companies in particular.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- institutional mapmaking policies;
- censorship, restriction and confidentiality in the mapmaking process;
- the “social life” of particular maps used for economic or political
enterprises;
- indigenous knowledge and silences and secrecy in maps;
- mapmaking versus political and economic interests;
- codified maps;
- public reactions to restriction of maps;
- the role of production techniques and technology;
- access to and availability of maps in the history of cartography;
- map production and map use in chartered companies and other economic
businesses;
- theoretical frameworks for the study of silences and secrecy in the
history of cartography.
Abstracts (no more than 250 words) should be e-mailed in English or French
to [log in to unmask] no later than March 08, 2010.
Further details about the conference are available on the site of the ICA
Commission on the History of Cartography:
http://www.icahistcarto.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35&Itemid=37
|