Imagining a Critical Geopolitical Cartography

Abstract

While maps have long been inf luential in the dissemination of geopolitical ideas, the critical geopolitical project often frames maps as evidence of the discourse it seeks to displace. As a result, very few maps appear on the pages of the field's most prominent journals. This paper explores this phenomenon and argues that novel approaches to mapping may actually strengthen critical geopolitical scholarship. We argue that scholars can learn much from contemporary approaches in critical cartography to provide geopolitical analysis with new, informative visualizations. We demonstrate this argument with an alternative cartographic representation of Kashmir. This paper makes two key contributions to critical geopolitics: (i) that alternative cartographic representations are well suited to aid in critiques of normative geopolitical ideas and (ii) that the map presented in this paper is but one way to illustrate emerging critical geopolitical scripts. Our hope is that this brief intervention to 'take back the map' will encourage likeminded scholars to (re)consider the merits of maps in articulating geopolitical narratives.

Exploring a critical legal cartography: Law, practice, and complexities

“…Moore and Perdue argue that embracing novel approaches to mapping may actually strengthen critical geopolitical scholarship. Thus, they put forward critical geopolitical cartography as a “conceptual and practical approach to re‐engage scholars with maps constructing alternative representations of geopolitical space” (Moore & Perdue, , p. 892). To demonstrate a critical geopolitical cartographic approach, they reimagine a map of the disputed space of Kashmir.…”

“…To demonstrate a critical geopolitical cartographic approach, they reimagine a map of the disputed space of Kashmir. Rather than a conventional geopolitical map that includes internationally recognized borders and cross‐hatching of the contested area, Moore and Perdue take a radical cartographic approach using isolines, such as we would see on a topographic map, to depict “contours of political influence emanating from state actors” (Moore & Perdue, , p. 898). The very unfamiliarity of this map turns our attention to Kashmir's ambiguity and disorderliness due to the decades of conflict in the region and gives voice to the uncertainty experienced by those living in the contested region.…”

The smallest ideological and political battlefield: depicting borders on postage stamps – the case of Israel

“…One way to maintain and enhance an imagined community is the use of visual communication. Many scholars have demonstrated that visuals are among the most powerful ways to convey messages on any subject to a society (see Banks ; Goin ; Leewen and Van Jewitt ; MacEachern and Monmonier ; Moore and Perdue, ; Panofsky ; Tufte ). Hansen () finds that the use of maps, for instance, helps produce a spatial shift in nationalist discourse and demonstrates how these projections of national space gained increasing legitimacy.…”

The intertwined geopolitics and geoeconomics of hopes/fears: China’s triple economic bubbles and the ‘One Belt One Road’ imaginary

“…A major document, Visions and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21 st Century Maritime Silk Road, was co-authored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission.In 2014, following the authorization of the initiative, the official Xinhua Agency published its OBOR map in Chinese and English (see Map 1). This map helped to visibilize and governmentalize the new spatial imaginary(Moore and Perdu, 2014;Pickles, 2004). Such meaning-making devices fuse the spatial hopes and cartographic simplicity in ways that are readily communicable by party leaders, diplomats, official presses, think tanks, consultancy firms, and other agents.Simple cartographic techniques such as territorial lines in primary colours (here, blue and orange) and nodal dots (here, cities/ports) translate the abstract idea of OBOR into a simple visual representation of a connected land-sea mass.…”