Mapping Emotions: Exploring the Impact of the Aussie Farms Map

Abstract

Counter-mapping refers to the public dissemination by activist groups of maps that visually document particular harms and offenders or sites of justice and prior ownership. Drawing upon green criminology, this article analyses the consequences of using counter-mapping as an activist tool. It examines how media framing of the Aussie Farms map is constructed around particularly polarizing narratives. This interactive map demonstrates the location and proliferation of animal agriculture and animal exploitation industries within Australia. Media framing has generated heated debate among Australian farmers and activists alike by inciting deeply emotional responses to the issues. We explore these common media narratives and their consequences for activists and tools such as counter-maps.

Discourses of Discord: Animal Activism and Moral Judgement

“…Yet, there are other dimensions to this intrusion that need to be unpacked. For example, many farmers are genuinely and extremely fearful of trespass by activists (Barnes & White, 2020). This can be their experience even when none of the farmers, nor any of their neighbours and friends, have actually been targeted by animal activists.…”

“…The Aussie Farms Map Project (now known as the Farm Transparency Project) uses Google Maps to place specific markers that represent various industries that use animals for profit and it includes an online database with links to captured footage, imagery and cases of animal cruelty (Moret, 2019). Commercial media coverage of this map has featured commentary that labels vegan activists as bullies and the federal government Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources declared in 2019 that the map encourages harm against farming families and their children and that it encourages trespass and farm vandalism (Barnes & White, 2020). Regardless of the veracity of these claims, they can have powerful effects on the attitudes and perceptions of animal farmers.…”

“…Regardless of the veracity of these claims, they can have powerful effects on the attitudes and perceptions of animal farmers. For example, one apparent outcome of media portrayals of both the Aussie Farms Maps Project and the periodic farm-based vegan protests is a polarisation in the discourses of farmers and activists around themes such as transparency, safety and welfare, trust and rights, and personal and public interests (Barnes & White, 2020).…”

“…the Aussie Farms Map project), will inevitably polarise opinion. For example, the Aussie Farms Map Project (which has since been rebranded as the Farm Transparency Project) is an Australian not-forprofit animal rights organisation that utilises Google Maps to pinpoint the location of farms within Australia and, in some instances, includes contact details of farmers and captured images and/or footage of the conditions in which animals are kept (Barnes & White, 2020). The map created outrage in the farming community who saw it as invading their privacy and a threat to their safety (Moret, 2019).…”

New Methods to Enhance the Study of Environmental Crimes and New Instruments to Strengthen Crime Prevention

“…The first article in this special issue introduces the use of counter-mapping and activist tools as both a new method through which to investigate environmental crimes and as a means to quantify and demonstrate environmental harm in Australia (Barnes & White, 2020). The second article applies risk terrain modeling (RTM) to study fauna and flora–related illegal activities (e.g., illegal logging, flora and fauna poaching) in two protected areas in Cambodia, for the purposes of highlighting the risk factors associated with these crimes (Cowan et al, 2020).…”