Decolonial Cartography: Reimagining Islands Beyond Colonial Mapping Traditions
By
Cara Flores, Josephine Chambers, Britta Ricker, Maarten Hajer
Summary
This academic article critiques the Mercator projection and colonial cartographic traditions that render islands as small, peripheral, and disposable. Drawing on island ontologies and decolonial thought, the authors (Cara Flores, Josephine Chambers & 2 more) explore how mapping has historically marked coloniality and propose ways to subvert colonial cartographic traditions by reimagining islands beyond the colonial gaze. The article engages with concepts of smallness, disposability, and alternative ways of knowing and representing island spaces.
Source
bskyDecolonial Cartography: Reimagining Islands Beyond Colonial Mapping Traditionsislandstudiesjournal.orgKey quotes
· 3 pulledSmaller areas of land, such as islands, become specks in the ocean and are easily overlooked, seen as poised for the taking, or disposable.
Through thinking with and learning from island ontologies, we aim to conceptualize and illustrate how mapping islands marks coloniality as well as how we could subvert colonial cartographic traditions.
On the widely used Mercator projection of the world, the viewer's eyes are drawn to the big continental land expanses that are in the center.
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