DECONSTRUCTING THE MAP
Publication: Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization
Volume 26, Number 2
Abstract
Abstract
The paper draws on ideas in postmodern thinking to redefine the nature of maps as representations of power. The traditional rules of cartography – long rooted in a scientific epistemology of the map as an objective form of knowledge – will first be reviewed as an object of deconstruction. Second, a deconstructionist argument will explore the textuality of maps, including their metaphorical and rhetorical nature. Third, the paper will examine the dimensions both of external power and of the omnipresence of internal power in the cartographic representation of place.
Résumé
Cet article s'aventure dans des concepts post-modernes afin de redfinir la nature des cartes comme tant des reprsentations du pouvoir. Longuement enracines dans une pistmologie scientifique de la carte comme forme objective de connaissance, les rgles traditionnelles de la cartographie seront d'abord revues en tant qu'objets de "dconstruction". Ensuite, les arguments d'un "dconstructioniste" exploreront la "textualit" des cartes, y compris leurs natures mtaphorique et rhtorique. Enfin, l'article examinera la fois les dimensions du pouvoir externe et celles de l'omniprsence du pouvoir interne dans la reprsentation cartographique d'endroits.
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Published In
Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization
Volume 26 • Number 2 • Summer 1989
Pages: 1 - 20
History
Published in print: Summer 1989
Published online: 12 October 2006
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