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#3

Space & Place I: Critical Mapping & Counter-Cartography

April 1, 2021 12:30–2:00pm EST Module IV: Maps & Space

Critical mapping as practice that presents maps against dominant power structures. Scholars, practitioners, and activists discuss digital spatial practices that disrupt narratives and illustrate collaborative, counter-, and alter-mapping initiatives across the region.

mapping counter-cartography spatial humanities Palestine Egypt Iran

Speakers

Majd Al-Shihabi Palestine Open Maps

Urban planner based in Toronto applying systems thinking across multiple fields. Works with academic and cultural institutions and archives in the region, focused on knowledge production outside traditional institutions. Recent project: Palestine Open Maps, a platform for open-sourcing historical maps.

Nermin Elsherif University of Amsterdam / CHEurope

PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at the University of Amsterdam and Marie-Skłodowska Curie project fellow. Dissertation examines nostalgic discourses of an 'ideal nation' on Egyptian social media, at the intersections of critical media studies and memory studies. Previously taught five years at the German University in Cairo.

Ghazal Jafari University of Virginia

Award-winning designer, spatial historian, and environmental humanities scholar, originally trained as an architect and urban designer. Research focuses on spatial and environmental justice, racialized geographies, infrastructural systems, feminist theories, and immigrant narratives. Founding Director of OPEN SYSTEMS. Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, UVA School of Architecture.

Discussant

Timur Hammond Syracuse University

Assistant Professor of Geography and Environment in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Research interests span the Middle East, Turkey, cultural geography, and urbanism.

About This Session

This session examines critical mapping as a practice that presents maps against dominant power structures. How are scholars, practitioners, and activists using digital spatial practices to disrupt and flip narratives on spatial issues? We look at individual and collaborative initiatives pushing the boundaries of critical, counter-, alter-, collaborative, and re-mapping practices across the region.