Cartographic Anxiety
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2019
Abstract
Diverse and sometimes subtle, sometimes overt, cartographic anxieties constitute an essential component of the history of cartography and its deployment in a range of discursive contents. Cartographic anxieties are those provoked by, accompanying, or associated with maps and mapping, in any period of modern cartography, from the Cartographic Revolution through the 21st Century. These anxieties may be evinced by the makers, professional or lay users, or persons represented in or affected by maps and mapping. There are three loose categories of anxieties as they manifest from the 16th Century through today: first, anxieties arising from the map's military origins and association with state-based violence; second, anxieties related to the map's remarkable ability to advance the strategic programs it often instantiates; and, finally, worries emerging from the map's essential insufficiency as a representational medium that necessarily distorts the subjects of its representational efforts.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Second Edition
First Page
65
Last Page
68
Recommended Citation
Barrett, C. (2019). Cartographic Anxiety. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Second Edition, 65-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10516-5