What do Maps do? Understanding Visual Representations of Space

Course Number
LALS 5021 941
Course Code
LALS5021941
Course Key
84258
Day(s)
Monday
Wednesday
Time
5:15pm-8:15pm
5:15pm-8:15pm
Instructor
PENSA, MARIA LAURA
Primary Program
Course Description
Maps can be taken lightly, as innocent illustrations of space, but there is so much more to them than meets the eye. In this course, we will learn how to deal with maps as complicated cultural objects for the social sciences. By learning how to “read” maps, or “make them speak”, we will navigate issues of knowledge and power as they manifest in these documents throughout history and until the present day. We will broaden our knowledge of the Americas, at the same time as we reflect on some classic and urgent topics of history and border making. The class will include a variety of primary sources, case studies, and theory readings that will help us deconstruct maps as artifacts of knowledge and power, but also historical fictions, and hopeful avenues for imagining different futures. Expanding our knowledge about these issues can be reflective and urgent.