Counter-Maps; Resisting Extractism Through Collective Process
Location
Virtual presentation
Document Type
Presentation
Start Date
4-27-2020 8:00 AM
End Date
5-2-2020 5:00 PM
Abstract
Operating under the assumption that maps are inherently speculative, and have the power to assert a certain desire for the future to be projected onto the landscape, I seek to explore how counter mapping projects can materialize the desire to protect lands against extractive industry through their use of common resources and collective structures. I will be specifically focusing on the intertwining of maps with ejidos, enclosure and extractivism of land in the southern states of Mexico. Analysis was conducted by examining maps of Mexico, created both by the Mexican state as well as counter-mapping collectives. I will focus closely on the processes through which the counter-maps were created, as well as analyze websites of different counter-mapping collectives. In the landscape of neoliberal Mexico the ‘extractive zone’ operates through the privatization of common goods, specifically ejidal lands. The visuals created in response to extractivism by counter-mapping collectives focus on the creation and maintenance of common resources; specifically through the use of free software. I argue that when free software is used as a tool to defend common land and resources it not only enacts a resistance to state and corporate power, but becomes a way of prefiguring a world beyond extractive capital. I hope that this work will change how cartographers use digital space as a tool to enhance material place, through involving more creative and artistic thought in their counter-mapping practices.
Keywords:
Counter map, Prefigurative politics, Speculative visuals, Commons, Extractivism
Recommended Citation
Price, Charlotte, "Counter-Maps; Resisting Extractism Through Collective Process" (04/27/20). Senior Symposium. 2.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/seniorsymp/2020/presentations/2
Major
Latin American Studies
Project Mentor(s)
Janet Fiskio, Environmental Science
April 2020
Counter-Maps; Resisting Extractism Through Collective Process
Virtual presentation
Operating under the assumption that maps are inherently speculative, and have the power to assert a certain desire for the future to be projected onto the landscape, I seek to explore how counter mapping projects can materialize the desire to protect lands against extractive industry through their use of common resources and collective structures. I will be specifically focusing on the intertwining of maps with ejidos, enclosure and extractivism of land in the southern states of Mexico. Analysis was conducted by examining maps of Mexico, created both by the Mexican state as well as counter-mapping collectives. I will focus closely on the processes through which the counter-maps were created, as well as analyze websites of different counter-mapping collectives. In the landscape of neoliberal Mexico the ‘extractive zone’ operates through the privatization of common goods, specifically ejidal lands. The visuals created in response to extractivism by counter-mapping collectives focus on the creation and maintenance of common resources; specifically through the use of free software. I argue that when free software is used as a tool to defend common land and resources it not only enacts a resistance to state and corporate power, but becomes a way of prefiguring a world beyond extractive capital. I hope that this work will change how cartographers use digital space as a tool to enhance material place, through involving more creative and artistic thought in their counter-mapping practices.
Notes
Click here to view this poster at the Office of Undergraduate Research website from April 27-May 2, 2020.