Weekly Wave: Special Event on Counter Mapping Re-Examines How We View Mapmaking

On May 2, the WRRC hosted a Special Event, Counter Mapping Articulates What is Between, at which Jim Enote, CEO of the Colorado Plateau Foundation, spoke about mapmaking, maps, and how they shape our understanding of “the way things are.” Following an introduction by WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal, there was a virtual screening of the short documentary, Counter Mapping, about the movement Enote has been developing. As described by Enote, the Counter Mapping movement is a departure from long-standing cartographic conventions, which permit or prevent certain kinds of information-sharing and constrain how the information is framed. Counter Mapping counters these conventions with a legitimate alternative form of “ordering knowledge” and communicating ideas through techniques that “widen our compassion” and deepen our understanding of each other. Enote articulated three basic ideas of Counter Mapping: “1) there are many more ways of knowing than we realize, 2) maps are powerful and often arbitrary, and 3) representing a deeper context of place requires a broader spectrum of imaginative mapmaking.” The presentation was followed by an extensive and lively Q&A discussion with many questions posed by the audience about how to support Counter Mapping efforts, where examples of Counter Mapping could be found, and how they could create their own Counter Maps.