Topic
Research into the cultural history of the early modern period (15th-19th century) is regularly concerned with questions about geographical space and its cartographic representations. Particularly in relation to extra-European areas and global approaches, the question of the colonial context and representations legitimizing or encouraging colonial regimes becomes paramount. This workshop and masterclass will introduce students who are planning to use cartographic heritage in their research, to theoretical approaches discussing “decolonizing cartographical heritage”, as well as recent research debates on this topic.
As early as 1988 the historian of cartography J.B. Harley pointed at the “silences and secrecies” of early modern cartography, while dismantling the allegedly unbiased scientific and mathematical character of the processes of surveying and mapmaking. After an initial surge in publications addressing colonial mindsets and power relations underpinning early modern maps of the Americas in the wake of the commemorations of the Columbian landfall in the Caribbean during the 1990s, the topic of colonialism and cartography did not become mainstream in the history of cartography.
This changed recently, mainly because of the development of decolonial theory and decolonizing approaches to cultural heritage. Recent research into cartographic heritage is critically investigating ideological aspects of the surveying and mapping process in colonial contexts (Lilley, Schürmann). This includes a recognition that European cartography of extra-European territories is actually a form of colonial violence, by representing the land according to a European gaze, enabling the occupation of indigenous land and partitioning it in such a way that it serves the colonizer, changing the landscape, as well as facilitating exploitation and the extraction of commodities. It is also important to deconstruct the discourses of maps and atlases that remain silent about the territorial rights of indigenous inhabitants and the violence of colonial regimes. Finally, decolonial approaches to the history of cartography are increasingly investigating indigenous mappings in all its forms (iconic, written, narrative) as a way of counter-mapping. This also leads to the investigation of extra-European geographical and nautical knowledge underpinning early modern maps, charts, and atlases that were made in Europe.
The workshop and masterclass will include a presentation and critical discussion of different initiatives to present decolonial approaches of cartographic heritage to wider audiences by means of exhibitions in museums and libraries (UB Leiden, Osher Map Library, Allard Pierson) – and by making use of Allard Pierson’s expertise in making inclusive museum exhibitions. Thus, the students will be invited to create a short fragment for a museum audio guide in order to reflect on the chances and potential pitfalls.
Key-note speaker: Professor Keith Lilley, Queen’s University, Belfast UK
Keith Lilley is one of the PIs of the British Academy co-funded project “Surveying Empires”, a collaborative international research project exploring the landscape legacies of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India and practices of surveying in a colonial context. He is also supervisor of two PhD research projects that are investigating colonial mapping and surveying: “Anglo-Dutch maps of the Indian Ocean”, and “British and Indian urban planning in the 19th century” (looking at Kolkata and Mumbai). Another research strand of professor Lilley is the critical analysis of colonial aspects of English land surveying in Ireland.
Lilley is a historical geographer with particular research expertise in interpreting historic landscapes, maps, and built environments. Funded research projects over the past 20 years include “Mapping Medieval Townscapes”, “Mapping Medieval Chester”, “Linguistic Geographies”, “City Witness”, and “Surveying Empires”. These projects have shaped a broader field of geohumanities, as well as cross-disciplinary research agendas through collaborating with research organisations, non-academic partners and local communities both within the UK and around the globe.
Lilley K D (2020) ‘Surveying empires: Archaeologies of colonial cartography and the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India’, in Kent A, Vervust S, Demhardt I, Millea N (eds) Mapping Empires: Colonial Cartographies of Land and Sea (Springer, Cham), 101-120.
Lilley K D (2018) ‘Mapping the nation: Landscapes of survey and the material cultures of the early Ordnance Survey in Britain and Ireland’, Landscapes 18 (2), 178-199.
Lilley K D and Porter C (2013) ‘Mapping Worlds? Excavating cartographic encounters in Plantation Ireland through GIS’, Historical Geography, 41: 35-58.
Indicative programme
Day 1 (16 May 2025)
Morning:
- Reading and discussion of fundamentals in theoretical and research literature. Presentations and debates prepared by the students.
- Key-note lecture by Prof. Keith Lilley, followed by discussion and (pre-submitted) questions.
Afternoon:
- Presentation by Martijn Storms, curator of the cartographic collections of the University Library Leiden and organizer of the exhibition “Kaarten: navigeren en manipuleren” (2022-2023) and by Reinder Storm, curator at Allard Pierson and organizer of the exhibition “Open Kaart – van atlas tot streetmap” (2023). Followed by discussion, also of the (online) exhibition “Mapping Maine: The Land and its Peoples, 1677-1842”, Osher Map Library, Maine https://oshermaps.org/exhibitions/maine-bicentennial
- Private exhibition and consultation of original maps and atlases from the collections of Allard Pierson/Special collections UvA, by curator Reinder Storm.
Discussion with students about their choice of map(s) and approach for the final assignment, from the collection of Allard Pierson or University Library Leiden.
After the first day the students will start working independently during two or three weeks, analyzing critically the map/atlas or topic chosen by them and reflecting on how this could inform their research projects – presented in a written essay of c. 2,000 words. They will also prepare a public history assignment: producing and recording a one-minute audio about the map/atlas, intended for a museum audio guide and a general public.
Day 2 (6 June 2025)
- Pitches by students of their audio guides and essays, discussion and evaluation
Learning aims and outcomes
This introduction into recent developments in approaches to “decolonizing cartographic heritage” will help students and PhD students who are planning to use cartographic document or spatial representations in their research, by providing them with a theoretical-analytical framework as well as methodologies and vocabulary for analyzing and using these documents.
- Familiarity with recent research literature and theoretic developments on the topic of “decolonising cartography”;
- Learning to read, interpret and deconstruct cartographic documents from the early modern period and to use these in an effective and inclusive way in the respective research projects;
- Understanding, criticizing and discussing research publications;
- Presenting/pitching research;
Learning to translate high-end theory and research outcomes into a spoken public history product (one-minute fragment for audio guide museum) which in theory could be used in a museum context. Reflecting on inclusivity, and possible sensibilities and controversies in relation to colonial history and decolonizing heritage.
Assessment and assignments
- Preparation and active participation in critical reading and discussion of fundamental research literature.
- Preparation and active participation in question and discussion session after the key-note lecture by Keith Lilley.
- Close reading and analysis from a decolonial perspective of one ore more original maps or atlases from the collection of Allard Pierson or Leiden University Library.
- Reflection on the use of heritage maps or other spatial representations in own research: possibilities, caveats and challenges.
- The previous two points to be presented in a written essay of c. 2,000 words.
- A short recording for a museum audio guide, presenting and discussing a cartographic heritage item for a general public (1 minute)
- Presenting the audio fragment and the essay in a short pitch during day 2.
2 ECTS will be awarded upon active participation and completion of these tasks.
(Preliminary) Literature:
Fundamentals:
J.B. Harley, “Silences and Secrecy: The Hidden Agenda of Cartography in Early Modern Europe”, Imago Mundi 40 (1988), pp. 57-76 (19 p.)
Walter D. Mignolo, The Darker Side of Western modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options (Durham: Duke University Press, 2011), chapter 5 The Darker Side of the Enlightenment: A Decolonial Reading of Kant’s Geography, pp. 181-209 (28 p.)
Sarah A. Radcliffe, Decolonizing Geography: An Introduction (Cambridge: Polity, 2022): chapter 1 Why Decolonize Geography?, chapter 3 Decolonizing Geographies, pp. 1-48, 80-112 (80 p.)
Felix Schürmann, “From the head of the snake to the unity of the world: mapping blurred transitions at the Congo estuary, 1859–1880”, Water History July 2024 (21 p.) https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-024-00343-8
Key-note lecture:
Keith Lilley, “Surveying empires: Archaeologies of colonial cartography and the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India”, in Kent A, Vervust S, Demhardt I, Millea N (eds) Mapping Empires: Colonial Cartographies of Land and Sea (Cham: Springer, 2020), pp. 101-120 (19 p.).
Total 167 p.
Please choose one from the three following publications:
Remco Raben, “A New Dutch Imperial History? Perambulations in a Prospective Field”, Low Countries Historical Review 128-1 (2013), pp. 5-30 (25 p.)
Or:
Detlev Quintern, “How to conquer the world? Cartographical knowledge in an early colonialist context”, Postcolonial Interventions 6/1 (2021), pp. 144-184 (40 p.)
Or:
Andrea Pase, “Emptying and Filling: Maps of Inland Africa”, The Routledge Handbook of Cartographic Humanities, ed. Tania Rossetto, Laura Lo Presti (Oxford: Taylor & Francis, 2024), pp. 235-244 (9 p.)
All: visit the (online) exhibition “Mapping Maine: The Land and its Peoples, 1677-1842”, Osher Map Library, Maine: https://oshermaps.org/exhibitions/maine-bicentennial
Image: Petrus Plancius, Insulae Moluccae … [etc.]. Met afbeeldingen van nootmuskaat, kruidnagel en sandelhout (detail). [Amsterdam, Corn. Claesz.?, zonder jaartal]. Collectie Allard Pierson, HB-KZL O.K. 131
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