See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/284527444

Maps and Politics

Article  in  Geographical Review · July 1998

DOI: 10.2307/216026

CITATIONS READS

5 918

2 authors, including:

Jeremy W. Crampton
Newcastle University
107 PUBLICATIONS   4,430 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Histories of critical mapping View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Jeremy W. Crampton on 25 November 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS 453

The nine chaptersin part 3 dovetail,but do not overlapwith, the previous arti-
cles.This section presentsa more thematic,regional,and somewhateclecticaccount
of human-environment interactions,with chapterson dairyfarming,tourism,lum-
bering, and the significanceof environmentalperception in the creation of land-
scapes.It is especiallypleasingto discoverthatthe editorsincludedtwo articlesin this
section that addressthe importanceof the nativeOjibwacultureand economy in the
northern reachesof the state,a topic that had previouslyreceivedlittle attention in
the geographicalliterature.Steven E. Silvern'swell-researchedand interestingac-
count of the geography of Ojibwa treaty rights and Thomas Pearson'sthought-
provokingstory of the wild-rice harvestat Bad Riverareespeciallynotable and will
be of interestto many readers.
It is difficult to find weaknessesin this fine collection. The maps, photographs,
bird's-eyeviews, and othergraphicillustrationsareeffectiveaccompanimentsto the
majority of articles,and the cover photographby Wisconsin photographerH. H.
Bennett evokes the spirit of place and time that the editorsseek to convey.The edi-
tors' goal of eliciting a sense of place through a great number and wide variety of
contributions is a difficulttaskto accomplishbecauseit requiresthoughtfulediting
and an intimate knowledge of the topic. WisconsinLandand Lifehas achievedthat
goal, and it is a valuableand much-neededadditionto the literatureabout the state.
Generalreaderswho are interestedin the geographyor history of Wisconsin, and
anyone who is concerned with broaderquestions of regional characterand place
identity,will find this book very informative.This collaborativeeffort by a diverse
group of geographerswith a variety of specialtieswill also serve as an excellentre-
source for teachingWisconsingeography;both undergraduatesand graduate-level
students will learn much from the volume.-CAROL J.ROSEN, Universityof Wiscon-
sin, Whitewater

MAPSAND POLITICS.By JEREMY BLACK. 188pp.;maps,ills., refs.,index. Chicago:

Universityof Chicago Press,1997.$35.00 (cloth), ISBN 0226054934.
In this book JeremyBlacksets out to show thatmapsandmappingareinherentlypo-
litical. Black,a historian at the Universityof Exeter,denies that maps are innocent
recordsof the landscape,claiming insteadthat they are tools for political interests.
This relationshipbetween mappingand political interestshas substantialhistorical
roots, although Blacklargelyconfines himself to the eighteenth century and later,
with an emphasison twentieth-centuryexamples.Despitethiswell-establishedrela-
tionship, Blackarguesthat most map usersand mapmakersarenot cognizantof the
extent to which maps are politically imbued: "[M]ost maps and mapping do not
seem to bear any referenceto politics to the map-purchaserand user,whose princi-
pal accessto cartographyis when he or she is lost.... Most purchasersand userssee
the developmentof map-makingas a sciencebasedon changesin mathematics,per-
spective and surveying"(p. 9).
Does Blackmake his case?Aftera first,generallytheoretical,chapter,he tackles
the problem of projectionsand global representationsin chapter2, including such

This content downloaded from 128.163.2.206 on Wed, 25 Nov 2015 18:29:54 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
454 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

well-known examplesas the Petersprojectionand the leftistStateof the WorldAtlas,

by MichaelKidronand RonaldSegal(1995).Thesearealso subjectsof recentinterest
to cartographers;for example,how childrenfrom differentcontinentssee the world
(work by Thomas Saarinen)and how companiesuse global metaphorsin their ad-
vertising(workby PatrickMcHaffie).The intent is to untanglehow seeminglyinno-
cent representationsreproducenationalistor corporatepower.Chapter3, devoted
to socioeconomic issues, is one of the longer and richerchapters.Chapter4, an ex-
amination of how political outcomes (elections) are mapped,cites the innovative
work of Daniel Dorling, who has developed a number of unusual cartogramsof
Britishpolitical and social life. The last two chaptersdealwith "Frontiers"(chapter
5) and "Waras an Aspect of PoliticalCartography"(chapter6).
In order to convince us of his case,Blackmust show that most map usersare in-
nocent of the political penumbra of maps and that mapmakersdeliberatelyuse
maps to furthertheir partisaninterests.Furthermore,we should be shown why this
matters.It must be demonstrated,in otherwords,why aremapsnecessarilypolitical
and how this affectsor evenharmspeople.As forthose politicalintereststhemselves,
they would presumablywant to know how to use maps to furthertheir own claims
(for example,duringthe Dayton PeaceAccords,which cartographicallypartitioned
Bosnia).
Blackdoes makehalf this case,but it is the easierhalf.The book is tremendously
rich in examples of how maps havebeen used to furtherparticularinterests.Often
these aresurprisingor thought provoking.Forinstance,Blackcitesthe caseof an in-
habitantof Kentwho is "providedwith more informationaboutthe situationin dis-
tant Westmorelandthan in nearby Pas-de-Calais,which is in a different nation-
state"(p. 12). Blackdoes not takethe simple position that mapswith political inter-
ests are "wrong";a distinction can be made between a map with a purpose that
serves an interest (what is the point of a map without a purpose except as an aes-
thetic artifact?)and a map thatpropagandizes.This is the same distinctionwe make
everydaywhen we acknowledgethe differencebetweena politicalessayand propa-
ganda.Justwhere this line lies is a nice point; no doubt it variesgreatlyfrom person
to person and from time to time. In fact,it might be interestingto look at maps that
are now deemed propagandisticbut that were acceptedas legitimateat the time of
publication,in orderto revealhistoricalcontext.(I havenot examineda companion
book by Black, entitled Maps and History: ConstructingImages of the Past [1997]). In
this vein we may cite the Petersprojection or the countless propagandamaps of
WorldWarII put out by both the Nazis and the Allies.Why and to what extentwere
these maps adopted by their proponents at the time (ca. 1974-1990 for the Peters)? To
what extent arewe similarlybeholden to map intereststoday,and does it follow that
we can use maps to fulfill our own interests?If so, why does it matter?
It is these latterquestions that are not satisfactorilyansweredin Mapsand Poli-
tics. Insteadof providing a systematicanalysisthat is sensitiveto historicalchange,
Blackhas chosen to use a sequenceof individualmaps,hoping that they will cohere
into a unified analysis.The dangerin this approach(which does havethe advantage

This content downloaded from 128.163.2.206 on Wed, 25 Nov 2015 18:29:54 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS 455

of bringingto our attentionmanyblatantpoliticaluses of maps) is thatthe skeptical

readermay simply dismiss this set of maps as politicized,but not other maps. Or,if
all maps are politicized, what can or should be done about it?What are the ethical
implications for mapmaking?Blackdoes not, in other words,presenta good theo-
reticalaccount of the power of maps.
This lack of a theoreticalperspectiveis not necessarilyBlack'sfault. Cartogra-
phers themselves,who might be expected to have engagedwith this point by now,
havethemselveshardlyaddressedthe topic beyond admittingthat (some?)maps do
have interests. And until fairly recently (the 199os), the prevailingparadigm re-
gardedmaps as mere communication devices, in the same way in which we might
describe a car as a transportationdevice and not as one of the most profound im-
pacts on the culturallandscape.Alternativeviews havecome fromhistoriansof car-
tography, most notably Brian Harley,who, in the last years of his life, tried to
deconstruct the power relationsof maps (and who receivesshort but decent treat-
ment from Black),MatthewEdney,who has made a specialityof the Britishimperial
cartographyin India, and ImagoMundi,the journal of historicalcartography.
Mapsand Politicsprovidesa basic account of the culturalpolitics of maps. Even
if maps areonly a tool for spatialanalysis,thereis still everyreasonto developa good
account of their implications, of how they work, and of their ethics.-JEREMY
CRAMPTON, GeorgeMason University

THE HEROICEARTH:GeopoliticalThought in WeimarGermany,1918-1933.By

DAVID THOMAS MURPHY. xv and 338 pp.; maps, bibliog., index. Kent, Ohio:
Kent State UniversityPress,1997.$39.00 (cloth), ISBN0873385640.
The title of this book, borrowedfromAdolf Grabowsky'sStaatundRaum,depictsin
almost moving fashion the role of geocentrism in German geopolitical thought.
More than any other, the Germanvariantof geopolitics constituted an intriguing
blend of environmentaldeterminismand romanticism.In the wordsof DavidMur-
phy,"Theearthtook the roleof hero in political-geographicnarrativesof the geopo-
liticians, decisivelyshaping national histories,the characteristicqualitiesof ethnic
groups, and even individual personalities"(p. ix).
In TheHeroicEarth,Murphyseeksto understandthe role of geopoliticalthink-
in
ing WeimarGermanyas a preludeto the Nazi policies of the ThirdReich.Accord-
ing to him, the study of geopolitics was in many ways more alive and more
influentialduringWeimarthan duringthe Nazi period (after1933),yet it is the latter
period that has receivedmuch more attention in the academicliterature.Murphy
seeks to redressthis imbalance.He acknowledgesthat geopolitics acquiredsome
prominence under the Nazis, assuming at times the role of a quasi-officialstate
foreign-policydoctrine,but it is preciselyfor this reasonthat it also lost "thevitality
and diversity that had made it popular in the WeimarRepublic"(p. 23). As time
passed, some geopoliticians were co-opted by the Nazi regime, and others were
effectivelysilenced. The year 1933,therefore,in some ways markedthe end of the
floweringof geopolitics and its popular resonancein Germany.

This content downloaded from 128.163.2.206 on Wed, 25 Nov 2015 18:29:54 UTC
View publication stats
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions