Mapping the World:
Cartography and the Modern Imagination
History 95N – Fall 2013
MWF 9:00 – 9:50 a.m., Bldg 240, room 110
SYLLABUS FOR STUDENTS ENROLLED FOR 5 CREDITS
Professor Kären Wigen
, 725-5282
History Corner (Bldg. 200), Room 109
Office hours: Tuesdays 1-3 (other appointments welcome)
Maps are a ubiquitous feature of contemporary culture: so indispensable, and so disposable, that thousands are churned out every day. Yet not so long ago, maps were both rare and strange. When and why did the modern culture of cartography come into being? How did they alter the spatial organization of human society? And are Google Earth imagery, GPS, and digital maps changing our relationship to the earth—and each other—yet again?
This course will introduce students to a range of research in the evolving field of map studies. Each of the four core texts is an interdisciplinary hybrid, drawing fromgeography, history, and visual studies. Together, they illuminate cartographic artifacts from many angles, including sociology, psychology, politics, and the arts, asking how maps are deployed in state-making, way-finding, conquest, development, globalism, tourism, pedagogy, and community activism. Our focus will gradually zoom in from the global to the local, culminating in a field-trip to San Francisco and an exercise in mapping the Stanford campus. Friday class-time will often be used for guest presentations or to tourfacilities on campus, including the Map Library and the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA).
As this is a seminar class, thoughtful preparation and participation are crucial. Students will be asked to do the assigned reading for a given day before coming to class; topost a comment & question on the reading most Mondays; and to bring the assigned reading to class each session. Additional assignments will include leading discussion, locating maps on particular themes, writing one 3-page reading-response and two 5-page essays, and participating in a variety of hands-on map and atlas exercises. We will work together on writing skills, with the help of a concise handbook on college writing. For final projects, 4-credit students will design, lead, and write up a tour of SF, while 5-credit students will design and annotatetheir own maps of campus, culminating in a collaborative “counter atlas of Stanford.”Grades will be based on participation (40%), the short reading response (10%), the two 5-page essays (30%), and the final project (20%).
This course satisfies the requirements for the ‘Social Inquiry’ Way-of-Thinking.
Required Texts (available at the Stanford Bookstore – please purchase a copy of each)
Ackerman, Maps: Finding Our Place In The World ($65)
Wood, Rethinking the Power of Maps ($30)
Hayes, Historical Atlas of California ($40)
Solnit, Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas ($25)
Harvey, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing($16)
Recommended:
Wood, Everything Sings($32)
Week 1Coming to maps
What is a map? How should we read them? Our authors this quarter all approach cartography from distinctive angles. How does each define their subject & their project for readers?
Mon 9/23“This is not a map” (graphic article by Kreiger & Wood – pdf)
* Assignment: bring a campus map to class
Wed 9/25Maps, 1-12
Historical Atlas of California, 6-7
Rethinking the Power of Maps, 1-27 (intro + part of ch. 1)
Infinite City, vii + 1-9
* Assignment: copy out one sentence that captures the approach of each book
Fri 9/27Maps, chapter 2 (“Mapping the World”)
The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, Introduction + ch. 1
In-class slide-show: “Sea-scapes on Japanese world maps”
Week 2Maps and the State
The connection between the map and the modern state is an intimate one. Why have modern rulers invested so heavily in cartography? What kinds of work do maps perform for rulers?
Mon 9/30Rethinking the Power of Maps, 27-38
Historical Atlas of California, pp. 10-73
- Assignment: Post a comment & question on reading to Coursework
Wed 10/2Rethinking the Power of Maps, 39-44 & chapter 8
In-class exercise: mapping Palestine; “what is a counter-map?”
Fri 10/4The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, ch. 2
* Assignment: 3-pp reading response(covering weeks 1-2)
In-class slide-show: “The curious career of an ancient province in Japan”
Week 3Exploring, Surveying, Traveling
Another waymodern people use maps is in connection with travel. What characterizes wayfinding maps as a genre? How are exploration and travel linked with the state?
Mon 10/7Maps, chapter 1 (“Finding Our Way”)
Rethinking the Power of Maps, chapter 3
- Assignment 1: Post a comment & question on today’s reading
* Assignment 2: one-paragraph idea for final project
Wed 10/9Historical Atlas of California, 74-81, 110-127, 204-211, 216-219
The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, ch. 3
Fri 10/11* Meet in main lobby of Green Library
Introduction to reference atlases & San Francisco bird’s-eye-views
(keyed to next week’s unit, & subject of essay due next Friday)
Week 4Cities, Regions, and Bird’s-Eye Views
Compared with global or imperial mapping, representing a single town or region seems relatively straightforward. But is it? What makes maps at this scale appealing? What work do they perform?
Mon 10/14Maps, chapter 3 (“Mapping Parts of the World”)
Historical Atlas of California, 82-101
- Assignment: Post a comment & question on today’s reading
Wed 10/16Historical Atlas of California, 148-175, 182-189
The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, ch. 4
Fri 10/18* Assignment: Essay on San Francisco Views Due (5 pp.)
* Meet at Mitchell Earth Sciences Bldg. for tour of Branner Map Library
with Julie Sweetkind-Singer (meet in the lobby of Mitchell E.S.B. at 9:00)
Week 5Participatory Mapping in the Digital Age
How have social movements used mapping? How does digital technology change the playing field?
Mon 10/21Rethinking the Power of Maps, chapter 5
Infinite City, Maps 1-13, 18, 21
- Assignment: Post a comment & question on today’s reading
Wed 10/23Rethinking the Power of Maps, chapter 6
The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, ch. 5
- Assignment: Post a comment & question on today’s reading
Thursday 10/24Extra-credit lecture @ 4:15 –Dr. Jo Guldi, “Participatory Mapping” – Lane 203
Fri 10/25Guest: Professor Guldi
Vocabulary sheet for next Monday’s reading will be handed out
Week 6Thematic Mapping
What is the role of thematic cartography in the public sphere? Who does GISat Stanford?
Mon 10/28Maps, chapter 5 (“Visualizing Nature and Society”)
- Assignment: Post a comment & question on today’s reading
Wed 10/30Historical Atlas of California, 128-147, 194-203, 226-237
- Assignment: Analyze 3 maps in Hist. Atlas of California in light of what you learned from chapter 5 in Maps. Come prepared to present your maps to the class.
Fri 11/1 The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, ch. 6
* Meet in the SSRCClassroom in Green Library, Main floor
Presentation by Patricia Carbajales on GIS projects at Stanford
Week 7Map as Commodity, Map as Art
Most maps today are mediated by the market. How is this related to the surge in contemporary art that plays with cartographic conventions? Can maps encode desire? fear? humor?
Mon 11/4Maps, chapter 7 (“Consuming Maps”)
Rethinking the Power of Maps, chapter 7 ( cont. next page)
Infinite City, Maps 19, 22
- Assignment: Post a comment & question on today’s reading
Wed 11/6Everything Sings (on reserve): intro + 8 maps of your choice
In-class exercise: Japanese Edo-eramaps & views
- Assignment: Post a comment & question on today’s reading
Fri 11/8* Meet at Cantor Art Museum (main entrance)at 9 am for “Mapping Edo”
* Assignment: Review essay onweeks 6 & 7 readings due (5 pp.)
Blank maps of SF will be handed out for Monday’s assignment
Week 8Bringing it Home
Mon 11/11Infinite City: Look closely at allmaps; read text for Maps 1, 2, 11, 21
* Assignment: Prospectus for final project due (2 pp)
Wed 11/13No class; individual meetings to discuss final projects
Fri 11/15* Meet in classroom and walk to CESTA for introductory tour
Sat 11/16* Field trip to San Francisco, 9 am – 2 pm
Week 9Maps R Us
Mon 11/18Maps, chapter 4 (“Mapping American History”)
- Assignment: Post a comment & question on today’s reading
Wed 11/20In-class exercise: maps in the media (no formal assigned reading)
* Assignment: Bring in a map from this week’s news
Fri 11/22* Assignment: Finalmap-projects due; bring 2 copies to class
Thanksgiving Holiday
Week 10Cartographic Imaginations
Cartographers frequently map imagined realms. How should we understand this kind of cartography? How does it relate to more conventional mapping? Why and how does it matter?
Mon 12/2Maps, chapter 6 (“Mapping Imaginary Worlds”)
- Assignment: Post a comment & question on today’s reading
Wed 12/4The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, ch. 7-8
In-class exercise: revising your review essays
Fri 12/6(No reading)
* Assignment: Review Essay rewrites due
1