Who gets mapped?

Join the Institute for Advanced Study and the (In)Justice Series on Data & Power to explore how maps shape our understanding of diaspora: migration and displacement, belonging and memory. Our conversation will span the inherently political nature of mapping to how maps can be reclaimed by communities organizing for justice and power. 

Recognizing how, for example, data is mapped to reinforce colonial authority, flatten complex identities, classify and exclude populations, or predetermine election outcomes is only one part of map literacy. We will also discuss what cannot be easily mapped but is just as important: the stories that go beyond what is, or isn’t on the page. For diasporic communities, what new maps can be drawn to challenge dominant narratives and represent memory, movement, or belonging? Bringing together artists, geographers, historians, digital humanities scholars, and community-based practitioners, we will examine the power of mapping, including how communities are using counter-mapping, artistic practices, oral histories, and other digital tools to represent themselves on their own terms.