Cartography of Protest and Social Changes

This panel discussion will take place at Conflux HQ on Sunday, September 14, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Project Description::

The spread of global positioning systems, interactive geolocating tools and social networks have ensured that mapping is even more fashionable than the new black.

New technologies have not just freed us from the curse of impossibly difficult to fold and unfold paper maps, they have freed geographical data themselves. At least, that’s what it says on the box. Until recently, the representation of territory was coming “from above”. Maps were conceded exclusively by structures of power. Today instead, they are built by individuals who re-frame the urban space according to new coordinates.

The panel will introduce the work of a new breed of cartographers who know that even the most innocent-looking map has its own agenda and that far from being neutral accessories which would merely help you find your way in urban space, maps are often used as instruments for controlling and shaping beliefs. Conversely, maps can be at the service of protest and social change.

Speakers: Lize Mogel, John Emerson and Brooke Singer.
Moderator: Régine Debatty.

"In 1997 the Sophia Smith Collection (SSC) at Smith College received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to process eight collections: the papers of Constance Baker Motley, Dorothy Kenyon, Mary Kaufman, Frances Fox Piven, Jessie Lloyd O'Connor, and Gloria Steinem and the records of the Women's Action Alliance and the National Congress of Neighborhood Women. These six individuals and two organizations were chosen in large part because of their impressive achievements, as 'Agents of Social Change,' the name by which the project became known."

"A collection of digital images containing more than 100 pamphlets published by political and social pressure groups in the United States. Topics include the American Indian Movement, Asian Americans, birth control, Black Panthers, Hollywood Ten, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Rosenberg Case, Sacco-Vanzetti Case, Scottsboro Boys, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and Wounded Knee. From the Michigan State University Libraries."