Mappings
Denis CosgroveIn their diverse expressions, maps and the representational processes of mapping have constructed the spaces of modernity since the early Renaissance. This title explores what mapping has meant in the past and how its meanings have altered.
With essays by Jerry Brotton, Paul Carter, Michael Charlesworth, James Corner, Wystan Curnow, Christian Jacob, Luciana de Lima Martins, David Matless, Armand Mattelart, Lucia Nuti and Alessandro Scafi.
Mappings explores what mapping has meant in the past and how its meanings have altered. How have maps and mapping served to order and represent physical, social and imaginative worlds? How has the practice of mapping shaped modern seeing and knowing? In what ways do contemporary changes in our experience of the world alter the meanings and practice of mapping, and vice versa?
In their diverse expressions, maps and the representational processes of mapping have constructed the spaces of modernity since the early Renaissance. The map’s spatial fixity, its capacity to frame, control and communicate knowledge through combining image and text, and cartography’s increasing claims to scientific authority, make mapping at once an instrument and a metaphor for rational understanding of the world.
Among the topics the authors investigate are projective and imaginative mappings; mappings of terraqueous spaces; mapping and localism at the ‘chorographic’ scale; and mapping as personal exploration.
In their diverse expressions, maps and the representational processes of mapping have constructed the spaces of modernity since the early Renaissance. This title explores what mapping has meant in the past and how its meanings have altered.
With essays by Jerry Brotton, Paul Carter, Michael Charlesworth, James Corner, Wystan Curnow, Christian Jacob, Luciana de Lima Martins, David Matless, Armand Mattelart, Lucia Nuti and Alessandro Scafi.
Mappings explores what mapping has meant in the past and how its meanings have altered. How have maps and mapping served to order and represent physical, social and imaginative worlds? How has the practice of mapping shaped modern seeing and knowing? In what ways do contemporary changes in our experience of the world alter the meanings and practice of mapping, and vice versa?
In their diverse expressions, maps and the representational processes of mapping have constructed the spaces of modernity since the early Renaissance. The map’s spatial fixity, its capacity to frame, control and communicate knowledge through combining image and text, and cartography’s increasing claims to scientific authority, make mapping at once an instrument and a metaphor for rational understanding of the world.
Among the topics the authors investigate are projective and imaginative mappings; mappings of terraqueous spaces; mapping and localism at the ‘chorographic’ scale; and mapping as personal exploration.
Notes on the Editor and Contributors
Introduction: Mapping Meaning Denis Cosgrove
1. Mapping in the Mind: The Earth from Ancient Alexandria Christian Jacob
2. Mapping Eden: Cartographies of the Earthly Paradise Alessandro Scafi
3. Terrestrial Globalism: Mapping the Globe in Early Modern Europe Jerry Brotton
4. Mapping Places: Chorography and Vision in the Renaissance Lucia Nuti
5. Mapping, the Body and Desire: Christopher Packe’s Chrorography of Kent Michael Charlesworth
6. Dark with Excess of Bright: Mapping the Coastlines of Knowledge Paul Carter
7. Mapping Tropical Waters: British Views and Visions of Rio de Janeiro Luciana de Lima Martins
8. Mapping Modernity: Utopia and Communications Networks Armand Mattelart
9. The Uses of Cartographic Literacy: Mapping, Survey and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century Britain David Matless
10. The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention James Corner
11. Mapping and the Expanded Field of Contemporary Art Wystan Curnow
References
Bibliography
Photographic Acknowledgements
Index
Denis Cosgrove (d. 2008) was Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was the author or editor of many books, including The Palladian Landscape (1993) and Mappings (Reaktion Books, 1999).