Ethnocentrism & Maps - Black Lives Matter - Part 3  


There is nothing inherently "evil" or "wrong" about ethnocentrism in maps.  In fact, it's often a default position, locating the map's creator in the middle of the map or at the top of the map.

Stuart McArthur was one of the first to notice that and he set about to correct it with his "tongue-in-cheek" McArthur Universal Corrective View of the World.
Stuart McArthur's Universal Corrective Map [Part 7 of 14]
 
There is also an archival video clip that you can download for free. Watch Stuart being interviewed in 1979.

Our SEEING THROUGH MAPS book states in Chapter One: "Each Map Has It's Own Point of View". That chapter is available as a free download here. The entire book reinforces the notion that maps are simply "points of view" based upon the values, priorities, and vested interests of the mapmaker (or the person who hired the mapmaker). A section of Chapter 4 is dedicated to the long history of maps with South-on-top ... beginning in AD 200, continuing to a 1501 map by German cartographer Erhard Etzlaub. The whole point of a South-up world map TODAY is to get the viewer to question the assumptions they hold about the "truth" and understanding that the truth can be seen from many perspectives (see SEEING THROUGH MAPS pages 44-52).
 
HERE IS THE PROBLEM: If a person, or country, or culture is unconsciously ethnocentric (and does not recognize the self-centeredness of a map they are using) that can lead to bias, prejudice and oppressive behavior. That's one of the primary motivating forces that led Arno Peters to create his Equal Area Peters Map ... discovering that Africa (and all of the Southern Hemisphere) was diminished in size and importance in all the commonly available maps available in the 1970s. Arno explains in this video clip.
 
This tendency towards self-centeredness is what led ODT to publish an entire series of South-on-top maps, including some rare archival maps created by cartographer Russell H. Lenz using an art technique called "stippling."

*************************************

I want to assert ...
We have an opportunity to expand human consciousness if we put ourselves in the "others'" shoes... How does that feel? What sensibilities does that encourage? Do we feel less important if our country isn't "front & center"? 
 
Related to this are several free downloads available courtesy of Helen Spector, including "Reflections on How I See the World" and associated worksheets.
 
Before we became world map publishers, for several decades ODT provided corporate culture change training, coaching and consulting related to cultural diversity, self-directed work teams, and empowerment (How to Manage Your Boss training programs). These materials are still available as downloads - many of them at no charge.
 
So if you follow the trajectory of our work - the common thread is to get people to think "outside the box" of their cultural patterns of thinking. I think we've done a pretty good job of that. And overcoming ethnocentrism in maps is an important part of the story.
 
Along that road, I found many kindred spirits ... foremost among them has been cartographic critic Denis Wood, who summarizes it quite well in this clip. Go to the 2 minute, 20 seconds mark on this video.
 
I have received both hate-mail as well as thoughtful responses from people who are critical of my previous emails about Black Lives Matter (see links below). At the beginning of my career, I decided that being popular was not nearly as important as stimulating people to consider a worldview broader than they might otherwise have.
 
My apologies to anyone who was made so uncomfortable that they had deep-seated reactions of antipathy to what I wrote. My intention was to create a dialogue and an exchange of ideas. To those who thoughtfully disagreed with me ... it is my hope that we can all start to see things less from an "either-or" perspective and perhaps more from a "both/and" point of view. And with ODT's pending retirement it will be up to others to carry those conversations forward in the map business. 

After all, I can learn quite a bit more about the world when I don't insist that my point of view is the only correct one. And I expand my vision and understanding of the world  when I am open to listening with an open mind to others who might have a very different perspective than the one I have become accustomed to, or a point of view that is at odds with my core values. I probably won't be changing those core values, but I can become a more aware person when I can listen respectfully to viewpoints at odds with my own. If there is any legacy I wish to leave behind, that's it. Far more so than "every classroom should have a Peters map" or a Hobo-Dyer map, or anything else. After all, our website is called Many Ways to See the World, and that would suggest, at the very least, that we each only see part of the whole truth. It is always good to have a reminder of that foundational principle.
 
*********************************

Perhaps you missed our earlier newsletters: 
                         and  
Please share the above links on social media.
To reach us call 800-736-1293 or email us at [email protected]
Sincerely,
Bob Abramms
ManyWaysToSeeTheWorld.org    413-549-1293           Find us on Facebook