Maps and Empire: Uncovering the Instruments of Imperial Ambition

3.00 credits · Undergraduate

This course is an introduction to cartography, which examines not only the visualization of space but also the creation of tools that can powerfully define and delineate space in Political, social, and cultural ways, and in the process give rise to borders and exclude or include people, things, and resources in life-changing ways. It digests several thousand years of mapping in the western and non-western worlds to teach students how maps work and what types of knowledge they express. Students will be exposed to the uses and implications of mapping as an instrument that furthers the ambitions of monarchs, leaders, and even academics. Students will also be exposed to non-western ways of articulating space and reflect on how the digital realm is urgently requiring our society to assess the ways that maps control how we know the world around us. (Format: Integrated Lecture/Laboratory 3 hours)