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Choose Maps for Equity
A map isn’t just a map.
The work of alternate cartographer Denis Wood often reminds me that maps are equal parts poetry and science. They can also be some of the most insidious and powerful tools of cultural oppression.
Maps are a very special kind of data visualization because they frame the way we see the world around us. They are fundamental to how we understand our own geographical and social reality. In so much of my work as a data scientist, I am adding layers to maps while automatically accepting (and entrenching) the underlying divisions, boundaries and place names. I can get so deep in the world of zip codes, state lines and city limits that I don’t pause to question my unthinking adoption of these structures and reinforcement of colonial and industrial paradigms.
No map of people is ‘the right one’. Alternative maps which move the locus of power to a place that rebalances injustice and offers a voice to muffled perspectives need to be used. When I saw the maps curated and maintained by Native Land Digital, I was absolutely floored, not only by the evident amount of work and collaboration but by the immediate and powerful message it conveyed. It was a rejection of a power dynamic that had no regard for its perspective. It inserted its voice against a cultural dominance so pervasive that…