{"id":1791508,"date":"2021-07-29T09:44:38","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T13:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1791508"},"modified":"2021-07-29T09:44:38","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T13:44:38","slug":"dreading-the-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/dreading-the-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Dreading the Map"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dreading The Map\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Wnfd4HRMn3M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sebarrett.com\/home\">Sonia E. Barrett<\/a>&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/caricuk.co.uk\/provocations\/dreading-the-map\/\"><em>Dreading the Map<\/em><\/a> is an explicitly anti-colonial work installed in the heart of one aspect of British colonialism: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rgs.org\/geography\/news\/dreading-the-map\/\">the Map Room of the Royal Geographical Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/caricuk.co.uk\/provocations\/dreading-the-map\/\"><p>Using carefully curated paper maps of the Caribbean and UK that have been shredded into strips, the artist and several black women co-creators used African-Caribbean hair styling techniques to plait the shredded maps. Culturally, such female spaces of hair styling are filled with discussions around self- and community-care, and this black woman-centred cultural practice juxtaposed  the wood-lined walls, globes and portraits of white explorers that typify the building with the music and laughter of black women talking and working together. As a response to the RGS&rsquo;s stated desire to reflect on their history and their building, this was a filling of the space with black women&rsquo;s language, perspectives and practices, a reimagining of what the space can and should mean.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Dreading the Map<\/em> is one of several &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/caricuk.co.uk\/provocations\/\">artistic provocations<\/a>&rdquo; commissioned by <abbr title=\"Creative Approaches to Race and In\/security in the Caribbean and the UK\">CARIUK<\/abbr>.  It has been installed in the RGS&rsquo;s Map Room since March. On 24 May the RGS hosted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qn_q4Vai01Y\">a conversation with Sonia E. Barrett<\/a> about the work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sonia E. Barrett&rsquo;s Dreading the Map is an explicitly anti-colonial work installed in the heart of one aspect of British colonialism: the Map Room of the Royal Geographical Society. Using carefully curated paper maps of&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/dreading-the-map\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[154,1165,1528],"class_list":["post-1791508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-art","tag-colonialism","tag-public-installations","tag-rgs","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4317,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/04\/tube-maps-of-the-thames\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791508,"position":0},"title":"Tube Maps of the Thames","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 April 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Transport for London also operates river buses along the Thames; their maps of the London River Services are very much in the Tube map vein, in both tourist and non-tourist versions: Of the tourist version Ollie O'Brien of Mapping London says this: \"We like the pseudo-tube-map styling, although it could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Transit&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tfl-river-tourist-1024x354.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tfl-river-tourist-1024x354.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tfl-river-tourist-1024x354.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tfl-river-tourist-1024x354.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791968,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/10\/16th-century-map-of-the-caribbean-replaced-with-a-fake\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791508,"position":1},"title":"16th-Century Map of the Caribbean Replaced with a Fake","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 October 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"When an exhibition held in Burgos, Spain celebrating Magellan\u2019s voyage wanted to use the Burgos Cathedral\u2019s copy of Pietro Martire d\u2019Angiera\u2019s 16th-century Legatio Babylonica, which contains the first-ever map of the Caribbean, they discovered that the map had been replaced by a fake. El Pa\u00eds reports (in Spanish) that prosecutors\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antique Maps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/legatio-babylonica-caribbean-1511-1024x704.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/legatio-babylonica-caribbean-1511-1024x704.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/legatio-babylonica-caribbean-1511-1024x704.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/legatio-babylonica-caribbean-1511-1024x704.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1844848,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/08\/in-case-you-thought-the-war-against-the-mercator-projection-was-over-long-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791508,"position":2},"title":"In Case You Thought the War Against the Mercator Projection Was Over Long Ago","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 August 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"A new front has been opened in the never-ending war against the Mercator projection. The African Union endorses Correct the Map\u2019s campaign to replace the Mercator projection (which diminishes the relative size of Africa) with the Equal Earth projection. I think it\u2019s awfully interesting that they\u2019re proposing Equal Earth instead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cartography&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2682,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/08\/empty-maps-and-virgin-territory\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791508,"position":3},"title":"Empty Maps and Virgin Territory","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 August 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The Guardian continues to track the issue of Palestine's absence from Google Maps. In a long essay that is definitely worth your time, Petter Hellstr\u00f6m links the issue with the long history of colonial maps that omitted the indigenous populations that settlers would soon displace. Because Palestine, after all, has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Censorship&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Herman Moll, New England, New York, New Jersey and Pensilvania, 1729. Wikimedia Commons.","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg 1x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg 1.5x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg 2x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/88\/1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg\/1280px-1729_Moll_Map_of_New_York%2C_New_England%2C_and_Pennsylvania_%28First_Postal_Map_of_New_England%29_-_Geographicus_-_NewEnglandNewYork-moll-1729.jpg 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5199,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/10\/counter-mapping-the-amazon\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791508,"position":4},"title":"&#8216;Counter-Mapping&#8217; the Amazon","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"12 October 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"The Conversation\u00a0has a piece on how indigenous peoples in the Amazon are using \"counter-mapping\" to reclaim not only their ancestral lands, but as a way to counter the colonial process of mapmaking itself. Maps have always been part of the imposition of power over colonised peoples. While map-making might be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Human Geography&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Human Geography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/human-geography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/fritz-amazon-1024x762.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/fritz-amazon-1024x762.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/fritz-amazon-1024x762.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/fritz-amazon-1024x762.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2620,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/08\/in-defence-of-the-mercator-projection\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791508,"position":5},"title":"In Defence of the Mercator Projection","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 August 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"In a June 2015\u00a0piece for Al Jazeera America, history Ph.D. candidate Nick Danforth offered a contrarian opinion piece in defence of the Mercator projection. The usual (i.e. Peters) critique of the Mercator is that it emphasizes northern countries at the expense of equatorial countries. Danforth questions the\u00a0premise behind that critique:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cartography&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1791508"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1791511,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791508\/revisions\/1791511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1791508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1791508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1791508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}