The constitutive power of maps in the Arctic

Maps matter because they propose ways of viewing the world and dealing with political issues in the world. They are part of a popular visual language which both experts, amateurs, scientists, and politicians refer to and use in order to come across as effective and knowledgeable communicators. Hence, much of politics is conducted through the use of visuals (Weber 2008), like maps. In my dissertation project, a key argument and contribution is that maps are not only political but also part of constituting politics. Hence, the map itself is not only made and used with particular purposes in mind, it is also reproducing particular assumptions about the world. Maps do not only representwhat is but also “what is not yet” (Corner 1999:214). For example, maps can show the prospects of natural resources yet to be discovered. Thus, they do not simply report about existing phenomenon, but also propose ways of seeing and dealing with those phenomenon (Wood 2010).

In order to illustrate my argument, I consider three contemporary maps of the Arctic and how they propose what can be thought of and envisioned in the context of Arctic futures: a world-map using the (Web)Mercator-projection exemplified by Google Maps; a map representing the variations in the Arctic sea-ice extent coming from the NSIDC; and a map representing the petroleum potentials in the Arctic Ocean basin made by the USGS. Seeing maps as ‘artefacts’ (Hansen 2017), I develop an analytical framework for how maps are constituted by politics, drawing on elements from visual IR, visual methods analysis and analysis of maps within critical cartography. Moreover, I deconstruct maps as ‘visual-text’discourses and I discuss how the problematizations in the maps enable certain visions for the future of the Arctic region, while silencing others.