First and foremost, Harley writes of maps and their connections to knowledge and power with the established foundation that it is a cultural myth for maps to be truly “scientific” or wholly objective. In all the history and social studies classes taken throughout my life, maps have been presented as fact and evidence: unquestionably reliable sources of information from which to study the past and present. Harley’s essay has helped me overcome the long held beliefs associated with prior teachings and cultural myth, and realize the truth that I’ve sensed all along: that maps are representations of current desires and weapons of political power.
In their basest essence, maps are knowledge. This perspective is a lot more meaningful when we acknowledge that mapmaking has historically been a privilege, benefitter, and representation of the elite / the powers in control. As such, it makes sense that “storage of authoritative resources involves above all the retention and control of information or knowledge“. The making and spreading — or withholding — of maps is essentially the control of knowledge.
In addition, maps are a potent weapon, a use for them which I never would have thought of before, but see clearly now. Politically, they have political, religious, and propaganda uses. They establish and legitimize land and political boundaries, carry out religious intentions, and spread certain ideas and ideologies. Thus, it becomes clear how maps become a powerful weapon in the hands of imperialism.
One reply on ““Maps, Knowledge, and Power””
Hello Emily. I really like how you pointed out that authority can be established through both disseminating and censoring cartographical information. When a government regime prevents the people it controls from learning more about a region or seeing it in a different way, it is essentially forcing them to accept what the regime says is the truth. I would argue that maps used in this way are both weapons and protective gear: they can be used to give people false impressions and enable the regime to erase history and geography, but they can also act as shields that justify the regime’s actions.