Maps, Knowledge, and Power, J. Brian Harley:
“As much as guns and warships, maps have been the weapons of imperialism. Insofar as maps were used in colonial promotion, and lands claimed on paper before they were effectively occupied, maps anticipated empire” (Harley 57).
- Similar to guns and ships, maps carry out the warfare of imperialism. To the extent that maps were used in the marketing of colonialism, and the claiming of lands in theory before practice, maps set the precedent for expansionism.
- Like artillery and battleships, maps have been the tools used by imperialism. Maps predicted new lands, in the way that they were exploited for colonial propaganda and laying claim to as yet unoccupied lands.
- Maps have served as the ammunition for imperialism just as guns and warships do. Maps paved the way for colonization by supporting colonies and depicting unclaimed land as claimed.
Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, Peter Turchi:
“No matter how hard we work to be objective or faithful, we create. That isn’t to say we get things wrong, but that, from the first word we write – even by choosing the language in which we will write, and by choosing to write rather than to paint or sing – we are defining, delineating, the world that is coming into being” (Turchi 14).
- It is impossible to be unbiased, as we create. That doesn’t mean we’re wrong, but we conceive and construct our world by simple choices like the method and language of communication.
- We imagine, regardless of how much we try to be unprejudiced. That just means we portray and make into reality our world by deciding on methods of expression, not that we are wrong.
- It doesn’t matter how much we attempt to be impersonal, since we design. It doesn’t mean we interpret things incorrectly, but that from the very beginning — from deciding on a language to write in to deciding on another art form — we characterize the world we create.
I chose these passages to paraphrase because they encapsulate key ideas in the respective texts, and they contained well-written language that could be broken down and evaluated. Paraphrasing the passage from Harley helped me truly understand the metaphor of how maps are weapons of imperialism, and in a broader sense, instruments of political power and man’s will. Turchi’s passage became more direct and clearer — especially the idea of maps being subjective representations of the maker’s intentions, biases, and experiences — after paraphrasing. I found Turchi a bit harder to paraphrase because it was more difficult to think of synonyms for all the words that he used. However, the process of paraphrasing overall brought to light my strength in describing but weakness in being concise. I’ve found that searching for a way to present my own understanding of the author’s words is a difficult task, because comprehension isn’t enough — paraphrasing is also about being able to reproduce complex ideas using your own language.
