Exercise, Pt. 2: Mental Mapping Reflection
Let’s return the map you drew at the start of this module. It is likely that you have already begun to think about how you might draw it differently. Maybe there’s something you would include now that you previously didn’t or perhaps you now imagine using a different style of communication or symbology. Consider the following questions:
- What does it tell you about your understanding of place as it relates to your campus?
- What level of detail do you have in some areas vs. others? Why is that?
- How does your map compare to Dunn’s description of the map of Ottoman Cyprus, discussed earlier in the module?
- How are you (and your identity/positionality) reflected in the map? How does your personal experience factor into what you include or how you represent it? Consider the discussion of different “ways of seeing” in your interpretation of your map.
- What role does emotion play in your mapping?
- Does your map include histories of the campus, or some sense of time/temporality? What does that tell you?
- How did you use symbols, colour (if applicable) or other artistic techniques?
- Do you feel you have anything to unlearn about mapping, including what maps are or could be?
- How would you draw it now? (feel free to draw a new one and find out!)
Write and submit a 1-2 page reflection that takes some of these questions, as well as ideas discussed through the module text/readings, into consideration. Feel free to include an image of your map in the reflection (however, this is not required).