Deep Map and Short Residence as Crucial Elements for a Dialogic Research Method Investigating Places

Abstract

Deep mapping is a research method and working practice mainly developed by artists and scholars that promises to blur the boundaries between science and art as well as between experts and local populations. This article presents the methodological thoughts and results of a deep map project carried out in a rural municipality in the Alpine region of Valle d’Aosta, Italy. Following two years of preparation, in 2019 our research team, consisting of scientists and artists, took up residence in a house in the village for a week. Based on these deep mappers’ experiences and the results of the residence, it is argued that deep map practices can benefit from being combined with a research residence in the area under investigation, as well as by using a dialogic research design to develop a clear ethical and methodological stance. The research experiences further suggest that the creation of multimedia products for deep map projects can help to animate local populations and initiate continuous dialogues between residents and deep mappers. Finally, critical moments of the investigation design are highlighted, and theoretical gaps are addressed with a view to improving the design of future deep map projects.

深度制图是由艺术家和学者主导的研究方法和实践, 有望模糊科学与艺术、专家与当地居民之间的界限。针对在意大利奥斯塔山谷的一个阿尔卑斯山农村地区开展的深度地图项目, 本文介绍了方法论和结果。经过两年的准备, 由科学家和艺术家组成的研究团队, 于2019年在村里居住了一个星期。根据深度地图绘制者的经历和居住的结果, 我们认为, 融合在研究区内的研究性居住、用对话式研究设计去建立伦理和方法的明确立场, 有助于深度制图实践。研究经历进一步表明, 深度地图项目的多媒体产品, 有助于激励当地居民、开启居民和深度制图者之间的持续对话。最后, 本文强调了调查设计的若干关键时刻。为了改进未来深度地图项目的设计, 本文还讨论了理论上的一些缺陷。

El mapeo profundo es un método de investigación y una práctica de trabajo desarrollada principalmente por artistas y académicos, que promete hacer difusos los límites entre la ciencia y el arte, lo mismo que entre los expertos y las poblaciones locales. Este artículo presenta el pensamiento metodológico y los resultados de un proyecto de mapeo profundo llevado a cabo en una municipalidad rural, en la región alpina del Valle d’Aosta, Italia. Después de dos años de preparación, en 2019 nuestro equipo de investigación, integrado por científicos y artistas, se instaló durante una semana en una casa de la aldea. A partir de las experiencias de estos cartógrafos de probada experticia, y de los resultados de la residencia del equipo, se arguye que las prácticas del mapeo profundo pueden beneficiarse si se combinan con una residencia de investigaciones en el área de estudio, y también si se utiliza un diseño de investigación dialógica para desarrollar una postura ética y metodológica clara. Las experiencias de aquella investigación también sugieren que la creación de productos multimedia para los proyectos de mapeo profundo puede ayudar a alentar las poblaciones locales y dar comienzo a diálogos continuos entre los residentes y los cartógrafos. Finalmente, se destacan los momentos críticos del diseño de la investigación y se abordan los vacíos teóricos, con la mirada puesta en mejorar el diseño de futuros proyectos de mapeo profundo.

Key Words:

• art
• cartography
• deep map
• dialogue
• periphery

关键词:

• 艺术
• 制图学
• 深度地图
• 对话
• 边缘。

Palabras clave:

• arte
• cartografía
• diálogo
• mapa profundo
• periferia

Acknowledgments

We would especially like to thank the new and old authorities of Jovençan’s municipality and all of the people of the village who engaged in the project, both those who collaborated with the research and arts activities and those who attended the final exhibition. We are grateful for their suggestions, collaboration, and the warm reception they gave us in the village. Furthermore, we thank the other team members, Alexine Dayné, Paolo Martelli, Daniela Salvucci, Paola Zaramella, Alessio Zemoz, and Dorothy Louise Zinn, for sharing their ideas and this experience with us and the insights they provided us into their ways of doing fieldwork. Additionally, we thank the reviewers of The Professional Geographer for their valuable critiques of our article as well for their suggestions, which have contributed greatly to the improvement of this article.

Notes

1 Further information on this and other projects—similar initiatives are currently being undertaken in other localities in Italy—as well as updates are available at our Web site, www.studisulqui.it.

2 Anthropologist Zinn (2020) described the intriguing links connecting deep maps to ethnography and anthropology, and especially to techniques such Jackson’s “thin description” and the team-based research led by the Italian anthropologist de Martino.

3 We use the term deep mappers to refer to artists, practitioners, and academics with the explicit intention of overcoming, at least partly, the divisions between these groups.

4 Most deep mappers recognize the need not to elaborate a clear definition of deep maps to preserve their epistemological and ontological openness (e.g., Pearson and Shanks 2001; Springett 2015; Roberts 2016).

5 The term multimodal refers to the usage of different media types, such as film, online apps, audio recording, and photography, in combination to enrich the elaboration of ethnographies and maps and thus to make it possible for us to experience or understand the researched situation through a variety of sensory modalities, rather than just a written text.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tobias Boos

TOBIAS BOOS is Researcher in Geography at the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Bressanone 39042, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include critical cartography and mapping techniques, the geographies of the Internet and new media, diaspora studies, and urban festivals.

Daniele Ietri

DANIELE IETRI is Full Professor of Geography at the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Bressanone 39042, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]. His research is focused on urban competitiveness and regional development, with a focus on smaller cities and nonurban and marginal and peripheral territories. He serves as advisor and consultant in the implementation of European Union cohesion policies at the regional and local level. He is producer and coauthor of documentary films.

Eleonora Mastropietro

ELEONORA MASTROPIETRO is Researcher in Geography at the University of Milan, Milano 20122, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research activity focuses on the themes of urban geography, policies and practices of redevelopment in cities, the representation of the landscape in contemporary cinema, and the use of media in territorial research. She is director, coauthor, and producer of documentary films.