The migrancies of maps: complicating the critical cartography and migration nexus in ‘migro-mobility’ thinking

ABSTRACT

As recent contributions to this journal have evidenced, little effort has been made to revise the eroded nexus between cartography and movement in mobility thinking, especially when movement is considered in the context of forced and undocumented migration. The existing literature is particularly overshadowed by the emphasis of critical cartography on the deciphering or countering of ideologically driven cartographies that prevent experimenting with maps differently, i.e. as multi-expressive experiences and navigational performances of migration. The critique of the immobility of maps further obscures the sensitivity of contemporary map studies to new mobile grammars. In this paper, I further complicate the relationship between maps and migration by moving through and beyond the existing critical stance. Drawing on the expressive and actionable qualities of maps in the European migrant crisis, I explore the ‘migrancies’ of maps as evocative visual scripts (iconotexts), emotional mediators (iconobjects) and digital connectors (actionable objects) that are performed differently by the actors involved in migration. Through the revision of the critical cartography and migration nexus within wider ‘migro-mobility thinking’, I advance potential research routes that are both in accord and discordant with the legacy of critical cartography.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical cartography
• migration studies
• mobility
• immobility
• evocative mapping
• navigation

Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to the editor Peter Adey and the anonymous referees for their detailed advice and comments. I also thank Tania Rossetto for her valuable feedback on earlier versions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The Lucify media map can be accessed here: https://www.lucify.com/the-flow-towards-europe/.

2.. A recent map by Frontex in which aggressive red arrows are replaced by calm blue circles: https://frontex.europa.eu/along-eu-borders/migratory-map/.

3.. An example of cartographic iconobjectivity on Getty Images:

https://www.gettyimages.it/immagine/refugee-map?family=editorial&phrase=refugee%20map&sort=mostpopular#license.

4.. Refugees Map Services offered by Yuma Map: https://www.jumamap.com/.

Additional information

Funding

This article has been published under the frame of the Mobility & Humanities project of the University of Padova’s Department of Historical and Geographical Sciences and the Ancient World (DiSSGeA). The Mobility & Humanities project is funded as a Project of Excellence (2018–2022) by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).