Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 22 Apr 2013
Map-Making for Palestinian State-Making
Map-Making for Palestinian State-Making
Page Range: 54 – 74
Maps have long been used as tools to dispossess the colonized, establish sovereign control over territories, and engineer states. Cartographic representations not only serve as national logos that encourage commitment to a nation-state but also inform scientific knowledge and practices that are crucial for state building. This article draws on the sociology of knowledge, Science Studies, critical cartography, and critical geopolitics to provide a contextual understanding of the various social, institutional, and political factors that inform Palestinian map-making practices. In-depth interviewing, ethnography, and collaborative action research provide the methodological tools to do so. This conceptual and empirical framework helps to critique the traditional invisibility of the Palestinian perspective, and its rendering through the eyes of Western colonizers, administrators, and experts, by addressing issues that are relevant to Palestinian stakeholders in the midst of their state- and nation-building project. Les cartes ont longtemps été utilisées comme des outils pour déposséder les colonisés, pour fonder le contrôle politique des territoires et la gestion des États. Les représentations cartographiques sont utiles en tant que représentations nationales, des sortes de logos, qui promeuvent une fidélité à l’État-nation, tout en communiquant un savoir et des pratiques scientifiques centraux à la construction de l’État. Cet article s’inspire de travaux sur la sociologie de la science, sur l’étude des sciences, la cartographie critique et la géopolitique critique, afin de développer une notion contextuelle des différents facteurs sociaux, institutionnels et politiques qui fondent les pratiques cartographiques palestiniennes. Les méthodes employées sont des entretiens approfondis, un travail ethnographique, et de la recherche-action collaborative. Le cadre conceptuel et empirique permet de remettre en question l’invisibilité traditionnelle du point de vue palestinien, et sa traduction aux yeux des colonisateurs, des administrateurs et des experts occidentaux. Il permet enfin de traiter des enjeux intéressant les Palestiniens impliqués dans leur projet de construction de leur État-nation.
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