Collectively Mapping Borders

In October 2015, I asked North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) attendees in Minneapolis, MN to collectively remap Syria’s borders based on excerpts from my interviews with refugees and humanitarian workers. Participants were given one of six notebooks and various colored pens. Each page had a blank space for drawing, a locator map, and a quote from one of my interviewees—Adiba and Mohammed. My instructions asked participants to sketch a new symbol depicting the border described in the individual’s quote.

I created a composite representation of Syria the combines the techniques used by the NACIS community. By focusing on border symbolization, participants expanded our cartographic vocabulary to better reflect the experiences of those crossing each border.

You can find a full PDF and html version published in Cartographic Perspectives, Visual Fields here.