Previously, I looked at maps as a navigating medium. They make life simpler by laying out cities and towns making it easy to locate one’s destination. However, maps are more telling than this. In actuality, maps are a potential story telling platform. Constantly changing, they share the relationship between groups of people among spaces, connections between events, but most importantly they develop new perspectives on the world we live in. Drawing a map allows us to bring to life, the world we wish to see or examine critically. Therefore, we may create beautiful maps that educate new students on programs and buildings on a college campus or we create a map displaying a city’s gentrification to criticize public policy.
In the process of creating a map, one has the power to produce new social organizations and relationships between people. This results in new forms of solidarity because people can locate and connect themselves to others. For instance, by connecting the oral histories of people who were evicted from their homes, we not only identify areas of gentrification but unite the people suffering from such injustice. Amidst the alienation they suffer, those who were evicted can find unification and connectivity when sharing their stories. I found this highly surprising because the map can have three visible effects: political, educational, and emotional. It builds a political argument by localizing the areas of gentrification in communities. It educates society about where this is taking place and it unites those suffering from eviction or homelessness.
