How and why have Finns participated in the mapping of the global south during the 20th century? How did the global networks of producing geographical and cartographic knowledge transform in the wake of decolonization?
DEVMAP answers these intertwined questions by analysing Finnish participation in the mapping of different parts of the world, for instance in Nepal, Namibia, Tanzania, Bangladesh, and Egypt, in the context of development cooperation between the 1970s and the 2000s.
By analysing the practices of mapping in these different geographical contexts, the project examines the mobilities of cartographic knowledge and cartographic expertise on different scales. It analyses the maps that were made as a result of development cooperation. The project critically examines the interests that different actors had in the making of the maps, the power relations that existed in making them and thereby seeks to illustrate the transnational practices of “development cartography”.
The project is funded by the Research Council of Finland.