Making Things Visible: Cartography as a Cause and a Means of Preventing World Alienation
EDN: OJFKVO
Abstract
According to Hannah Arendt, a hallmark of the modern era is the alienation of the individual from the world, understood, in part, as a loss of interestin the common thingsthat mediate political process. Оne ofthe origins of modernalienationwasforArendtthe discovery oftheNewWorld and the ensuing explosion of cartography. This article attempts to demonstrate the political potential of maps as a means of “re-engaging with the world”. Following Bonnie Honig, it can be argued that the pre-modern tradition of participatory cartography couldhave suchpotential. Reconnectionproposed by thistradition could lie in the transformation of the world reflected on the participatory map into a thing that can serve as a subject of discussion and a basis for the self-identification of the collective. As a positive illustration of the work of participatory cartography today, the article turns to the late work of Bruno Latour. Seeing modern cartography as a means of reproducing the erroneous notion of the Earth as a closed totality of the Globe, Latour proposes as an alternative other principle of cartography appropriate to the age of the new climatic regime. Some of these principles, in particular the identification of intangible and not always visible agents of territory on cartographic projections, formed the basis of hislatest experiment Où Atterrir? In it, the final maps of territories produced by the research participants become a means of making the public’s concerns visible, ensuring the sustainability and accessibility of the politicalspace.
About the Author
I. D. Naumov
European University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ivan D. Naumov — MA in Philosophy, researcher, Center for Science and Technology Studies, graduate student, Research Center Res Publica
St. Petersburg
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Naumov I.D. Making Things Visible: Cartography as a Cause and a Means of Preventing World Alienation. Sociology of Power. 2026;38(2):92-117. (In Russ.) EDN: OJFKVO
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