I'm thrilled to announce that Katherine Hankins and I have a new publication (my first publication ever!) in a Focus Section of the Professional Geographer. This Focus Section (titled "Out in the World: Geography's Complex Relationship with Civic Engagement"), highlights "key debates and challenges facing geographers who participate in community-engaged work, explorations of pedagogical and ethical practices, departmental and institutional challenges, and examples of thoughtful applications of geographic knowledge to community-based work" (Barcus and Trudeau 2017). Here, Katherine and I reflect on our collaboration with the Westside Atlanta Land Trust and name Participatory Action Mapping (PAM) as a method that allows communities/cartographers/geographers to create maps and mappings while simultaneously striving to critically consider the practices and traditions these processes of production evoke/challenge. Access the full article via this link (those without institutional access can get a free copy using this link or by contacting me).
Boll-Bosse, Amber J., and Katherine B. Hankins. 2017. “‘These Maps Talk for Us:’ Participatory Action Mapping as Civic Engagement Practice.” The Professional Geographer, advanced online. doi:10.1080/00330124.2017.1366788.
Abstract: Geographers have long been associated with mapping and cartography, as the visual representation of space fits neatly into the wide-ranging discipline that engages both the physical and the social worlds. Mapmaking remained in the domain of experts for centuries until the advent of new mapping technologies, which have widened the possibilities for map-making from experts and non-experts alike. But simply widening participation in map-making does not necessarily democratize the knowledge-production process, as scholars have recently argued. What is required, we suggest, are critically-trained geographers who take seriously both the conventions of professional cartography and the power relations embedded in and reflected in the map-making process and in maps themselves. We name Participatory Action Mapping (PAM) as a methodology that seeks to be as effective in advancing the mapping needs of the public as it is critical in evaluating the processes through which maps are produced. PAM is a practice of civic engagement that borrows from community mapping, Public Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS), and that is deeply informed by Participatory Action Research (PAR). We highlight the contours of PAM through a case study of our work with the Westside Atlanta Land Trust in Atlanta, Georgia.
Abstract: Key words: participatory mapping, PPGIS, community mapping, participatory action research, Atlanta
I also encourage you to check out the other articles in this Focus Section:
Barcus, Holly R., and Dan Trudeau. 2017. “Introduction to Focus Section: Out in the World: Geography’s Complex Relationship with Civic Engagement.”
Robinson, Jonnell A., and Timothy L. Hawthorne. 2017. “Making Space for Community-Engaged Scholarship in Geography.”
Hawthorne, Timothy L., and Olga S. Jarrett. 2017. “Developing the Next Generation of Community-Based Scholars.”
Glass, Michael. 2017. “Understanding the 24-Hour City: Engagement, Positionality, and the Coproduction of Knowledge.”
Block, Daniel R., Euan Hague, Winifred Curran, and Howard Rosing. 2017. “Measuring Community and University Impacts of Critical Civic Geography: Insights from Chicago.”
Rose, Jeff. 2017. “Developing and Sequencing Community Engagement and Experiential Education: A Case Study of Urban Geography Teaching and Research.”
Gribb, William J. 2017. “Field Experience through Community Engagement: A Model and Case Study.”
Jung, Jin-Kyu. 2017. “Mapping Communities: Geographic and Interdisciplinary Community-Based Learning and Research.”
Trudeau, Dan, Laura Smith, and Holly R. Barcus. 2017. “Coda: Making Geography Relevant.”
