The Search for a Radical Cartography

Abstract

A number of recent map publications have incorporated terms like Radical, Counter,and Alternative in their titles, but it is unclear exactly what a radical (or counter, oralternative) cartography would be. This paper postulates some characteristics such acartography (termed radical for convenience) might possess, and explores analogousphenomena in other fields, in search of a paradigm or model for recognizingcartographic radicality.The term mapicity is proposed to instantiate that quality which all maps mustpossess in order to be recognized and employed as maps, and the term radicality isintroduced to identify a quality that would set a radical cartography apart from onethat was not radical.Three collections of maps that are identified by their authors or publishers as radicalare examined for traces of radicality as defined in this paper. In addition, the earlyTwentieth Century painting movement Analytic Cubism (approximately 1907–1914) is forwarded as a model or paradigm for radicality.