*STS Circle at Harvard* [image: image.png] *Christine Leuenberger * *Cornell University, STS* * * on
*The Politics of Maps: Mapping the West Bank Barrier * Title: The Politics of Maps: Mapping the West Bank Barrier Monday, April 16th 12:15-2:00 p.m. 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 100, Room 106 [image: image.png] Lunch is provided if you RSVP. Please RSVP to sts <[email protected]>@hks.harvard.edu<[email protected]>by 5pm Thursday, April 12th. * * *Abstract:* The West Bank Barrier increasingly reshapes Israeli and Palestinian land-and cityscapes. Its physical infrastructure – which consists of walls and an elaborate fence system - are depicted prominently in some maps, but disappear or are omitted in others. This paper examines how different Israeli, Palestinian, and international governmental and non-governmental cartographic institutions delineate the West Bank Barrier in maps. The focus is on how various visual and textual devices as well as spatial markers are used to communicate certain social and political concerns, construct particular spatial orders, and portray the West Bank Barrier as either a negligible feature of the landscape or as a significant obstacle to the freedom of movement. The cartographic construction of the barrier in maps shows how cartographers’ assumptions concerning its function, the map’s target audience, and the adequacy of various national and trans-national cartographic standards, may provide an authoritative and legitimate, yet, an inevitably political and locally produced, representation of the West Bank Barrier. *Biography*: **** Christine Leuenberger is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University. She received her PhD in Sociology/Social Sciences in 1995 from the University of Konstanz (Germany) and an MA in Sociology of Contemporary Culture from the University of York (England). She was a Fulbright Scholar in Israel and the Palestinian Territories in 2008 and a Fulbright Specialist at Tel Aviv University (Israel) in 2011/12. She is the recent recipient of an NSF Scholars award to study the history and sociology of mapping practices in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. She is also working on the social impact of the West Bank Barrier and on the social history of psychology in the Middle East. A complete list of STS Circle at Harvard events can be found on our website: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts/events/sts_circle/ Follow us on Facebook: STS@Harvard <http://www.facebook.com/HarvardSTS>
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