Description
Book SynopsisMap Worlds plots a journey of discovery through the world of women map-makers from the golden age of cartography in the sixteenth-century Low Countries to tactile maps in contemporary Brazil. Author Will C. van den Hoonaard examines the history of women in the profession, sets out the situation of women in technical fields and cartography-related organizations, and outlines the challenges they face in their careers. Map Worlds explores women as colourists in early times, describes the major houses of cartographic production, and delves into the economic function of intermarriages among cartographic houses and families. It relates how in later centuries, working from the margins, women produced maps to record painful tribal memories or sought to remedy social injustices. Much later, one woman so changed the way we think about continents that the shift has been likened to the Copernican revolution. Other women created order and wonder about the lunar landscape, and still others turned the art and science of making maps inside out, exposing the hidden, unconscious, and subliminal "text" of maps. Shared by all these map-makers are themes of social justice and making maps work for the betterment of humanity.
Trade Review"...an inspiring book that is fascinating and highly-researched. A take away message is thatwhilst women were always a minority, they have made major contributions to cartography. Theircommon ground is their love of maps and map making and their belief in the value of their work inteaching others to open their eyes to the world." - Jennifer Carter,School of Social Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast,Journal of The Australian and New Zealand Map Society, The Globe, Number 74, 2014.
Table of ContentsPreface; Introduction: The Strands through Map Worlds; Who Is a Cartographer?; The Thirteenth to Seventeenth Centuries; The Eighteenth & Early Nineteenth Centuries (1666 to 1850); Cartography from the Margins: From the Early Twentieth Century to World War II; Mid- to Late-Twentieth-Century Pioneers & Advancers in North America; Late-Twentieth-Century Pioneers & Advancers in Europe, Asia, & Latin America; "Getting There without Aiming at It": Womens Experiences in Becoming Cartographers; "We Are Good Ghosts!": Orientations & Expectations of Women Cartographers; Educational Opportunities & Obstacles; The Gendered Social Organization; Female Pathways Through the Present-Day Map World; Gender Shifts; Index.
