Colonial Cartography in Palestine-Israel and the Decolonising Potential of Counter-Maps

This doctoral study will examine the geographical imaginaries
of (re)mapping practices in/of Palestine-Israel and has two key
research objectives: 1) critically analyse the relationship of
mapping and power in/of Palestine; and 2) critically assess the
potential of counter-mapping in a project of decolonisation.
To achieve this, the study will focus first on archival material to
document the ways that, since the mid-1800s, British, Zionist,
Israeli and corporate cartographers have produced maps that
obfuscate Palestinians' use and ownership of the land between
the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River (Weaver 2014).
Recent technological advancement has brought little change:
publishers of satellite imagery, including Google, continue to
elide the presence of Palestine (Fradley and Zerbini 2018).
The second focus will fall on alternative mapping practices by
Palestinian and anti-Zionist groups. Often termed 'countermaps',
alternative maps attempt to recognise the past, critique
the present and (re)imagine the future. By conducting
ethnographic research with counter-mapping groups, this part
of the study will engage directly with important current debates
on decolonising in geography (e.g. Radcliffe 2017) and cognate
disciplines (e.g. Tuck & Yang 2012).
The research will produce new knowledge on historical and
contemporary practices of mapping in Palestine-Israel and will
make important conceptual and empirical contributions to
current academic debates in critical cartography, settler
colonialism and decolonisation.