“…and in those places forgotten- abandoned- by the state, people have their own visions for freedom, their own multiple struggles to make life livable, to strive for a different and more collective way of organizing human life, and of distributing care.”
-Robin Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Rehearsals for living
How We Got Started
Our project experimentally maps abolitionist struggle and abolitionist placemaking practices in our current home of San Diego, CA. This project began by asking a simple question: what does an abolitionist geography look like? We follow insights from thinkers who descriptively spatialize abolition, and we aim to question the ways this can or cannot be visually mapped. We are interested in emphasizing the ongoing destructive and creative community capacities that resist forces of domination, settler colonialism, and racial capitalism in subversive and differential productions of space.
This project was initially funded by the UC San Diego Communication Department’s Democracy Lab, an experimental media production lab.
How We Work
We prioritize principles of “community geography” [Shannon et. al., 2021] in mapmaking. Our maps take time. We work slowly to develop sustainable relationships with community partners, and to ensure the map reflects their work, commitments, and aims. We emphasize place-based struggle to think with specific, rather than universal, spatial constraints and openings. We are transparent at every point of the mapping process; we are clear about our strengths and our inabilities. This is necessarily a project of public scholarship- the maps have no “owners” and we want to expand this portfolio to include more abolitionist cartographers!
We create digital counter-maps using various ArcGIS programs. GIS software allows us to put forth a multi-media map that includes graphs, photographs, video, soundbites, and more. We also acknowledge there are limitations to making digital counter-maps. As such, these maps are always partial; they are suggestive rather than definitive. The spaces and work we highlight do not cover the many structures and infrastructures of feeling that encompass abolitionist placemaking. We are very open to hearing more from you on alternative mapping techniques.
Why Counter-cartography?
Counter-mapping is a tool to visualize a people’s history and uses of space. It is a way of seeing spatial formations that do not conform to the dominant order of space. Counter-cartographies tell an alternative story of socio-spatial formations; they emphasize political struggle, cultural relations, embodied perspectives, and ongoing resistance.
Mapping Abolition 