Maps of Daesh: The Cartographic Warfare Surrounding Insurgent Statehood. Issue 1 (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Offenhuber, Dietmar
• Is Part Of: GeoHumanities. Volume 4:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 196
• Page End: 219
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: cartography -- Islamic State -- visual forensics -- visual rhetorics; 製图学 -- 伊斯兰国 -- 视觉鑑定 -- 视觉修辞; cartografía -- Estado Islámico -- forénsica visual -- retórica visual; Arts and geography -- Periodicals; Human geography -- Periodicals; 304.2
• DOI: 10.1080/2373566X.2017.1402688
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2373-566X

Abstract

Abstract : The ongoing Syrian civil war raises new cartographic challenges, including the ethical question of how the self-proclaimed Islamic State should be represented. Based on a comparative study, this article investigates the visual languages of IS sanctuary maps as published by news agencies, intelligence agencies, or circulated by the insurgents themselves. I argue that the statehood of territory held by the IS is symbolically contested through cartographic choices that reflect the diverging interests of the map makers. Beyond official representations, the article also considers the maps created by amateur conflict mappers and visual forensics experts, who extract and cross-reference information from social media including posted cell phone and drone footage, georeferenced tweets, and satellite images. I argue that the novel visual strategies developed by these practitioners for presenting visual evidence emphasize nonrepresentational aspects of cartography and represent a countermodel to established cartographic languages that follows an indexical rather than iconic or symbolic paradigm.