Mapping Silences: Archival Counter-Narratives and Deep Maps of Colonial History

Keywords: deep mapping, cartography, archives, New York State, Haudenosaunee
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 2

Abstract

This project created a deep map (a series of maps showing the complex narratives of a place) focused on indigenous history in central New York State. To do so, several local historical archives were consulted. This paper used Mills's (2013) framework as a starting point for navigating these archives. Namely, fragments are the assemblages of texts found in the archive; objects are the physical artifacts such as in archaeological work; and ghosts are the voices of people's lives heard through biographies. In conducting this archival research, it became clear that simply "mapping the texts" risked reinforcing the dominant (and colonizing) narrative of the region. Instead, the "negative space" for each of Mills's ideas had to be examined, with careful consideration paid to what fragments or objects were not included in the archive, and which ghosts, by having a voice in the archive, may be silencing others. Counter-fragments, counter-objects, and counter-ghosts were harder to find, but produced a clear-counter-narrative. In this paper presentation, the archival research and digitization process will be described in depth, and the series of counter-maps focused on indigenous New York history will be shown. Just as hegemonic narratives generate hegemonic maps, this counter-narrative generated counter-maps. Thus, a truly "deep map" requires a commitment to more deeply buried narratives. This project concludes that only by cultivating a critical view of the archive can researchers obtain the sensitivity and criticality required for a truly anti-colonial deep map.