Maps are attempts to represent reality, instruments in imaging and imagining space. They not only provide geographic-spatial knowledge, but also reflect a range of political, sociocultural, and historical issues and views. In practice, they are the product of period and discourse and as such, of the sociopolitical interpretation of their sketchers. A critical reading of maps draws attention to their context and the presuppositions and power relations they embody.

The symposium raised awareness of what has been erased from the hegemonic Israeli maps, and discuss practices of counter-mapping the destruction of 1948. By presenting both physical and mental alternative maps and studies that recognize official maps as agents of power and knowledge and sites representative of the sovereign’s policy, it will highlight processes of exclusion and erasure of the Nakba and put it back on the map.

Speakers:
Dr. Johnny Mansur: Haifa, History and the Map
Noga Kadman: What’s Missing in the Israel Hiking Map
Umar Al-Ghubari: Nakba mape in Hebrew
Hassan A. Mansur (Abu Marwan): Mapping the Destroyed Village Kafr ʽInan

Lectures in Hebrew