MAPPING WOA.
MAP COMING SOON.
MAPPING ARCTIC WOMEN.
Mapping Women of the Arctic is a prototype mapping project that spotlights the stories and geolocations of women of the Arctic from all walks of life – women who live in, work in, or engage with the Arctic. The project and map seek to challenge “what makes a person notable” – the Wikipedia criteria vein and the pervasive heroic male narrative of the Arctic.
Inspired by efforts to (re-)map women’s stories through female place names and toponymies in Antarctica, Mapping Women of the Arctic is an attempt to redress a structural imbalance, and to honour women’s contributions and tell their stories.
READ MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT.
ARCTIC YEARBOOK (COMMENTARY).
POLAR RECORD (COMMENTARY).
BRITISH CARTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY (ARTICLE).
PAST & FUTURE PRESENTATIONS.
LESSONS FROM THE OTHER POLE:
MAPPING ANTARCTIC WOMEN.
Edith “Jackie” Ronne, first woman to overwinter in Antarctic and working member of an Antarctic Expedition (Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, 1947-1949, Stonington Island). Image courtesy of Karen Tupek.
Carol Devine has spent the past decades developing an interactive and collaborative project - Mapping Antarctic Women. Through her work, Devine like other scholars, learned that prior to the mid-19th century, female place names in Antarctica were chosen by men for women left behind – daughters, wives (Adèlie Coast, Marie Byrd Land), patrons (Queen Elizabeth Land, Queen Maud Land) and pioneers (Cosmonette Glacier named for the first woman cosmonaut).
In later years, as the ban on women going to Antarctica was lifted by male gatekeepers - explorers, scientific institutions, and governments - female place names were increasingly mapped - by (and for ) women explorers and scientists, expedition members, and those working in situ.
Each place tells the inspiring multi-layered story of a woman.
THE PROCESS.
Mapping Antarctic Women Early Prototype 1.
Mapping Antarctic Women prototype 2 Carol Devine, sketch for Trans Antarctic Mountains sample mapping
OUTPUT: SAMPLE OF CROWD-MAPPED (RE)MAP OF FEMALE PLACE NAMES IN ANTARCTICA.
Issue 7 of the Ernest Journal featured a commissioned map, by map-maker and illustrator Aidan Meighan, that brought a small sample of the crowd-sourced map of female place names in Antarctica to life. See the full publication here, and the map below.
Credit: Carol Devine caroldevine.org, Twitter @caroldevine | Illustrator: Aidan Meighan, appeared in Ernest Journal, 2018
Credit: Carol Devine
CAROL DEVINE | PROJECT LEAD
Carol is a writer, humanitarian and researcher living in Canada. She’s a member of the Society of Women Geographers and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research's Humanities and Social Sciences Expert Group. Carol was a fellow in the 2016 Arctic Summer College and panelist at the Arctic Circle Assembly, Iceland 2016 on Indigenous health and climate change in circumpolar regions. She co-wrote a cultural history book, The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning, about a civilian Antarctic cleanup expedition she led and does public speaking and sciart on polar marine pollution and exhibits widely (TEDxMontreal Women, Canada Science & Technology Museum, New York Hall of Science, on an icebreaker in Svalbard with Oceanwide Expeditions).
Carol has an ongoing Mapping Antarctic Women project. She presented prototypes at the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research's Humanities and Social Sciences meetings in Colorado 2015 and Malaysia 2016. An illustration of her map was featured in Ernest Journal, spring 2018. She was a member of the Antarctic Wikibomb team to promote and celebrate the achievements of female Antarctic scientists and support staff, which in part inspired this Mapping Women of the Arctic project. You can read more about her work at: http://caroldevine.info/.
Want to learn more or support the project? Email us at info@genderisnotplanb.com.