NACIS 2024

Native and Indigenous Critical Cartography and Counter-mapping Panel with Elspeth Iralu and Laurel Mei-Singh
Drawing on their research and experience, speakers in this panel will examine how counter-mapping and decolonial initiatives challenge colonial mapping practices and recenter Native and Indigenous communities and methodologies. Speakers will broadly explore the intersections of cartography, Indigenous spatial justice, carceral geography, spaces of resistance, and counter-mapping.

Rectifying a Map of Indian Country
Elspeth Iralu, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and Planning, University of New Mexico
In this talk, I consider the legal category of Indian Country and how cartographers’ understanding of what makes up Indian Country influences the maps we imagine possible. Indian Country is a formal, legal term historically used in the United States to refer to all land within the borders of reservations. It has also been used within military operations to refer to “enemy” territory globally. Here, I consider what it might mean to understand Indian Country beyond its finite, legal boundaries to extend to an affective, felt experience of Indigenous presence. How might we represent this cartographically? How might we build on developments in Indigenous geographies to communicate this felt knowledge of place?

The Carceral Geographies of US Militarism
Laurel Mei-Singh, Assistant Professor of Geography & Environment and Asian American Studies, University of Texas at Austin
The climate crisis has advanced the global dialogue about the environmental ravages of war and its impacts on marginalized people. This study of Native Hawaiians confronting the US military on O‘ahu’s contested land expands this critique to examine the environmental justice dimensions of carceral geographies. Carceral geographies involve ongoing partitioning that enforces uneven access to resources by criminalizing lifeways that draw from interdependence with the natural world. At the same time, Hawaiian paradigms premised on human-environment interconnection persist, competing with US territorial domination. As such, the carceral geographies of US militarism regulate and contain placemaking practices that yield viable alternatives to capitalism and war.

Meghan Kelly, Syracuse University; Jim Thatcher, Oregon State University; Bill Limpisathian, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Heather Rosenfeld, Smith College; Laura Kurtzberg, Florida International University; LaToya Gray-Sparks, Virginia Commonwealth University; Avery Everhart, University of British Columbia

What should cartographic curricula look like today? Our mapping tools, theoretical approaches and concepts, readings, assignments, and strategies for assessment are shifting. Also in flux are those who are recognized as doing mapping or teaching. Such changes call for reflection and updates. Here, we convene early-career educators who are devising new cartography curricula for new classes or are rethinking and revising existing curricula through critical cartographic and pedagogic lenses. Our panelists will share and discuss their experiences, insights, and new visions for cartographic curricula that reflect contemporary cartography and pedagogy in both theory and practice.

Nat Case, INCase, LLC; Aileen Buckley, Esri; Martin Gamache, National Geographic Society; Neil Allen, East View Companies; Tim Wallace, New York Times; Brooke Marston, U.S. State Department

What would a general code of ethics in cartography look like? Any code needs some sort of structure to back it up: companies, licensing professional groups, and some organizations have them, with varying degrees of enforcement. So as a field where practitioners are unlicensed, work for a wide range of employers and clients, and come from spectrum of educational and work backgrounds, is there a basis for a broader code? Do we as cartographers have a way of standing up to non-cartographers who ask us do things that are “wrong” as mapping? This panel discussion will start with short presentations by presenters about how codes of ethics work within their work context, and then we will discuss how these might be reflected into the wider field.

Applying Indigenous Research and Data Practices Panel with Niiyokamigaabaw Deondre Smiles, Ph.D. and Annita Hetoevehotohke'e Lucchesi
This panel will explore the importance of integrating Indigenous knowledge and data practices into cartography. Speakers will discuss how modern cartographic practices can improve to support Indigenous communities and how considerations for decolonizing cartographic practices help address colonial power dynamics and violence perpetuated via maps. This panel will broadly focus on issues related to data violence, data sovereignty, ethical and equitable collaboration and research, and Indigenous research practices and knowledge.


A Recipe for Ethical Geographic Work with Indigenous Communities
Niiyokamigaabaw Deondre Smiles, Ph.D. (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe), Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Canada
This talk approaches methods and guidelines for decolonial geographic research through a lens of conducting ethical, respectful research with Indigenous communities in human and physical geography, and across the quantitative-qualitative spectrum. Using a historical and contemporary discussion of the entanglement of the discipline of Geography with colonial and imperial structures, along with an overview of potential steps that researchers should bear in mind when engaging with Indigenous communities in research endeavors, this talk works to answer the key questions: What comprises decolonial research? How can researchers in Geography work towards accomplishing it in a way that is attentive to the needs of communities they work with and within, while meeting their own research objectives? Special attention is paid to the unique needs of students and early career scholars.

Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Cartography for Self-Determination and Indigenous Wellbeing
Annita Hetoevehotohke'e Lucchesi
This presentation explores the intersections of data sovereignty and Indigenous self-determination, and how applying Indigenous data sovereignty principles to cartography can advance Indigenous self-determination and wellbeing. Cartography is often imagined as a centuries-long harmful, settler-imposed practice enabling genocide and land removal; what if we reimagined it as a practice that facilitated Indigenous land (re)connection, lifeways, safety, and healing? In this presentation, Lucchesi will offer her experiences exploring that question as a Cheyenne geographer.

Andrew Stauffer, Bethany Walker, Alex Kaufman & Marcelle Caturia, U.S. Geological Survey
In 2022, the National Geospatial Program and the National Geospatial Technical Operations Center launched an application called topoBuilder that allows users to request customized topographic maps, referred to as OnDemand Topos. Currently, topoBuilder offers 1:24,000-scale and 1:100,000-scale map products. The USGS anticipates expanding the product catalog to more scales and use cases , while enhancing The National Map data for automated topographic mapping . Join us in this panel discussion as we overview the current state of topoBuilder and our near-term roadmap. We hope to engage in a discussion about USGS topographic mapping and gather input on authoritative data and citizen-mapping needs.

Margot Dale Carpenter, Hartdale Maps; Erin Greb, Erin Greb Cartography; David Nuttall, Artimaps; Daniel Huffman (moderator)

Come be part of a moderated discussion/Q&A session with four independent cartographers (plus a bonus fifth playing the role of moderator!). Each panelist, with unique backgrounds and experiences, is excited to give you a look into our world of freelancing. Thinking about starting your own business but not sure how? Already freelancing, but need some advice? Come ask us! Plus topics that all self-employed cartographers contend with on a regular basis - clients, expenses, time management, finding a niche, and whatever else you want to talk about. Wherever you are on your freelancing journey, you’ll get some valuable insights, or at least be entertained by a bunch of friendly cartographers chatting about what they love doing for a living.