Cartographic Revolutions

The chapter charts the evolution of cartographic practices and the role political maps have played in the transformation of the notion of territorial sovereignty. Originally premised as a nucleus surrounded by concentric zones, the nation-state is now conceptualized as a homogeneous space, and this has unwittingly led to a condensation of affect around borders. Concurrently, the ubiquitous presence of political maps has turned the national outline into the primary visual support of nationhood. Building upon and extending the arguments made by seminal texts on nationalism and critical cartography, the chapter argues that individuals are socialized into seeing their national logomap as the visual representation of their identity as national subjects.