What do maps of fictional places reveal about politics and geography? This video essay explores questions about the creation of space, the subjectivity of maps, and the role of maps in modern media and worldbuilding.
An update:
Wow, when we made this we imagined only about 100 people would ever see it. This was completed years ago as a school project, which had a separate bibliography that has long since gone missing. Looking back on this, the attributions in the video itself were a bit messy and not exactly up to Academic standards on their own.
Correction: All of the quotes attributed to John Wyatt Greenlee are from “In the Beginning was the Word: How Medieval Text Became Fantasy Maps", which was Co-Authored with Anna Fore Waymack, whose name we accidentally failed to include. Our apologies, Anna!
You can read the whole talk here: https://historiacartarum.org/how-medieval-text-became-fantasy-maps/
Other works referenced:
Place in Research: Theory, Methodology, and Methods
By Eve Tuck, Marcia McKenzie
Barricades and Borders: Europe 1800-1914: Third Edition by Robert Gildea.
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
Some Assumptions about Fantasy
A speech by Ursula K. Le Guin
Presented at the Children’s Literature Breakfast
BookExpo America, Chicago, IL
4 June 2004
Music Used:
"Infados" by Kevin MacLeod
https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100449
"Thoughtful" by Lee Rosevere
https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/track/thoughtful-2
"Debunking", "Casey like Beat", and "Fear the Edge" by Yuzzy
https://bit.ly/2nUbGqD