The Spatiality of Hope: Mapping Canada's Northwest Energy Frontier
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The Spatiality of Hope : Mapping Canada's Northwest Energy Frontier. / Guerrieri, Valeria.
In: Globalizations, Vol. 16, No. 5, 2019, p. 678-694.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The Spatiality of Hope
T2 - Mapping Canada's Northwest Energy Frontier
AU - Guerrieri, Valeria
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Maps engage both with the ‘not there’ and the ‘not yet’ by simultaneouslyenvisioning the future and tracing the lines of new geographies ofdevelopment. Starting from these premises, the paper explores the complexrelationship between cartography and hydrocarbon exploration in theCanadian Northwest. Through a selection of maps and mapping initiatives, itis shown how cartography has sustained specific geographic imaginaries ofthe North, such as the ‘energy frontier’, by infusing diverse hopes in the map readers. Frontier-making through maps is, in this sense, a particularly difficult process to grasp, being influenced by overlapping interventions andagendas. The paper argues that it is because of their continuous mobilizationof hope – regardless of whether this is directed towards oil or sovereignty –that maps should be treated as extremely powerful technologies, whichcontribute to transforming Canada’s northwest energy frontier into a ‘sticky’and thus potentially unescapable site of promise.
AB - Maps engage both with the ‘not there’ and the ‘not yet’ by simultaneouslyenvisioning the future and tracing the lines of new geographies ofdevelopment. Starting from these premises, the paper explores the complexrelationship between cartography and hydrocarbon exploration in theCanadian Northwest. Through a selection of maps and mapping initiatives, itis shown how cartography has sustained specific geographic imaginaries ofthe North, such as the ‘energy frontier’, by infusing diverse hopes in the map readers. Frontier-making through maps is, in this sense, a particularly difficult process to grasp, being influenced by overlapping interventions andagendas. The paper argues that it is because of their continuous mobilizationof hope – regardless of whether this is directed towards oil or sovereignty –that maps should be treated as extremely powerful technologies, whichcontribute to transforming Canada’s northwest energy frontier into a ‘sticky’and thus potentially unescapable site of promise.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - energy geographies
KW - energyscapes
KW - affective cartography
KW - politics of hope
KW - frontier
KW - Canadian North
U2 - 10.1080/14747731.2018.1534467
DO - 10.1080/14747731.2018.1534467
M3 - Journal article
VL - 16
SP - 678
EP - 694
JO - Globalizations
JF - Globalizations
SN - 1474-7731
IS - 5
ER -
ID: 203563566