Teaching Cartography with Comics: Some Examples from BeccoGiallo\u2019s Graphic Novel Series

This article suggests the use of comics, particularly of graphic novels, as valuable instructional tools for teaching cartography. Of particular interest is the idea that comics can be used to develop students\u2019 geographical competencies, their ability to think actively about cartographical issues, and their capacity to interact with \u201cmaps as mappings\u201d (Dodge, Kitchin and Perkins, 2009). The theoretical references used to conduct the deep interdisciplinary proposal and analysis include: the growing field of literary cartography, recent post-representational theories in cartography, and the emerging field of \u201ccomic book geography\u201d (Dittmer, 2014). The article reads comics as maps and analyzes their map-like features to demonstrate that both maps and comics ask the reader-user to be actively engaged to decipher, orient, and practice them. Proposing to read \u201cmaps as comics\u201d, \u201cmaps of comics\u201d, \u201cmaps and mappings in comics\u201d, and \u201ccomics as maps and mappings\u201d, the article suggests the possible practical employment of comics in cartography classes. Furthermore, this study uses examples from BeccoGiallo\u2019s comic series to demonstrate that graphic novels may help students become more aware map readers and users, by being involved in an active spatial practice. Finally, this article focuses on the unexplored educational potential of graphic novels by exploring the improvement of students\u2019 understanding of post-representational cartographical approaches through comic use

Orientarsi tra le nuvole: cartografie, atlanti e pratiche mappanti nel racconto a fumetti

A partire dalla recente nascita della ‘comic book geography’ (Dittmer 2014), il contributo intende proporre la ‘comic book cartography’ come un’ulteriore linea di ricerca volta ad esplorare le contaminazioni tra fumetto e cartografia. L’approccio transdisciplinare proposto si fonda sull’intersezione tra geografia e analisi geocritica, tra ‘comics studies’ e teoria cartografica post-rappresentazionale. Attraverso una lettura ‘carto-centrata’ di alcuni casi di studio italiani e internazionali, il fumetto viene inteso come una mappa che coinvolge autore e lettore in una vera e propria pratica di orientamento.   [Abstract eng]  Orientating among the balloons: maps, atlases and mapping practices in comic books Starting from the recently emerged field of ‘comic book geography’ (Dittmer 2014), the article proposes ‘comic book cartography’ as a further research line to explore the intersections bewteen comics and cartography. The proposed transdisciplinary approach is based on the encounter between geography and geocriticism, comics studies and post-representational theories in cartography. Through a ‘carto-centred’ reading of both Italian and international case studies, the comic book is interpreted as a map inolving author and reader in an orientation practice

Story of a Mapping Process. The Origin, Design and Afterlives of the Street Geography Map

This article focuses on the map drawn for Street Geography. Drawing Cities for a Sustainable Future (SG), a geo-artistic project realised in Padua in September 2018. The article reads maps from a processual perspective and focuses on the SG map as both a cartographic object and a set of related ongoing practices, further presenting the scope, themes and main actors of the SG project to explore the reasons for the realisation and use of a map in this specific creative context. The first part of the paper starts with the use of the word mapping in contemporary cartographic theories, shifting attention from data-driven cartography to emergent and cultural cartography. The second part of the paper explores the origin, design and afterlives of the SG map from an emergent perspective by retracing the different phases of the mapping process, from map-making to map-use. Not only mapping practices but even stories, memories and emotions continuously unfold from maps. Therefore, the second part of the paper recounts the story of the SG map from an internal, autoethnographic perspective that explores the issues of intersubjective collaboration and authorship, production, dissemination and reception that are connected to this cartographic object. This paper aims \u201cto capture how maps emerge\u201d (Dodge et al., 2009, p. 231), to explore more thoroughly not only the performative, participatory and political nature of the SG map but also its affective understandings

Orientarsi tra le nuvole: cartografie, atlanti e pratiche mappanti nel racconto a fumetti

A partire dalla recente nascita della ‘comic book geography’ (Dittmer 2014), il contributo intende proporre la ‘comic book cartography’ come un’ulteriore linea di ricerca volta ad esplorare le contaminazioni tra fumetto e cartografia. L’approccio transdisciplinare proposto si fonda sull’intersezione tra geografia e analisi geocritica, tra ‘comics studies’ e teoria cartografica post-rappresentazionale. Attraverso una lettura ‘carto-centrata’ di alcuni casi di studio italiani e internazionali, il fumetto viene inteso come una mappa che coinvolge autore e lettore in una vera e propria pratica di orientamento.   [Abstract eng]  Orientating among the balloons: maps, atlases and mapping practices in comic books Starting from the recently emerged field of ‘comic book geography’ (Dittmer 2014), the article proposes ‘comic book cartography’ as a further research line to explore the intersections bewteen comics and cartography. The proposed transdisciplinary approach is based on the encounter between geography and geocriticism, comics studies and post-representational theories in cartography. Through a ‘carto-centred’ reading of both Italian and international case studies, the comic book is interpreted as a map inolving author and reader in an orientation practice

Il fumetto e la mappa: per una didattica creativa della cartografia

Una mappa pu\uf2 raccontare una storia? E una storia, o per meglio dire una narrazione scritta, pu\uf2 orientare il lettore nella pagina e nel mondo come una mappa? Il rapporto fra narrativa e carte geografiche oggi \ue8 al centro di diversi dibattiti volti ad esplorare le potenzialit\ue0 e le problematicit\ue0 del legame fra il linguaggio apparentemente oggettivo della cartografia e il linguaggio soggettivo e pregnante del raccontare