Barry Lawrence Ruderman Conference on Cartography, October 10-12, 2019

Gender, Sexuality, Cartography

The second biennial Barry Lawrence Ruderman Conference on Cartography will take place October 10-12, 2019, David Rumsey Map Center, Cecil H. Green Library, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA (USA). The three-day event will include a keynote, research papers from a variety of scholars, and an exhibition that will debut at the event. Click here for the program and additional information.

The papers focus on the relationship between gender, sexuality, and cartography. While some scholars have examined the interplay of gender identities and mapping, particularly with regard to the role of women as buyers and sellers in the historical map market, this work remains isolated and has yet to make a significant impact on the wider field. This conference hopes to offer a counterpoint to this trend by bringing together diverse approaches and hosting interdisciplinary discussions.

Invited speakers are experts in maps and mapping, and through the lens of queer, women’s, and gender studies consider the nuanced ways in which maps are conditioned by and help to construct, and transgress, gendered and sexualized norms and spaces. Paper topics include mapping masculinity in French Vietnam, women in American cartographic history, the gendered cartographic language of medieval texts, the digital mapping of queer spaces, and much more. On Saturday, the conference focuses on the intersection between art, gender, sexuality and cartography. Saturday-only registration is available.

Keynote speaker Professor Susan Schulten (the University of Denver) will share her research on the pioneering female mapmaker Emma Willard. 

REGISTRATION: There is an all-conference fee, reduced fee for students and a Saturday-only registration fee. All registered attendees (except for the Saturday only registration, which limits attendance to Saturday events only)  will have access to the opening reception and keynote, all speaker panels, conference exhibition, and coffee/tea throughout the three-day event. Click here for the program and additional information.

If you have any questions, please contact blrcc-staff@lists.stanford.edu .

Organizers: Salim G. Mohammed (David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries), Dr. Katherine Parker (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc.)