Written by: Kurt Thumlert, Bryan Smith, Cristyne Hébert, Brittany Tomin
Abstract: This article reports on a research project, Re/Map, that looked at how pre-service teachers might question the taken-for-granted nature of digital maps as constructed sociotechnical artefacts, and then creatively speak back to the dominant historical narratives embedded within them through the production of their own media artefacts. Though analysis of pre-service teacher projects and interviews, we discuss the diverse ways pre-service teachers mobilized place-based inquiry and critical re-mapping practices to interrogate the hidden curriculum of everyday ‘city-texts,’ challenge dominant geographic imaginaries embedded in digital mapping tools, and consider the impacts of the project on their own future teaching. We signal the opportunities of this kind of inquiry-driven investigation to not only enable students to critique digital maps and visualization media, but also to support pre-service teachers in critically engaging with the places they find themselves teaching and living within.
Keywords: critical cartography, critical remix, digital maps, critical media literacies, remapping, teacher education, visualization technologies