Queering Geography Zine

QUEERING GEOGRAPHY Creating Queer Maps of Glasgow A zine by Katie Fannin and the participants of the Queering Geography workshops

Maps claim to show things as, and where, they “really” are. This may be useful for navigation, but the lack of space for contradiction or ambivalence gives mapmakers much less freedom over the kind of maps they can produce, and the mapreader easily falls into the habit of seeing maps as a precise portrayal of reality.

However, activists, artists and academics continue to advocate for new ways of mapping that allow for more creative and imaginative representations of space. This movement has coincided with an increasing interest in the idea of mapping queer experiences, undoubtedly invigorated by the creation of the community-generated mapping project Queering the Map. I have included some of my favourite queer maps, as well as some open-access reading on critical cartography, at the end of this zine if you’d like to know more!

Inspired by these new mapping methods and the insurgence of queer mapping, I decided to explore the two in my Gender Studies master’s dissertation. Specifically, I examined how participatory arts-based mapping workshops might generate more meaningful representations of queer space, as well as make mapping a more accessible and enjoyable practice.

This zine features the hand-drawn sketch maps made by the participants of the Queering Geography workshops, which took place at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow in June 2019. We abandoned the need for geographic accuracy in favour of sketch mapping methods, which prioritised our interpretations and creative choices. As a result, these maps illustrate the distinctness and uniqueness of our individual experiences, while also showing shared experiences of both queer joy and exclusion.

Huge thanks to all the workshop participants, for their maps, their stories and their insights. This project could not have happened without you.

A QUEER CRITICAL CARTOGRAPHY READING LIST Queering the Map – An online community map, collectively documenting the spaces that hold queer memory queeringthemap.com Open Lavs - A collaborative mapping project that seeks to locate every unisex toilet in the UK openlavs.com Queering the Map of Glasgow, published by Knight Errant Press - A collection of queer writing, putting queer experiences firmly on the map of Glasgow knighterrantpress.com Stride with Pride, Glasgow Women’s Library - A heritage walking tour & map of Glasgow’s LGBTQ+ history womenslibrary.org.uk This is Not an Atlas, edited by kollektiv orangotango+ - A collection of global counter-cartographies from activists, artists and academics Available to download for free at notanatlas.org/book An introduction to the field of Critical Cartography, by Rhiannon Firth in The Occupied Times theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=13771 An interview with Jen Jack Gieseking, an urban cultural geographer and queer theorist, about their Queer New York mapping project gothamcenter.org/blog/mappingqueernewyork

Made by Katie Fannin Maps by the participants of the Queering Geography workshops, including Aike Jansen Cara English Chloe McGinlay Chloe Tobin-Kemmer Chris Timmins Chris Wilson Eleanor Martin Ely Percy Emma Lawson