Grigor’eva, K. (2023) Maps and Symbolic Power: Cartographic Discourse and the Rise of Spy Hysteria in the Russsian Empire on the Eve of World War I. Cartographica. 58(1): 47-57

Abstract

The conception of maps has undergone major transformations over the past 30-odd years. Various theoretical trends have made significant alterations to the understanding of maps, such that cartographic images are no longer considered to be “mirrors of nature,” which reflect reality in a dispassionate manner. However, the dominant contemporary critical approaches to map interpretation also have their own flaws. The pivotal one is the thesis that a map, as such, has great magical power that can transform social reality. This rather naïve perception, in many ways similar to pre-modern magical reasoning about imagery, prevents an appropriate understanding of the ways in which maps work and the sources from which they derive their performative power. The concept of symbolic power developed by Pierre Bourdieu clarifies these questions. This article uses a case study of Map No. 45, created by the Kiev Military District of the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I, to show how Bourdieu’s method works with specific material, highlighting the relation between performative cartographic images and the structural positions of the actors involved in the social game with maps, as well as the political and bureaucratic fields, and preceding and succeeding performative statements. The case taken for analysis illustrates how vague, constantly disputed cartographic images, accompanied by absurd, aggressive discourses, under certain circumstances contribute to the appearance of legal acts (first-order performatives) that lead to catastrophic social consequences. At the same time, the history of Map No. 45 demonstrates the fragility of social magic and its non-cartographic origin.

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