Decolonial AtlasMar 17, 2023
Ingenious, Indigenous cartography: The Tunumiit (Eastern Greenlandic Inuit) practice of carving portable maps out of driftwood to be used while navigating coastal waters. These pieces, which are small enough to be carried in a mitten, represent coastlines in a continuous line, up one side of the wood and down the other. The maps are compact, buoyant, and can be read in the dark.
Show threadL'égrégore André ꕭꕬMar 17, 2023
@decolonialatlas Apparently there's also currents encoded in the carvings, but I can't really tell how
(but I do know the left one's upside down compared to the drawn map).
Show threadIwillyeahMar 17, 2023
@Mabande it might be a tactile element, like the direction the wood was carved in or something?
Show threadL'égrégore André ꕭꕬMar 17, 2023
@Iwillyeah Yeah, something like that :)
Show threadWendy (prev Jason) AMar 18, 2023
@Mabande @Iwillyeah the one on the left has 3 dimensional features which seems like the obvious way to do it.
Show threadPhil Dennis-Jordan
@norgralin @Iwillyeah @Mabande I also like how the middle one has a possible portage route between adjacent bays marked. (Notice how the carved channel between inlets corresponds to a short, low-altitude land bridge on the paper map.)
Mar 19, 2023 at 1:10pmWeb