A world map is a visual story, a design of our built and lived environment, that shapes how we perceive the world. Since the invention of the atlas in the colonial 16th century, the standard political map has predominantly told one story: that of the nation-state. This traditional cartographic representation depicts a world where people are uniformly contained within national borders—‘us here, them there’. It presents itself as objective and neutral while concealing its inherent nationalistic power interests. Borders are understood as closed lines, and migration is often illustrated with threatening arrows, suggesting a hostile invasion. How does this state-centric approach to mapping influence our understanding of the world?
In his lecture, border Professor Henk van Houtum will explore the fallacies and implications of this cartography. In his recently published book, Free the Map: From Atlas to Hermes – A New Cartography of Borders and Migration, he advocates for liberating the map from this ‘territorial trap’. He calls for a modern cartography that is inclusive, concrete, and, above all, honest. To this end, he presents the latest developments in alternative cartographies, which he categorizes as counter-mapping, experience-mapping, and connectivity-mapping. These approaches not only challenge the focus on static differences and the notion of borders as mere lines but also map human experiences, discriminatory (in)hospitalities, relationalities, and connections.
Henk van Houtum is Professor of Geopolitics and Political Geography at Radboud University Nijmegen. He writes and teaches on the cartography and geopolitics of borders, bordering, and migration. Recent works include: Free the Map. From Atlas to Hermes. A new cartography of borders and migration (2024), Voorbij Fort Europa, een nieuwe visie op migratie (2026/17), written with Leo Lucassen, and Borderland & Atlas, essays and design. History and future of the border landscape (2013), published together with Mark Eker.
The event will be presented and moderated by Roemer van Toorn, Professor at Umeå School of Architecture. The event is held in English.
The UMA Talks are a free and accessible series of events. The series is devoted to advancing architectural discourse from both an international perspective and local perspective, and strives to enable the public, students, teachers, and researchers both within architecture and from other fields to get insight to and participate in the educational activities and academic research taking place at Umeå School of Architecture. Theorist, practitioners, artists, and other relevant guests are invited to speak or to participate in roundtable conversations or similar formats. Read more about UMA Talks here.