The Representation of the Places of Origin: A Geographical Perspective

This essay provides a geo-cartographic reading of maps of places of origin. Taking inspiration from the etymology of word map – that is to say “an object used to carry things” – it proposes some analogies between a group of drawings that have been collected during this project and some forms of cartographic representation. Models and references taken from the History of Cartography will be used to compare the most significant of these maps with specific historical cartographic genres; particular attention will be given to the point of view and the shift from figurative to abstract drawing occurring in the process of narrating space. This essay shows that, regardless of forms of representation that necessarily provide the starting point of our discussion, maps of places of origin provide a perspective that recalls Edward Soja’s concept of Thirdspace. That is to say, these representations are simultaneously real and imagined, concrete and abstract, material and metaphorical models of representation, which are physical, mental and social at the same time. The aim of this analysis is to provide a wider geographical perspective on the meaning of place that goes beyond the reductive logic of Euclidian space.