William Rankin: Radical Cartography
Yale geographer William Rankin argues for a new ethic of data visualization in a free public lecture at The New School, drawing on 200 years of mapping history.
Why we picked this
Rankin's argument — that most data visualization is 'extractive,' stripping maps of subjectivity and uncertainty — cuts to the heart of how we mistake visual authority for truth. His work ranges from urban segregation to climate change, and it shows.
Geographer and historian William Rankin presents his new book, Radical Cartography: How Changing Our Maps Can Change Our World, a sweeping argument for a fundamentally different approach to data visualization. Where most contemporary mapping positions itself as neutral transcription of “raw” data, Rankin calls for a constructivist practice grounded in subjectivity, multiplicity, and uncertainty — treating maps as visual arguments rather than objective mirrors.
The talk spans two hundred years of mapping and visualization history, from nineteenth-century statistical atlases to GPS and contemporary GIS systems. Rankin connects this history to his own mapping projects, which have been widely published and exhibited internationally, covering topics from urban segregation and desert land use to the geography of slavery and climate change. His website, radicalcartography.net, has maintained these maps since 2003.
Rankin’s previous book, After the Map (University of Chicago Press, 2016), won prizes in the history of technology and social-science history. This talk is an opportunity to hear one of the sharpest thinkers about geographic knowledge make a case for why the images we use to understand the world are never innocent.