Session Description: "Critical GIS" can be defined as work that critically examines how practices of GIS and mapping are fundamentally political, including work that interrogates the social and political implications of the practice of GIS in spatial governance. Two recent special journal issues, Cartographica (Harvey, Kwan, and Pavlovskaya 2005) and ACME (Harris and Harrower 2006), as well as work from scholars across the discipline (including, Harley 1989; Pickles 1995, 2004; Aitken and Michel 1995; Crampton 2001, 2003; Schuurman 2000, 2004; Kwan 2002b, 2002a; Curry 1998; Sparke 1998; Elwood 2006; Brown and Knopp 2006), demonstrate the wide breadth of theoretical approaches used to critically examine GIS and cartography in practice and (in some cases) to construct an agenda for critical cartographic and GIS research. However, to date, there has been very little work that critically reflects upon the unique theoretical and methodological challenges and problematics of conducting critical GIS research. This panel session will explore these challenges from a variety of perspectives both within and outside the traditionally-defined GIS community.
(52) 2007 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California
