Graduation Date
Summer 2022
Document Type
Project
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in English, emphasis in Applied English Studies
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Janelle Adsit
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Andrea Delgado
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Critical cartography, Counter-mapping, Literature, David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks, Bell Hooks, Digital humanities, Digital maps, Literary analysis, Mapping fiction, Story as theory, New materialism, Human geography, Personal narrative
Subject Categories
English
Abstract
This project develops a reading strategy through mapping, using David Mitchell's 2014 novel The Bone Clocks as a primary text. Through the methods of critical cartography and counter-mapping, this research insists that by making maps that counter the dominant narrative, readers can disrupt the author’s perspective and craft new interpretations that highlight their own experiences. Critical cartography, the reflexive how and why maps are made and used, is all about the awareness of the power dynamics and colonial influences involved in traditional map-making. Choosing to map against dominant power structures is called counter-mapping. To apply these theories to literature, then, is to interrogate existing worldviews provided by the author. Counter-mapping empowers readers to create new meanings within a text and to work with other readers to share ideas and experiences that de-center the author’s single perspective. The activity of mapping events, characters, locations and material conditions found in novels encourages self-reflection, challenges perspectives of power, and develops new ways of using existing digital platforms. This research offers a new approach to navigate literary criticism in a changing world and offers a way for readers to locate themselves on the map, better understand their own personal narrative, and practice critical cartography.
Citation Style
MLA
Recommended Citation
Howard, Anne, "Counter-mapping the material world of the bone clocks: A critical analysis through digital cartography" (2022). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 579.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/579