Maps, ethnography, and forced migration

Nicolas ParentDepartment of Geography

McGill University

Guest Lecture - February 11th 2021INTD358 Ethnographic Approaches to Development

Plan

1. Overview of mapping(mapping in history → counter-mapping → 3 approaches)

2. Exploring the mapping-ethnography nexus(ethnography 101 → ethnographic mapping)

3. Research contexts and applying ethnographic mapping

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MAPPING

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Map: Technology of power

• The history (and origin) of mapping is spotty → Perhaps Upper Paleolithic? Or was it Ancient Egyptand Babylonia?

• Known functions of early European mapmaking (~1500 CE)• It was not the “’scientific’ enterprise it claimed to be. It was first and foremost a highly utilitarian

managerial activity and second a profoundly ideological one, serving national identity-building, colonial, and other interests; and it was preceded by similarly motivated mapmaking inChina, and paralleled by it elsewhere in the world.” (Wood, 2010: 22)

• A central tool/technology of power; to border, segregate, and demarcate land and peoples duringEuropean colonization of the Americas (~1500-1800), Asia (16th/17th Century; 19th/20th Century inIndia), and Africa (19th/20th Century)

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‘Virginia’Smith, 1612.

‘Virginia’Smith, 1612.

‘Virginia’Smith, 1612.

‘Virginia’Smith, 1612.

Counter-mapping

MentalMapping

CrowdMapping

UtopianMapping

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Mental mapping

‘Imagining homelessness in a city of care’Moss & Irving, 2018.

“Mental mapping is the representationof an individual or group’s cognitivemap, hand sketched and/or computer-assisted, in drafting and labeling a mapor adding to and labeling an alreadyexisting map.”

(Gieseking, 2013: 712)

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Refugee Republic

Utopian mapping

‘Utopia’ More, 1516.

First developed in the 16th Century, ‘utopia’ means ‘negation of place’ (no-where).

Despite being ‘no-where’, it is a deeply spatialized concept

Spatializing ‘imagination’ and ‘existential mobility’:“Through imagination, we can move to places wherewe are not yet moved, we can engage with the absent,the not-yet there, the elsewhere and nowhere …Imagination can support in understanding how thepotential to move is not only embedded in socio-political dynamics, but can also relate to people’sdesires, aspirations and imaginations of mobility.”(Cangià & Zittoun, 2020: 649)

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Crowd mapping

Istanbul Police Movements via Atherton, 2013

Became popular within activist communities following a successful deployment documenting political violence and humanitarian aid needs during the 2007-2008 Kenyan crisis.

‘Crowd’ points to the use of ‘Crowdsourcing’

Users input geolocated data (text, symbols) within a shared platform.

Usually uses web-based GIS (Google MyMaps, Ushahidi, Crowdmap, OpenStreetMap, etc.)

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OHRFMT.ORG /OHRFMT, 2017: 15

What these maps tell us…

▪ They can cross temporalities by mapping past experiences, current livelihoods, or places of dream, desire, and the ideal

▪ Maps are flexible tools: They all input different types of information

▪ There are many mediums that can be used depending on the message our study communities want to communicate

▪ Mapping can be participatory (as explored by Pelto) and when done this way they tell a different story about space and place, they tell the story of inhabitants, not just decision-makers

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ETHNOGRAPHY& MAPPING

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Some notes on Ethnography

Descriptive; Written

Emic versus Etic

Interpretivist

Post-hoc, simultaneously (grounded theory), or both

‘New’ de/anti-colonial methods from critical ethnography:▪ Autoethnography▪ Participatory ethnography

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Introducing ‘ethnographic mapping’

Adding to the toolboxMapping and spatial techniques augment classic ethnographic methods ofparticipant observation and in-depth interviewing, making up the “toolbox fordeciphering the role of culture in the production and construction of spaceand place” (Low, 2014: xxii)

The tool“mapping practices that are decided upon and are performed throughethnography, and whereby its outputs — items, features, and contentsoriented in space and meaning — are enriched by descriptive ethnographicwriting” (Parent, 2020: 7)

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‘From Exile to Homeland Return’Parent, 2020.

APPLICATIONIN CONTEXT

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Gihembe camp

Goma

Kigali

GihembeMudendeMasisi

RWANDA

NORTH KIVU(DRC)

SOUTH KIVU(DRC)

UGANDA

BURUNDI

TANZANIA

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Byumba, Rwanda

▪ Established in 1996▪ Near Gicumbi, Byumba▪ Semi-open camp; exit available with

permit ▪ Managed jointly by MINEMA and

UNHCR

▪ Current population (Aug. 2020): 12,291▪ Profile of inhabitants

▪ ~50% aged 18 and under▪ Status: Mostly refugees▪ Ethnicity: Congolese Tutsi

▪ WFP▪ Monthly cash transfers

▪ UNHCR▪ WASH infrastructure▪ Shelter

▪ Needs (UNHCR 2020)

▪ Identification▪ Advanced health▪ SGBV protection▪ Shelter▪ Latrines▪ Land for self-reliance

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Gihembe camp, Rwanda

A world of possible inquiries

Nusselder, 2020

INDIVIDUAL

COLLECTIVE

AGENCYTEMPORALITY SPATIALITYCONTACT

ATTACHMENT

MEMORY

LIVELIHOOD

FUTURITY

INPUT OUTPUT

BYPASS

ENCAMPMENT

DISPLACEMENT

RESETTLEMENT INTEGRATION REPATRIATION

REFUGEE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

BypassingHumanity

INDIVIDUAL

COLLECTIVE

AGENCYTEMPORALITY SPATIALITYCONTACT

ATTACHMENT

MEMORY

LIVELIHOOD

FUTURITY

INPUT OUTPUT

BYPASS

ENCAMPMENT

DISPLACEMENT

RESETTLEMENT INTEGRATION REPATRIATION

REFUGEE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Bridging people to systems

INDIVIDUAL

COLLECTIVE

AGENCYTEMPORALITY SPATIALITYCONTACT

ATTACHMENT

MEMORY

LIVELIHOOD

FUTURITY

INPUT OUTPUT

BYPASS

ENCAMPMENT

DISPLACEMENT

RESETTLEMENT INTEGRATION REPATRIATION

REFUGEE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

PERIPHERAL SYSTEMS

Focus on repatriation

▪ For several years, MONUSCO has been discussing its ‘exit strategy’.Elections deemed legitimate in 2018 have emboldened this discourseand the organization is slowly ramping down its activities. (UN 2020)

▪As part of its 2020-2021 refugee response plan for Rwanda, UNHCR hasannounced that it will begin to explore a tripartite repatriationagreement between the governments of Rwanda and the DRC. (UNHCR 2020b)

▪ The time for refugee participation in defining the local Congolesepeace landscape and negotiating the terms of their return is now.

A pressing issue

?

An inductive/participatory model of inquiry

THANK YOU!

E: nicolas.parent@mail.mcgill.caT: @nik_parentW: nikparent.com

References (selected)

• Cohen, Robin & Van Hear, Nicholas. 2019. Refugia: Radical Solutions to Mass Displacement. Abingdon: Routledge.

• Gieseking, Jack Jen. 2013. “Where we go from here: The mental sketch mapping method and its analytic components.” Qualitative Inquiry 19 (9): 712-724.

• Moss, Oliver & Irving, Adele. 2018. “Imaging homelessness in a city of care: Participatory mapping with homeless people.” In : Severin Halder, Karl Heyer, Boris Michel, Silke Greth, Nico Baumgarten, Philip Boos, Janina Dobrusskin, Paul Schweizer, LaurenzVirchow, Christoph Lambio (eds.), This Is Not An Atlas: A Global Collection of Counter-Cartographies. Dussoldorf: kollektiv orangotango+.

• Parent, Nicolas. 2020. “From exile to homeland return: Ethnographic mapping to inform peacebuilding from afar.” Stability 9 (1), art. 7.

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2020b. Rwanda country refugee response plan: 2020-2021. Geneva: United Nations. Available online: https://bit.ly/3n0bbI3

• Wood, Denis. 2010. Rethinking the Power of Maps. New York: The Guilford Press.