The Map Making Game
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14714/CP108.2073Abstract
One of the most familiar postmodern strategies for bringing a fresh perspective to a familiar situation is that of “making strange.” Making strange strips off the veneer of familiarity readers have come to expect, and presents those readers with something they have to discover anew outside of whatever context they would, hitherto, have relied upon to provide pat answers.
This paper proposes that other well-documented avenues for this type of strange making exist and deserve examination. Specifically, there exists a body of interpersonal psychobiology studies describing human society in game structure terms that remain largely unexplored in the cartographic literature. This paper introduces this psychedelic analysis, and proposes its application to contemporary explorations of the nature of maps and cartographic practice.
What is proposed is a strategy and toolbox of tactics that can, properly employed, take any or all existing conceptualizations of maps, map making, map use, or the informed practice of cartography and “make them strange” so they can be dispassionately examined and evaluated.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mark Denil
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