Geographies of Nationhood: Cartography, Science, and Society in the Russian Imperial Baltic

Geographies of Nationhood explores the rise of ethnographic mapmaking in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a form of visual and material culture that expressed territorialized visions of nationhood. It argues that map production and cartographic literacy transformed how people understood linguistic, ethnic, and religious similarities and differences, imbuing them with scientific objectivity. The book expands the focus beyond elites to include a diverse range of mapmakers and examines the proliferation of mapmaking across diverse sites in the Russian Empire, including the provincial administration, local learned societies, private homes, and schools. Understanding ethnographic maps in their social context is crucial for assessing their impact as powerful shapers of popular geographical conceptions of nationhood, state-building, and border-drawing.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 31 March 2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Geographies of Nationhood delves into the remarkable surge of ethnographic mapmaking during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, emerging as a vibrant form of visual and material culture that captured territorialized visions of nationhood. In the Russian Empire's Baltic provinces, the development of ethnographic cartography, as part of a broader field of statistical data visualization, gradually evolved into a powerful tool that bolstered nationalist arguments and offered alternative spatial configurations that positioned the inhabitants of the Baltic within local, imperial, and global geographies. Catherine Gibson contends that the production and widespread literacy of maps in Baltic society transformed how individuals perceived linguistic, ethnic, and religious similarities and differences, imbuing them with an alleged scientific objectivity that later played a significant role in shaping the political landscape of the Baltic region and beyond.

Geographies of Nationhood breaks new ground by expanding its scope beyond elites to encompass a diverse array of mapmakers, including local bureaucrats, commercial enterprises, clergymen, family members, teachers, and landowners. It shifts the focus from imperial learned and military institutions to examine the widespread proliferation of mapmaking across various sites within the Empire, including provincial administration, local learned societies, private homes, and schools. Understanding ethnographic maps within the social context of their production, circulation, consumption, and reception is essential for assessing their profound impact as powerful shapers of popular geographical conceptions of nationhood, state-building, and border-drawing.

Weight: 710g
Dimension: 241 x 161 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192844323