Presentation: POST-REPRESENTATIONAL CARTOGRAPHY - Exploring The Role of Emergent Cartographic Practices In Decolonization And (Re) Establishing Socio-Spatial Justice

David Njenga

This research explores how traditional Western maps have shaped power and inequality in postcolonial Coastal Kenya. It shows that these mapping practices—often seen as neutral or technical—have actually played a role in continuing colonial legacies by ignoring or erasing Indigenous ways of understanding space and place. For many local communities, this has meant being left out of decisions that affect their land, culture, and future. The study offers a new way of thinking about maps—not just as tools for showing where things are, but as powerful social and political practices. It introduces cartography as something relational and active: a process of working together to create shared understandings of space that reflect lived experiences, cultural knowledge, and community values. This perspective is grounded in a decolonial approach that challenges the dominance of state-driven, top-down forms of mapping. Working with communities in Mida Creek, Kisiwani Island, and Lamu, the research uses creative and participatory methods such as counter-mapping, storytelling, sound-based mapping, drawing on the ground, and art-based workshops. These methods centre local voices and knowledges—oral, sensory, embodied—that are often dismissed by official mapping systems. Together, these activities help communities reclaim their spatial identities and imagine new futures. This research contributes by offering a critical reconceptualization of cartography as a relational, performative, and decolonial practice. It shows how alternative mapping can be a powerful tool for justice, solidarity, and healing—helping people resist historical erasure, share knowledge, and shape more inclusive and equitable ways of living and governing space.

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