Cartographic Camaraderie: Extending the Black Girl Cartography Framework through Critical Cartography

• In Event: Wayward Fabulation and Black Feminist Imaginaries

Abstract

Black Girl Cartography (BGC) is one of the many innovative additions to educational research that utilizes the map metaphorically to produce ethnographic counternarratives about Black girls in schools by Black girl researchers. BGC sources its mapping operations from Black Geographies, centering mapping in the subaltern as juxtaposed to traditional cartography. However, if Black girl cartographers adopt a pluralistic definition of maps through Critical Cartography—viewing maps through a variety of lenses instead of one, this could present opportunities for novel education research inquiries that weave new perspectives into the map narrative. The conceptual paper explores how a pluralistic definition could extend BGC to broaden the mappable landscape of Black girls lives to better understand how they navigate educational spaces.

Author

• Lauren Whatley, University of Alabama