Maps, Identity, & World Studies
A Workshop for Middle & High School Teachers
June 18-29, 2001

This workshop was intended to give teachers of grades 6-12 essential tools for discussing and examining maps and their relevance to world studies. Topics included:

• The relationship between map design, self perception, and world view.
• Using maps to discuss ethnicity, identity, and national relations.
• Incorporating maps into the high school curriculum

Morning sessions at the workshop focused on on the importance of maps in the study of world cultures. Afternoon sessions concentrated on a selection of geographical areas, including discussions, lectures by specialists, presentation of teaching strategies, web resources, and other materials for classroom use. The workshop also introduced GIS (Geographical Information Services) technology, which combines data with maps and charts to display information customized to the needs of the user. Sandra Arlinghaus, an expert on GIS at the University of Michigan, demonstrated the art of computer-assisted cartography.

This workshop was a collaboration of the South Asia Area and Language Center, the Centers for East Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American, and Eastern European Studies and the Committee on African and African-American Studies at the University of Chicago.

Schedule:

June 18:

• 9:00 - 12:00pm: Introduction: History and the Future of Cartography.
• 1:00 - 4:00pm: Regional Focus: The Middle-East: The Use of Maps in Defining "Middle East."

June 20:

• 9:00 - 12:00pm: Tour of maps at Regenstein Library
• 1:00-4:00pm: Regional Focus: Africa: Colonial and Indigenous Borders and Maps.

June 22:

• 9:00-12:00pm: Survey, Navigation, Map Projection and the Making of Maps.
• 1-4pm: Regional focus: Latin America: The Geography of New Spain.

June 25:

• 9:00-12:00pm: Presentation on contemporary and computer assisted cartography.
• 1:00-4:00pm: Regional focus: East Asia: European Mapping of East Asia and East Asian Mapping of the World.

June 27:

• 9:00 - 12:00pm: Digital South Asia Library.
• 1:00 - 4:00pm: Regional Focus: South Asia: The Politics of Map-Making: Drawing the Borders of India's Partition- Bangladesh and Pakistan.

June 29:

• 9:00 - 12:00pm: Presentation on incorporating maps into high school world studies and AP Human Geography classes
• 12:00 - 1:00pm Catered Lunch
• 1:00 - 4:00pm: Concluding session