Public Lecture: Mapping Rubondo Island: Knowledge and Ignorance in the Construction of ‘Natural Space’ in Interlacustrine Africa since 1875, Speaker: Felix Schürmann

Abstract:

National parks and other nature reserves are not remnants of »untouched wilderness« somewhere outside civilisation. In general, they have been transformed into ostensibly authentic natural spaces by persons and institutions who considered nature as to be protected. Media play an important role in such transformations. Using the case of Rubondo, the oldest and largest conservation island in Africa, this lecture discusses how maps contributed to constructing this island as a natural space. Contrary to what the widespread narrative of a constantly improving cartography would have us believe, the richness of information on maps of Rubondo has considerably decreased over the last 100 years. By tracing what has become absent in the maps, the lecture connects to research on the production of ignorance and shows how the selective translation of information into the repertoire of cartographic signs contributed to the nihilation of the tacit knowledge of African societies.

Felix Schürmann is a historian specialised on maritime, global, and environmental aspects of African history as well as on human-animal relations under conditions of colonial rule and decolonization. Before his stay at MIASA he has worked as an interim professor for African History at the University of Hamburg and co-ordinated the research alliance “Mapping the Oceans: Towards a History of Globalisation as Seen from the Waters” at the University of Erfurt.

Press Releases:

• “Cartography and scientific methods have been key in preserving the value of the Rubondo Island- MIASA Fellow“, Radio Univers, 15th May 2023