Abstract

BENOHR, Jens et al. Ecopolitical Mapping: A Multispecies Research Methodology for Environmental Communication. CS [online]. 2022, n.36, pp.317-343.  Epub May 31, 2022. ISSN 2011-0324.  https://doi.org/10.18046/recs.i36.5275.

Ecopolitical Mapping is a methodology which seeks to map encounters of love and disaster between humans and their more-than-human surroundings. This methodology, first coined by a transdisciplinary group of artists and researchers in South Chile, unfolds through collective mapping sessions using an ecopolitical approach to trace the power relationships between different species-beings. In this research document, we unpack our engagements with this methodology in three different scales and territories: the Biobio Watershed (Chile), Berlin City (Germany) and Europe (Continent). Each case presented a strong environmental communication component, which ended up with the translation of the stories of the encounters into illustrated maps. The methodological approach proposed here is intimate, political and situated. The map evolves from a supposed politically neutral artifact into a tool for environmental education, communication, and activism. We offer the notion and approach, hoping that this methodology can be practiced and refined by other humans, allies of the tentacle kinship.

Keywords : Creative Methodologies; Collective Mapping; Environmental Communication; Multispecies Research; Cohabitation; Coexistence.

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