Spatial Humanities 2016
Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK – ۱۵-۱۶th Sept 2016
Programme (Source, pdf)
This major European conference is concerned with the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and other spatial technologies in humanities research. The main aim of the conference is to explore and demonstrate the contributions to knowledge that these technologies enable within and beyond the digital humanities. The exciting programme includes participants speaking on all aspects of using GIS in humanities research from database development to applied research in which spatial technologies have made a contribution to understanding of the past.
Meredith L. Goldsmith – “Is New York Such a Labyrinth?”: Mapping Edith Wharton’s _The Age of Innocence_ for the College Classroom
This article explores the pedagogical benefits of GIS in undergraduate literary studies, based on an interactive map I created of
Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence (1920) using QGIS, an open-source mapping tool. In this presentation, I chart the process of developing the map and its implications as a test case of GIS-informed literary study. Through the process of data collection, map building, and critical reflection, I developed several key objectives. The first was to foster interdisciplinary inquiry: lying at the intersection of grid and landscape, of objective and subjective, maps—whether print, digital, or manuscript— are interdisciplinary at their core. Close examination of maps and mapping tools thus causes students and readers to question the way that maps construct, rather than simply reflect, our environment. The process of creating literary maps through GIS forces readers of literature to reconsider literary texts as data sources, prompting questions about the nature of humanities data and evidence. Third, the map afforded different, unanticipated close readings, creating yet another angle of literary inquiry. Map building provides a way in which undergraduate students can see themselves as contributors to the creation of new knowledge.
Reflections on Spatial Humanities
Dr. Meredith L. Goldsmith, Associate Professor of English at Ursinus College, in Montgomery County, PA, discussed her process for introducing students in the undergraduate classroom to using GIS technologies in the analysis of literature. In her talk, “‘Is New York Such a Labyrinth?’: Mapping Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence for the College Classroom,” Dr. Goldsmith spoke about her process of using GIS platforms with students, including how to turn a novel into a datasource and what types of questions can be explored when mapping literature. You can visit the project website, “Mapping Literary Visions,” which has examples of the maps used in class and her methodology, or you can read more about the research goals on her personal website.