Call for papers: Cartographies of Crises: Mapping Conflict, Disaster, and Uncertainty (19th–21st Centuries)
The international workshop Cartographies of Crises: Mapping Conflict, Disaster, and Uncertainty (19th–21st Centuries) organised by the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague, Czechia) and the University of Erfurt, Centre for Transcultural Studies / Perthes Collection (Gotha, Germany) will take place on 26th–27th November 2026 at the Centre for Transcultural Studies / Perthes Collection (CG2 - Pagenhaus, Schlossplatz 1, Gotha).
Call for Papers (https://www.hiu.cas.cz/user_uploads/badatelum_i_verejnosti/udalosti/2026_11_26_27_workshop_cartographies_of_crises/cfp_cartographies_of_crises_workshop_2026.pdf)
Thematic mapping has played a crucial role in visualising, interpreting, and communicating physical and socio-economic phenomena. This has been particularly true in times of crises, when maps have been used to represent wars, forced migrations, epidemics, environmental disasters, social upheavals, political conflicts, and anticipatedthreat scenarios. In such contexts, maps have served not only as instruments of documentation but also as analytical tools, persuasive arguments, and means of intervention.
This workshop focuses on the cartographies of crises from the 19th to the 21st century and seeks to advance research on the thematic mapping of crises. Contributions are invited that engage with a broad range of cartographic practices, from individual and hand-drawn maps to official state mapping, thematic atlases, recent digital mapping projects, and approaches associated with Historical GIS and Digital Humanities.
Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which maps represent experiences of uncertainty, disruption, displacement, and shifting identities, as well as to the role of cartography in shaping public perceptions of crises and historical memory. Proposals are welcome that explore how actors across the political and social spectrum have used cartography in response to different forms of crisis – from state and institutional mapping efforts to grassroots and counter-mapping practices – and how these maps both reflected
and shaped individual and collective understandings of phenomena such as war, displacement, epidemics, and environmental disasters.
The workshop seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on this specific category of cartographic sources and to encourage comparative perspectives across different historical periods and world regions. Contributions focusing on non-Western actors and cartographic traditions are particularly welcome. The study of how crises have been mapped and visualised offers new insights into both individual and collective responses to situations of threat and uncertainty, as well as into the role of maps in shaping processes of governance, intervention, and social transformation. The topic is particularly relevant today, as the study of historical crisis mapping deepens our understanding of the visual languages through which contemporary crises are represented, interpreted, and governed.
Contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes are invited:
Maps as analytical tools and instruments of power and governance: crisis management, political argumentation, propaganda, real-time mapping during ongoing crises and disasters, and the role of state and institutional actors;
Visual languages and cartographic conventions: standardisation, symbols, techniques of representation;
Counter-mapping and grassroots practices: non-institutional actors, communities, and individuals as producers of crisis cartographies; maps as tools of resistance, negotiation, and contestation;
Methodological and comparative perspectives: Historical GIS, Digital Humanities, digital mapping projects, transnational approaches, and studies of non-Western cartographic traditions.
The deadline for submitting abstracts (300 words) and a short CV is 10 September 2026. Authors will be notified of the acceptance or rejection of their proposals by 20 September 2026. Each participant will have 20 minutes for their presentation, followed by discussion.
Please submit your proposal using the online form available at: https://forms.gle/Sg1kyeNoSyH5Rukv7
There is no registration fee. To facilitate international participation, the organisers will cover accommodation costs for all accepted speakers. Travel expenses will be covered either partially or in full, depending on available funding.
Organisers:
Jitka Mo膷i膷kov谩 (Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences): mocickova@hiu.cas.cz
Dominic Keyssner (University of Erfurt): dominic.keyssner@uni-erfurt.de
The workshop is organised with the support of the Strategy AV21 research programme Identities in the World of Wars and Crises (Czech Academy of Sciences, 2026) and the University of Erfurt.
