Mapping Indigenous Lands: Issues & Considerations

Summary: This paper is a discussion of indigenous mapping, which I define as mapping done by and for indigenous peoples to achieve political objectives. The primary purpose of mapping of this sort has been, and will continue to be, to claim and defend land and natural resources. Secondary goals include strengthening political organization, recording traditional history and culture, developing education programs on a variety of topics (such as the environment), and planning for economic development. I begin with some general comments on indigenous mapping and then look more specifically at the community mapping methodology Native Lands has been developing over the last 14 years. We often note that the methodology is simple in concept yet complex in practice. It is not hard to understand the main outlines of how it works; but when one is on the ground and the wheels of all the component parts are set in motion, with people interacting, logistics to be arranged, deadlines to be met…the complexity of the undertaking becomes apparent. Indigenous mapping projects should not be seen as technical exercises, but rather as social-organizational events that happen to have a technical component. They can be, i