Abstract
The author spoke with renowned Swedish geographer Gunnar Olsson about maps, GIS and the power of imagination in both history and geography.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The interview was held in English and edited for publication.
- 2.
“Ready-Mades” refers to an art form where everyday objects are presented as objects of art. Sometimes the objects are artistically enhanced, either by painting on them or by unusual combinations of objects, for example, but by and large they remain untouched. The point being that the observer is made to think about everyday items—and therefore everyday life. Probably the best known Ready-Made artist was Frenchman Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968). Gunnar Olsson refers to Ready-Mades to point out that we never start from scratch in our imagination but rely on established signs (Olsson, 2007, 158).
- 3.
Cf. Ginzburg (1999).
- 4.
“Abstract ideas are therefore in themselves individual, however they may become general in their representation. The image in the mind is only that of a particular object, tho’ the application of it in our reasoning be the same, as if it were universal” (Hume, 1964, 327–328).
- 5.
Cf. Lünen (2006).
- 6.
See Berry and Fristedt (1985) for a discussion of the “multi-armed bandit problem”.
- 7.
Cf. Southall et al. (2011).
- 8.
See Lünen and Moschek (2011) and the chapter by Detlev Mares and Wolfgang Moschek in this book. Also von Lünen’s chapter.
- 9.
Probably the first one to use this metaphor—technology as extension of human organs—was German philosopher of technology and geographer Ernst Kapp (1808–1898); cf. Kapp (1877).
- 10.
“This operation reminds us of the monkey seated on the hearth before a copper kettle cooking its own tail; for it is of opinion that the true art of cookery consists not merely in the objective act of cooking, but also in the subjective consciousness of the process of cooking.” (Heine, 1986, 124)
References
Abrahamsson C, Gren M (eds) (2012) GO: on the geographies of Gunnar Olsson. Ashgate Gower, Oxford
Berry DA, Fristedt B (1985) Bandit problems: sequential allocation of experiments. Chapman and Hall, London
Ginzburg C (1999) History, rhetoric, and proof. University Press of New England, Hanover
Heine H (1986) Religion and philosophy in Germany: a fragment. State University of New York Press, New York. http://books.google.com/books?id=NnBwQQYywZgC
Hume D (1964) The Philosophical works. A treatise on human nature (vol I: Of the Understanding). Scientia, Aalen. Reprint of the new edition London 1886
Kapp E (1877) Grundlinien einer Philosophie der Technik. Zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Cultur aus neuen Gesichtspunkten. Westermann, Braunschweig
Lünen Av (2006) Who needs scientific instruments? Philosophers! physiology and philosophy in the fin de siècle. In: Grob B, Hooijmaijers H (eds) Who needs scientific instruments. Conference on scientific instruments and their users. 20–22 October, 2005, Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, pp 29–36
Lünen Av, Moschek W (2011) Without limits: ancient history and GIS. In: Dear M, Ketchum J, Luria S, Richardson D (eds) Geohumanities: art, history, text at the edge of place, Routledge, London, pp 241–250
Olsson G (1999) Constellations. Sist Terra 8(1–3):140–144
Olsson G (2002) Glimpses. In: Gould P, Pitts FR (eds) Geographical voices: fourteen autobiographical essays. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, pp 237–268
Olsson G (2007) Abysmal: a critique of cartographic reason. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Philo C (1984) Reflections on Gunnar Olsson’s contribution to the discourse of contemporary human geography. Environ Plan D Soc Space 2:217–240
Southall H, Mostern R, Berman ML (2011) On historical gazetteers. Int J Humanit Art Comput 5(2):127–145
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
von Lünen, A., Olsson, G. (2013). “Thou Shalt Make No Graven Maps!”: An Interview with Gunnar Olsson. In: von Lünen, A., Travis, C. (eds) History and GIS. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5009-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5009-8_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5008-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5009-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)