Counter-mapping: critical genealogies and contemporary powers of the map.

As part of the Study Days on Counter-Mapping (22–23 April 2026), HEAD – Genève welcomes historian and counter-cartographer Nepthys Zwer for a public lecture.

Drawing on her recent publications, This Is Not an Atlas (2023) and For a Spatio-Feminism: From Space to Map (2024), Nepthys Zwer will offer a critical exploration of counter-mapping: its genealogies, methodological shifts, activist uses and epistemological stakes.

Emerging in the wake of critical cartography in the 1990s, counter-mapping refers to situated, often collective practices that challenge dominant ways of representing space. These approaches question the supposed neutrality of maps, bring marginalised experiences into view, and reaffirm the political, narrative and embodied nature of all cartographic work.

At the intersection of the social sciences, artistic practices, and feminist and activist engagements, this talk offers a rigorous reflection on the map as a tool of power, but also as a means of emancipation and of producing shared knowledge.

About the speaker
A historian and counter-cartographer, Nepthys Zwer works on the epistemology and politics of cartography, with a particular focus on radical cartographies, collective mapping practices and the critical legacy of ISOTYPE. She has led numerous participatory workshops and co-edited This Is Not an Atlas, a key reference work on contemporary counter-mapping.