Discourse, Power And Politics On The Maps

With the advent of the era of picture-reading, more and more maps turn up in people’s lives. And the arrival of network era greatly reduces the threshold to produce maps, on one hand, it allows the maps to serve people preferably, on the other hand, it also makes a series of questionable maps in China. In this context, a comprehensive understanding of the value of the communication of the map is conducive to make better use of maps for their own services.Compared with other media, the map is the most likely to be ignored.It is easy to be simply seemed as a medium for dissemination of geographic information and a product of science. With the progress of science, the map will be more and more accurate. While the reality is that the map also involves people’s compete for the right to speak and presentation, the map is not just communicating an objective geographic information, it’s also communicating the values and ideologies.It is the result of science, art and power.This paper is going to use the method of deconstruction, seeing the map as a text of deconstruction, to parse the discourse hidden in the map. Firstly, this article will briefly discuss the relationship of the map and communication, to reveal the essence of the map communication and the forms of expressions of the discourse on the map. Secondly, analyse the hidden discourse from the drawing principle, the gatekeeper and the language of the map to reveal the relationships among the map with the discourse, power and politics.