Detail from Antonio Garcia Cubas, "Cuadro historico-geroglifico de la peregrinacion de las tribus Aztecas que poblaron el Valle de Mexico. Num. I," 1858. David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries.


The third biennial Barry Lawrence Ruderman Conference on Cartography will focus on the theme of Indigenous mapping. The conference, to be held digitally, is hosted by the David Rumsey Map Center at Stanford Libraries, which sits on the ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. It is sponsored and co-organized by Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc., whose shop is located on the ancestral land of the Kumeyaay peoples.

This theme is of paramount importance, especially as Indigenous peoples around the world continue to fight for their recognition and rights to land and resources. Simultaneously, institutions are increasingly examining their roles in exploitative imperial expansion and settler colonialism. The history of colonial encounter and of indigenous agency can both be glimpsed in historical maps, many of which were made by Indigenous peoples or thanks to crucial, and often unacknowledged, Indigenous contributions. More recently, mapping technologies are helping Indigenous groups to monitor resources, protect language, survey territory, govern, and provide evidence for reclamation and recognition procedures. Scholars, many of them Indigenous, are voicing their critiques and interventions using geographic and cartographic frameworks.

All of these interpretations of Indigenous maps and mapping will be highlighted at the conference, held October 20-22, 2021. Each day of the conference will have a keynote, followed by panels that speak to a specific strain of scholarship: history of Indigenous maps and mapping, critical approaches to Indigenous geography, and digital applications. Our keynotes will be Alex Hidalgo (Texas Christian University), Mishuana Goeman (UCLA), and Eric Anderson and Carrie Cornelius (Haskell Indian Nations University). The conference will offer new insights into the ways in which maps and mapping are used by and have affected Indigenous peoples globally. Together, the three days of the conference hope to highlight exciting research, showcase a variety of maps and mapping practices, and to explore the thrust of this important field of study.

The three main themes for the conference are historical approaches, contemporary critical approaches, and digital approaches to Indigenous mapping.

Speakers for each theme, along with a tentative schedule, are listed below. Schedule details are subject to change. 

Abstracts are available here.

Times shown are in PST (Pacific Standard Time).

Wednesday, October 20: Historical approaches

Thursday, October 21: Contemporary critical approaches 

Friday, October 22: Digital approaches

Once every two years, the Center hosts the Barry Lawrence Ruderman Conference in Cartography. Barry Lawrence Ruderman is a map and atlas dealer based in La Jolla, California, and one of the Founding Friends of the David Rumsey Map Center. His website is one of the oldest and largest for the sale of antique maps and atlases. Since 2009, Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. has contributed over 50,000 digital map images to the Stanford Digital Repository. You can find them as part of the Barry Lawrence Ruderman Collection.

View our online exhibition on past conferences or click the images below for more information.