ABSTRACT
The history and use of maps, therefore, are far richer than cartographical description. As Haraway says: ‘maps are models of worlds crafted through and for specific practices of intervening and ways of life’. Medieval European ‘mappa mundi’, for instance, showed a religious world, with east at the top, representing heaven, less concerned with geographical accuracy than the representation of faith. An additional tradition in this area is community participatory mapping, a well-established technique used in geography, planning and community development. This rich history of map making as a tool to record, explore and share subjective experiences leads clearly to a potential role for using map making in qualitative psychological research. There are also mapping techniques and approaches which more explicitly tie together psychological experiences, such as emotions, and map making. Visualising emotional experiences and relationships in this way thus helps to: facilitate shared understanding; point to collective and social sources of distress; and potentially build community.
