ABSTRACT
In this chapter I discuss how map-making and maps, two of my primary methodological tools in this project, provide a novel means of documenting and discussing lived experience by expressing the complex dialectics between life-making, social embodiment, space, and place. I begin by exploring how theories of embodiment function as a way to situate the somatic indexicality (i.e., the ways the body is referred to) of the texts and maps collected in this project. The somatic indexicality of features within these maps provides insight into how socio-political projects, such as gender, and even the notion of ‘safety,’ are expressed visually and felt. Second, I consider the role of maps and map-making to social science research, as well as how maps are situated within power structures and ideology. Finally, I discuss how critical discourse analysis (CDA) provides a tool to unpack both interview data and the map text. This approach provides insight into the somatically laden indexicality of a text and, in turn, what particular maps can tell us about bodies and experience. Both the process of community map-making and the maps themselves directly raise issues of inequality as linked to both trans liminality and ‘danger.’ Importantly, in contrast to prevailing models for understanding experiences of ‘LGBT safe space,’ the maps and narratives addressed here reflect safety and support as contextualized complex mediations of space rather than as merely places where ‘LGBT’ people might be found.
