Mapping Middle-earth: Environmental and Political Narratives in J. R. R. Tolkien's Cartographies (Perspectives on Fantasy)

Far more than just illustrations to aid understanding of the story, Tolkien's corpus of maps are crucial to understanding the broader narratives between humans and their political and environmental landscapes within his legendarium. In this cutting-edge study of Tolkien's most critically neglected maps, Anahit Behrooz examines how cartography has traditionally been bound up in facilitating power. Undertaking a diegetic literary analysis of the maps as examples of Middle-earth's own cultural output, Behrooz reveals a sub-created tradition of cartography that articulates specific power dynamics between mapmaker, map reader, and what is being mapped, as well as the human/nonhuman binary that represents human's control over the natural world. Mapping Middle-earth surveys how Tolkien frames cartography as an inherently political act that embodies a desire for control of that which it maps. In turn, it analyses harmful contemporary engagements with land that intersect with, but also move beyond, cartography such as environmental damage; human-induced geological change; and the natural and bodily costs of political violence and imperialism. Using historical, eco-critical, and postcolonial frameworks, and such theorists as Michel Foucault, Donna Haraway and Edward Said, this book explores Tolkien's employment of particular generic tropes including medievalism, fantasy, and the interplay between image and text to highlight, and at times correct, his contemporary socio-political epoch and its destructive relationship with the wider world. In this cutting-edge study of Tolkien's most critically neglected maps, Anahit Behrooz examines how cartography has traditionally been bound up in facilitating power. Far more than just illustrations to aid understanding of the story, Tolkien's corpus of maps are crucial to understanding the broader narratives between humans and their political and environmental landscapes within his legendarium. Undertaking a diegetic literary analysis of the maps as examples of Middle-earth's own cultural output, Behrooz reveals a sub-created tradition of cartography that articulates specific power dynamics between mapmaker, map reader, and what is being mapped, as well as the human/nonhuman binary that represents human's control over the natural world. Mapping Middle-earth surveys how Tolkien frames cartography as an inherently political act that embodies a desire for control of that which it maps. In turn, it analyses harmful contemporary engagements with land that intersect with, but also move beyond, cartography such as environmental damage; human-induced geological change; and the natural and bodily costs of political violence and imperialism. Using historical, eco-critical, and postcolonial frameworks, and such theorists as Michel Foucault, Donna Haraway and Edward Said, this book explores Tolkien's employment of particular generic tropes including medievalism, fantasy, and the interplay between image and text to highlight, and at times correct, his contemporary socio-political epoch and its destructive relationship with the wider world. Cover Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Space, Power and Critical Cartography Literary Maps Structure and Overview 1 Political Map-making Medieval Cartographic Practices Modern Cartographic Practices Tolkien’s Cartography Map I: I Vene Kemen Map II: The ‘Ambarkanta’ Diagrams and Maps Map III: Thror’s Map Map IV: The Middle-earth Map Map V: Map of Rohan, Gondor and Mordor 2 Environment Navigating the Human, Non-human and Posthuman Tom Bombadil and the Non-human Mapping the Human and Non-human in Middle-earth Stewardship Environmental Destruction Non-human Agency 3 Geology and Time Deep Time Middle-earth’s Geology Mapping Geology and Geologizing Maps Fixing Experiences of Time Mapping Anthropological Change 4 Imperialism and Race The Politics of Land and Map (Dis)possessing Middle-earth’s Lands The Threshold Space Mutual Vulnerability and Racialization Narratives of Imperialism Conclusion Bibliography Index