The Mapping Inequities Fellowship

Overview

The Humanity in Action journey begins with a Fellowship

Accepting Applicants from:

Visualizing Rights and Rites in the Post-Industrial World: An International Inquiry

 

The 2022 US Fellowship program consisted of a two and half week virtual workshop. A group of 20 American and European Fellows and Senior Fellows embarked on a collaborative investigation and interpretation of spatial data within their respective geographies to illuminate pressing social inequities. These investigations resulted in projects that will form an accessible digital exhibition for the public.

Each day, Fellows spent three hours in virtual sessions and two hours engaged in on-the-ground inquiries and practice. The virtual sessions consisted of lectures from international mapping/data practitioners and academics leading this innovative field. The virtual workshops included sessions to learn and critique each other’s projects. The on-the-ground inquiries involved working in the field, moving away from the computer to explore and generate knowledge and design a project. Fellows chose the community or space that they mapped, as long as they had access to it geographically or digitally. The purpose of the fieldwork was to produce new data or layer existing data to create a new map. 

After the conclusion of the 2.5 week Fellowship, participants were expected to expand upon their maps and/or share and use their maps in social justice contexts over the next year. Fellows also joined the Action Lab Series, which convened monthly from September 2022-February 2023. For more information on the Fellowship Path, please follow this link.

Participants:
  1. Explored theories and histories of public and private property rights as well as cultural rights (rites) in the United States and European countries. The focus was on post-industrial cities and particularly Detroit;
  2. Understood how individuals and groups employ maps and data to oppress as well as to resist and protest inequities;
  3. Learned the basics and various of techniques of mapping, data visualization, and multimedia storytelling;
  4. Created their own maps and data visualizations to reveal hidden stories, overturned harmful dominant narratives, and provoked change at a neighborhood, city, state, or country level.
Examples of fieldwork included: 
  • Walking through your neighborhood and accounting for different characteristics; collecting photos and data
  • Scouring the internet for data, local sites and their significance, etc.;
  • Using Google Maps;
  • Layering and integrating different maps or sets of data to draw new conclusions;
  • Finding an under-mapped community or space and trying to fill in the gaps;
  • Creating a spatial audit – is a certain place or community accessible, or are there barriers for certain groups?

Given the trans-Atlantic and US time differences, the lectures and workshops for all Fellows took place in the morning US time and afternoon European time. The field work took place in the morning European time and in the afternoon US time.

Applying:

Applications are now closed. In 2023, the Mapping Inequities Fellowship will be titled the Mapping Democracy Fellowship. To be notified when the application for the Humanity in Action 2023 Fellowship programs is available, sign up here. With any questions, do not hesitate to email admissions@humanityinaction.org.

Fellowship Team

Two Senior Fellows shared their expertise to create this program.

Aditi Mehta

2006 Berlin Fellowship

Shawn Reilly

Shawn Reilly

US Action Project Strategist
2021 Landecker Democracy Fellowship

The Fellowship is inspired by a multitude of mapping projects from both the US and Europe, including:

Learn about relevant work of our Fellows.

H.A.R.T.A (Housing Affordability in Real Terms Act)

Authors: Nikolaos Vrantsis, International, 2021

Landecker Democracy Fellow Nikos Vrantsis is currently an Assistant Researcher of Social Sustainability of Alternative Housing Models at the Institute of Urban Research in Uppsala. This project focuses on the mapping and identification of housing potential in rural areas, with a particular focus on inactive housing stock and abandoned resources.

Mapping of Queer-Krakow

Authors: Krzysztof Skwara, Poland, 2021

In the first such initiative in Poland, Krzysztof Skwara, queer activist and the 2019 Warsaw Fellow, has collects all the useful LGBTQ+ addresses in his hometown Krakow, Poland’s second largest city.

Ethos Atlas: An alternative map of Athens

Authors: Eleni Zervos, International, 2018

Ethos Atlas is a map of physical locations in Athens that supply fair trade products and source their materials ethically.

Become a Fellow

Every year, new Humanity in Action Fellows come together in six cities across Europe and the United States to study how and why people resist intolerance and protect democratic values.

01 Year duration

06 Cities

150 Fellows per year

More on the Fellowship >