The recent publication of a collection of critical essays by the late theoretician of cartography, Brian Harley, provides an occasion for reflecting on the nature of his contribution to our understanding of the map. Harley argued that the authority of the map derives from the erasure of its authorship, an authorship Harley understood to be diffused between the inner voice of the mapmaker (with his craft and knowledge) and the outer voice of the mapmaker’s patron (with his capital and interests). As each attributes the map to the other, both disappear. The effect is to naturalize the map as an (unauthored and so) objective image of the world as it is. Harley’s argument is relevant to anyone who makes things for others, including the author of this abstract.
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