Making Maps of Mexico

How is data created? What are the politics of mapmaking? Who gets included in censuses? Which understanding of landscape, space, and boundaries end up enshrined in official cartography?

Over the course of the Fall 2022 semester, students in the Humanities Research Lab: Making Maps of Mexico, taught at Johns Hopkins University by Prof. Casey Lurtz and TA Magdalene Klassen, explored the history of data and maps while also learning to transcribe, standardize, map, and visualize historical census information. Working from the 1895 and 1900 censuses of Mexico, the class explored both specific and more theoretical issues with using, replicating, and repurposing demographic information collected in the past as well as the problems we face in relying on contemporary digital mapping technology (GIS) to represent historical space.

The projects in this StoryMap collection build off various columns in the Mexican censuses to explore how we should approach historical data, what it can tell us, and where we need to be cautious with it. Clicking on the maps below will bring up additional information from the census related to each project.