The Cartography of Bigotry

By Will Wlizlo
Published on October 8, 2010
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Most of the pseudo-cartography in graphic designer Yanko Tsvetkov’s ongoing “Mapping Stereotypes” project renames the countries of Europe and slightly gerrymanders the borders according to the skewed lens through which one country sees the continent. (The image above is “Europe According to USA.”) The results are funny in the way stereotypes often are–chuckle worthy at first, then dark, mildly offensive, and problematic. For example, on Tsvetkov’s map called “Europe According to France,” Greece has been renamed “Noisy Hairy People” and Turkey “Definitely Not Europeans.”

“Europe According to Russia”

“Europe According to Gay Men”

“Europe According to Britain”

(Thanks, Kottke.)

Images courtesy of alphadesigner.

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