Call for Papers. Mapping Identities: Visual Depictions of Scotland

The University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies, together with our collaborative partners from the National Library of Scotland and Landscape Research Group, are delighted to announce the launch of Mapping Identities: Visual Depictions of Scotland.

This project, funded through the generous support of an RSE Research Collaboration Grant, will bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplines to explore the ways in which maps have been, and still are, used to interpret and shape Scotland’s understanding of the present, past and future.

Though the purpose of a map may superficially be merely functional, educational or descriptive, the very act of its production will have necessitated some level of selectivity. Such selectivity can include the features presented, the scale used, where the map is centred, the annotations used and where boundaries and borders are placed.

This project asks why and how such choices are made and how these choices have impacted the way that geography, cosmology, history, geology and identity has been perceived in Scotland.

Our aim is to encourage awareness of the work being undertaken on these themes and foster new collaborations.

Call for Papers

Abstracts are invited for papers relating to one or more of the workshop themes:

• Identity. Library National of Scotland (Causewayside, Edinburgh). Friday 25 April 2025. Exploring how maps have interacted with local and national identities in Scotland.
• Geography and Cosmology. UHI Orkney (Kirkwall). Friday 6 June 2025. Examining how visual depictions of Scotland in the ancient and medieval world both drive and be driven by the understanding of Scotland’s place in the world and of its own geography.
• Power. Mitchell Library (Glasgow). Wednesday 8th October 2025. Discovering how maps have been used to reflect and yield power over the land and its people.

Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words to oisin.plumb@uhi.ac.uk by Monday 3rd March.

Participants will present their own research and partake in collaborative discussions.

Some travel support will be available for participants.

A final conference will be held at UHI Perth on 9th and 10th February 2026. Abstracts for the conference will be invited in the autumn.