S5 Ep5: Fight for your right to Map! Radical Cartography with Bill Rankin

Jerry meets Bill Rankin, a cartographer, author and Professor of History at Yale University. In this episode of What’s Your Map? they discuss two fascinating infographic maps that feature in Bill’s latest book Radical Cartography: What Maps Tell Us About Who We Are (2025). 

Radical cartography uses the method of mapmaking as a tool to challenge and educate on social, cultural, and political affairs. Radical maps are thematic maps that aim to give agency to the people who are represented within them and better show the nuanced world we live in. 

The first map they discuss was designed by civil servant and activist Gwendolyn Warren in 1971. Titled ‘Where Commuters Run Over Black Children on the Pointes-Downtown Track’, the map documents the racial inequalities of a Detroit neighbourhood and is designed to inspire change.

The second map, titled ‘A Taxonomy of Transitions’ shows the ethnography of Chicago and was made by Bill in 2010. It was created using self-identification government census data and illustrates the relationships of the different neighbourhoods in the city. This map harnesses the power of infographics to better represent the people who live in the area and create a boundary-less community. 

From historians, scientists and writers, to creatives and cultural custodians, people have used maps as a source of knowledge, guidance, and inspiration for centuries. 

Join us as map historian Jerry Brotton invites each guest to share a map close to their heart - and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and personal stories behind it.

If you’re fascinated by history, art, adventure and culture, why not become part of a global community of fellow explorers as we ask - what’s YOUR map?

The award-winning What’s Your Map? is brought to you by Oculi Mundi (‘eyes of the world’), the online home of The Sunderland Collection of antique cartography.

For a fully immersive experience, visit Oculi-Mundi.com/podcast to explore each of the maps as you listen, and find more information and rabbit-holes about each guest.

WHAT’S YOUR MAP? LIVE is making its Hay Festival debut! Join host Jerry and guests Tim Marshall, David Olusoga OBE and Emma Jane Unsworth on Wednesday 27 May at 8.30pm on the Discovery Stage as they unfurl history, culture and adventure in a live, immersive show. Find tickets: Oculi-Mundi.com/hay-2026 

Image detail: ©Bill Rankin

All views and opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are entirely their own and do not represent those of The Sunderland Collection or Whistledown Productions.