Plastic Cartographies. Map and territory in Catherine Malabou and Ecopoetics
Plastic Cartographies. Map and territory in Catherine Malabou and Ecopoetics

Summary/Abstract: This article analyses the theme of map and territory in Catherine Malabou’s philosophy and in contemporary poetry. Calling into question the traditional understanding of the tension between map and territory, Malabou emphasizes that no map can entirely distance itself from territory, as in the case of the brain’s development in contact with the environment. Malabou employs cartographic ideas to clarify her own concepts of “plasticity” and “brain-world cartographies” that account for how the environment shapes us, at the same time indicating how we may partake in this process. Viewing selected works by Elizabeth Bishop and Nigel Forde in this perspective, which is demonstrated to dovetail with ecopoetics, this article explores how poetry can offer tools necessary for developing better ecologies of the mind. This is particularly urgent given the ongoing ecological crises as well as ethical challenges entailed by the advent of the Anthropocene and the scaling up of global capitalism.

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