Jan D. BLÁHA, Martin SOUKUP, Michaela BALCEROVÁ

Mental maps by the inhabitants of the village Yawan from an interdisciplinary perspective

Bláha, J. D., Soukup, M., Balcerová, M.: Mental maps by the inhabitants of the village Yawan from an interdisciplinary perspective. Kartografické listy, 2011, 19, 9 figs., 1 tab., 21 refs.

Abstract: This study concerns an interdisciplinary analysis and interpretation of those mental maps created by pupils of an elementary school in the village of Yawan. This village is found in the province of Morobe in Papua New Guinea. The introduction provides an explanation of the context for the creation of these maps, i.e. a broader anthropological investigation in the village during the summer of 2009. As this study has an interdisciplinary character, the authors attempt to perform a comprehensive analysis of the maps. The cartographical focus of the study concerns map language, style, content, and other approaches to map composition, including in some cases its accuracy in terms of comparison with a photograph of the corresponding village. From an anthropological point of view, the goal is to contextualize mental maps within the ethnographic community of Yawan. Finally, the psychological analysis and interpretation of these mental maps focuses on them primarily as creative artefacts with regard to the use of drawing materials, colours and shapes in the drawing of maps.

Keywords: mental maps, anthropology, psychology, culture, Papua-New Guinea, Melanesia