Two-dimensional maps in multi-dimensional worlds: A case of community-based mapping in Northern Thailand

Community-based mapping has become a necessary tool for development work worldwide - its adoption is near hegemonic. Mapping community land, however, can have unforeseen consequences in part due to its tendency to render what are complex configurations of social-ecological relationships into two-dimensional form. I argue that one of the key limitations to commonly practiced community-based mapping is the assumption that the spatial organization of resource use and management is an abstract entity that can be mapped independent of the social relations that produce it. This paper uses a case study from Northern Thailand to show how mapping techniques that fix and simplify fluid and complex associations can inadvertently prescribe changes to how residents manage their land, effectively becoming not only a tool for securing land tenure but also a tool for the spatial re-organization of land-use and management.