Place, space, and counter-mapping digital memory work

This article examines how counter-maps offer both an alternative visual reading of the land and a mechanism to share memories of a space and place. There has been a rich conversation on the resistance offered by counter-maps, as well as the diverse immersive experiences provided by apps and online platforms. Less discussed is how the counter-maps situate memory work as resistance. This article considers two immersive digital counter-maps, Jerusalem, We Are Here (2016) and Tantura: Executions and Mass Graves in Palestine (2023), and questions what makes a counter-map counter? Second, how does cartographical countering constitute digital memory work? The article concludes that the counter-maps facilitate memory work by providing a dynamic digital archive that witnesses the cartographical violence of erasure that occurs in mainstream online maps as well as on the ground. In doing so, counter-map creators practice and engage users in memory work that recentres marginalized cultural memory narratives.