Mapping borderscapes: Reimagining cartography and refugee mobility in The Map of Salt and Stars

Migration, specifically in the context of forced displacement, operates through shifting, unpredictable spatial controls that render mobility precarious. This paper examines how the novel The Map of Salt and Stars (2018), which presents the displacement of Syrian refugees from the perspective of a twelve-year-old child, Nour, reimagines refugee displacement by presenting cartography as a processual spatial practice rather than an authoritative representational tool. Despite growing critical attention to the novel, the dimension of spatial and cartographic experience of the border remains underexplored, a gap this paper seeks to address. Firstly, the paper deliberates on the nature of mobility in the context of forced displacement, which navigates dynamic borderscapes alongside fixed geopolitical borders. Secondly, drawing on insights from critical and post-representational cartography, the paper argues that the narrative employs maps as tools for displaced subjects to interpret and negotiate the uncertainty of borderscapes.