IMCoS 2026 Malcolm Young Lecture with Dr. Lauren Beck
IMCoS 2026 Malcolm Young Lecture with Dr. Lauren Beck
Tuesday, 26 May, 2026 | 6:00 pm – London Time
The International Map Collectors’ Society is pleased to present The 2026 Malcolm Young Lecture, its annual distinguished lecture featuring excellence in cartographic scholarship.
Cartographic worldbuilding shapes how lands, waters, and borders are understood. Projections determine relational scale; the placement of borders and the language of toponymy influence how territorial claims and access to resources are perceived. Since its articulation in the French imaginary in 1535, the idea of “Canada” has been contested through such cartographic techniques.
Following its evolution from French territory to British colony and, in 1867, to independent nation, Canada’s sovereignty has continued to be shaped by forces beyond its official borders. Competing territorial claims, treaties negotiated in the interests of allies, and contemporary pressures arising from climate change in the Arctic all demonstrate how threats to sovereignty often originate outside the nation’s mapped boundaries.
Drawing on a series of historical and modern maps, Dr. Beck examines how Canada’s borders have been externally defined and redefined. In doing so, she reconceptualizes key challenges to Canadian cartographic and national sovereignty, inviting us to consider how maps both reflect and construct geopolitical realities.
About the Speaker
Dr. Lauren Beck holds the Canada Research Chair in Intercultural Encounter and is Professor of Visual & Material Culture Studies at Mount Allison University. Her research explores commemoration, settler-colonialism, and decolonization. She is a former editor of Terrae Incognitae and series editor of Bloomsbury’s Cultural History of Exploration (2024). She has authored and edited twenty books and collections, including Firsting in the Early Modern Transatlantic World (2019), Canada’s Place Names and How to Change Them (2022), and Abiayalan Pluriverses: Bridging Indigenous Studies and Hispanic Studies (2024).
Registration
Registration for IMCoS members and friends is now open on Eventbrite.
The Zoom link will be shared with registered attendees and circulated via email again as the event approaches.
