Exploring the Nature of Narrative Analysis in Maps: the Case Study of the Georgia-South Ossetia Conflict

The use of narrative analyses has been used to further our understanding of conflict.  While maps have been recognized as objects of power and identity, study of them as narratives has until recently been under-developed. This paper will present exploratory narrative study of maps and mapping associated with a conflict case study; Georgia and South Ossetia in the Caucasus. Texts and stories embedded into Western cartographical maps will be examined using structuralist, functionalist and post-structuralist analyses.