The term ‘Atlas’, derived from Greek mythology, has long symbolized the power to hold and orient the world. For generations, our perception of the globe has been shaped by the Mercator projection, a map designed for navigation that distorts the size of territories as they approach the poles. Consequently, Africa’s true scale has been significantly diminished in our collective consciousness.
Last week, a significant development occurred at the United Nations. Togo, representing the African Group, introduced a resolution to ‘correct’ this biased representation. The resolution was adopted with 164 votes, encouraging the use of projections that more accurately reflect landmass sizes. In reality, Africa is fourteen times larger than Greenland—a stark contrast to the Mercator projection where they appear similar—and is nearly three times larger than Europe and larger than North America.
As thinker Alfred Korzybski famously noted, ‘the map is not the territory.’ A representation is never the reality itself. The danger lies in mistaking the tool for the truth. While the physical territory remains unchanged, our perception is deeply influenced by how it is mapped.
Pierre Bourdieu described ‘symbolic power’ as the ability to impose a perception of the world that becomes accepted as natural. By correcting the map of Africa, we are not changing its geography, but we are shifting our symbolic gaze and, perhaps, the importance we accord to the continent on the global stage.
Captured & Published at: 2026-09-07 06:24:12 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/09/changer-de-regard.html