Call for paper: Reframing Tibetan and Mongol Mapmaking Practices (pre-20th century)

1 March 2026
Berlin, Germany

Organisation: Diana Lange (HU Berlin), Anne-Sophie Pratte (Georgetown University in Qatar), Antje Ziemer (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin)

Over many centuries, numerous manuscript maps were made of the Mongol steppe and Tibetan highlands. These maps constitute a rich repertoire of geographical knowledge and spatial representation, documenting how local actors conceptualized territory, environment, and administrative space across Central Asia. Despite their similarities in mapping style and Buddhist cosmographic influences, Mongol and Tibetan maps are rarely examined together in scholarly studies. This conference brings together Mongol and Tibetan mapping practices under a single scholarly framework, creating a comparative space for examining shared visual conventions, as well as the political, religious, and administrative contexts in which these maps were produced. This will contribute to existing discussions on mapping practices in 18th- and 19th-century Mongolia and Tibet, cartographic changes over time, materiality and transregional exchanges. More broadly, we want to contribute to reframing the scholarly discussions on historical map making before the 20th century, a field that is traditionally centered on European works or East Asian mapping traditions.
This conference will be organized in partnership with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, which holds a significant collection of Mongol manuscript maps comprising 182 items. Participants will engage with this collection through hands-on map viewing sessions at the Library, which will complement the scholarly contributions. We invite contributions that engage with a wide variety of topics connected to Tibetan and Mongol maps, such as materiality, cosmology, linguistics, colors, figurative elements, symbology, architecture, toponyms and textual inscriptions. Topics may also go beyond the maps themselves and touch on how such maps can be used as historical sources to shed light on various relevant questions from di erent research fields. We look forward to exchanging ideas among specialists from across multiple disciplines, such as history, area studies, art history, anthropology, geography, museum studies, and linguistic. Limited funding may be available upon request for junior scholars and for participants who do not have access to institutional research or travel funds.
Please send a title, abstract, and short bio to tibetmongolmaps@gmail.com before March 1st. The conference will take place from 26 to 28 November 2026.