As the opening speaker for the Speaker Series at the Healthy Regions & Policies Lab (HEROP) in the Department of Geography & Geographic Information Sciences at UIUC, I presented a framework for reading bodies as territories. The talk began by situating questions of design and technology within the contexts of health, well-being, and community. From there, I explored anatomical imagery in its ontological dimension and translated it into a pedagogical space.

The presentation outlined the rationale for participatory body mapping and highlighted its potential for transformative practices and politics. I called for a redesign of technologies that move beyond being decontextualized and “value-neutral,” toward approaches that are embodied, place-based, community-oriented, and conducive to care. Ultimately, the talk invited us to redefine our notions of innovation, and to understand design as a practice of world-making.

Mapping territories: bodies-land-collective narratives