Drawing Power: The Politics of Maps

Dr. Pragya Agarwal is a visiting professor of social inequities and injustice at Loughborough University in the UK, and a fellow at the University of Cambridge. Her research lies at the intersection of geography, sociology and technology to investigate historic legacies and modern manifestations of inequalities. She is the author of four non-fiction books: Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2020) which was Guardian Book of the Week and translated in Korean and Turkish; Wish we knew what to say: Talking with children about race (London: Dialogue Books, 2020); (M)otherhood: On the choices of being a woman (London: Canongate, 2021); Hysterical: Exploding the myth of gendered emotions (London: Canongate, 2022) which was translated into Mandarin; and an upcoming book in 2027. Pragya also writes regularly for publications such as The Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, Scientific American, New Scientist, Literary Hub and Prospect Magazine, and has contributed to anthologies for the Design Museum and Wellcome Trust. She has been awarded the Transmission Prize for ‘making complex scientific ideas accessible’.

Travis Elborough’s books include ‘Atlas of Vanishing Places’, winner of Edward Stanford Travel Book Award, and ‘Through The Looking Glasses: The Spectacular Life of Spectacles’. The forthcoming ‘Ghost Paths: Ley Lines, Alfred Watkins and the Making of Our Wyrd World‘ will be published by Little, Brown in April 2027.

Maxim Samson is an independent researcher and author of Earth Shapers: How Humans Mastered Geography and Remade the World and Invisible Lines: Boundaries and Belts That Define the World, both published by Profile Books. He holds a PhD in geography from the University of Leeds and has taught and lectured internationally. A former award-winning adjunct professor at DePaul University, Chicago, he now teaches geography and leads EPQ, supporting students in independent research.