Mit offenen Karten
Encyclopedia
Le Dessous Des Cartes is a weekly broadcast on geopolitics from the Franco-German Arte channel. The show makes great use of maps as visual support. It stars the geographer and geo-politician Jean-Christophe Victor (son of the explorer Paul-Emile Victor
).
The content of the show is jointly prepared by Jean-Christophe Victor and the "Laboratoire d'études politiques et d'analyses cartographiques" (Laboratory for Political Studies and Map analysis), known as LEPAC, and of which he is the founder and main shareholder.
until it stopped broadcasting, and has been on air since 1992 on the Franco-German channel Arte. The show is broadcast every Saturday at 20h00 (Paris local time, GMT - 1) and rebroadcast several times a week. The format of the show has changed little since the first episode. However, the episode length expanded from 7 to 11 minutes. The transition from 11 to 26 minutes referred to by Jean-Christophe Victor in 2002 was abandoned.
is that of Eckert (the Pseudo-cylindrical projection). The show also uses satellite imagery from Google Earth
and the first use was in the episode named: "Nigeria
, rich state poor country."
, Turkey
to Samarkand
")
For information and the geographical most commonly accepted:
Anecdote: The issue of 29 March 2000, for the week of April 1, is a parody of the show itself. The producing team of the show made what could be the episode of 1 April 3000 by offering a retrospective view of the past thousand years.
The main, oft repeated aim of the show is "to understanding rather than to inform."
, Sustainable development
, and the Proposals for a Palestinian state
, and against the concepts of Ethnic cleansing
, Just War
and The Clash of Civilizations (as suggested for example by Samuel P. Huntington
).
Paul-Émile Victor
Paul-Émile Victor was a French ethnologist and explorer.Victor was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He graduated from École Centrale de Lyon in 1928. In 1934, he participated in an expedition traversing Greenland...
).
The content of the show is jointly prepared by Jean-Christophe Victor and the "Laboratoire d'études politiques et d'analyses cartographiques" (Laboratory for Political Studies and Map analysis), known as LEPAC, and of which he is the founder and main shareholder.
Programming and format
The show was first aired from 1990 to 1992, on La SeptLa Sept
La Sept was a French television broadcaster and production company created on 23 February 1986 to develop cultural and educational programming for transmission via the TDF 1 satellite...
until it stopped broadcasting, and has been on air since 1992 on the Franco-German channel Arte. The show is broadcast every Saturday at 20h00 (Paris local time, GMT - 1) and rebroadcast several times a week. The format of the show has changed little since the first episode. However, the episode length expanded from 7 to 11 minutes. The transition from 11 to 26 minutes referred to by Jean-Christophe Victor in 2002 was abandoned.
Structure of the show
In general, the show runs as follows:- Generic top
- Introduction - Jean-Christophe Victor introduces the topic of the show on a neutral background
- Development - maps, animations and sometimes pictures while Jean-Christophe Victor talks.
- Conclusion - Jean-Christophe Victor concludes the program on a neutral point of view
- Bibliography of books which served as sources and / or may give the viewer further insight into the topic
- End Credits
Maps and visualization methods
Topographic maps are based on the Ordnance Survey Oxford Cartographers. The most commonly used Map projectionMap projection
A map projection is any method of representing the surface of a sphere or other three-dimensional body on a plane. Map projections are necessary for creating maps. All map projections distort the surface in some fashion...
is that of Eckert (the Pseudo-cylindrical projection). The show also uses satellite imagery from Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
and the first use was in the episode named: "Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, rich state poor country."
Program production cycle
The Laboratoire d'études politiques et d'analyses cartographiques (LEPAC) produces about forty episodes a year for the channel Arte. The subjects for most episodes are decided a year in advance to allow time for production. This delay in the selection of themes allows a certain hindsight regarding the chosen topic. However, on occasion, the topic of an episode is more closely related to current events. For example, the episode "Tsunami, a natural phenomenon" aired just three months after the events in South-East Asia.).The subjects of the show
Of the 300 programs (from March 2001 to May 2008), 210 (70%) have a geographical approach and 84 (28%) have a thematic approach. 6 issues remain unclassifiable: introspective (ex: "La Methode le Dessous des Cartes") or dreamers (ex: "A journey with Corto MalteseCorto Maltese
Corto Maltese is a comics series featuring an eponymous character, a complex sailor-adventurer. It was created by Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
to Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
")
For information and the geographical most commonly accepted:
- AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
(29) - Latin AmericaLatin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
(21) - Anglo-SaxonWhite Anglo-Saxon ProtestantWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
America (12) - EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
(53) - Polar worlds (11)
- Central AsiaCentral AsiaCentral Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
(10) - East AsiaEast AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
(35) - Middle EastMiddle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
(36) - Oceania (1)
Anecdote: The issue of 29 March 2000, for the week of April 1, is a parody of the show itself. The producing team of the show made what could be the episode of 1 April 3000 by offering a retrospective view of the past thousand years.
The methods and objectives of the issue
Described in a special episode on the 10th birthday of the show named "La méthode du Dessous des Cartes", the aim of the show is to expose the following:- Give way to GeographyGeographyGeography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
- Give meaning through HistoryHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
- Cross disciplines
- Everything is connected
- Avoid EthnocentrismEthnocentrismEthnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with...
- Giving a try at Future studies
- Taking a stand
The main, oft repeated aim of the show is "to understanding rather than to inform."
Positions
The main positions of the show and its sponsors are as follows: in favor of Human rightsHuman rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, Sustainable development
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
, and the Proposals for a Palestinian state
Proposals for a Palestinian state
Proposals for a Palestinian state currently refers to the proposed establishment of an independent state for the Palestinian people in Palestine on land that was occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967 and before by Egypt and by Jordan since 1949...
, and against the concepts of Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
, Just War
Just War
Just war theory is a doctrine of military ethics of Roman philosophical and Catholic origin, studied by moral theologians, ethicists and international policy makers, which holds that a conflict ought to meet philosophical, religious or political criteria.-Origins:The concept of justification for...
and The Clash of Civilizations (as suggested for example by Samuel P. Huntington
Samuel P. Huntington
Samuel Phillips Huntington was an influential American political scientist who wrote highly-regarded books in a half-dozen sub-fields of political science, starting in 1957...
).
Awards
- Prix Encyclopædia UniversalisEncyclopædia UniversalisThe Encyclopædia Universalis is a French-language general encyclopedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., a privately held company. The articles of the Encyclopædia Universalis are aimed at educated adult readers, and written by a staff of full-time editors and expert contributors...
1995 - Grand Prix Video 1996 of the Académie Charles Cros
- La Clio de l'image 1997
Books
- Jean-Christophe Victor, Frank Tétart and Virginie Raisson, Le Dessous des cartes : Atlas géopolitique, map of Frederick Lernoud, ed. Arte and Tallandier, 2005, (ISBN 2847342346).
- Jean-Christophe Victor, Frank Tétart and Virginie Raisson, Le Dessous des cartes 2 : Tome 2, Atlas d'un monde qui change, map of Lernoud Frederick, ed. Arte and Tallandier, 2007, (ISBN 2847344667).
- Jean-Christophe Victor, Frank Tétart and Virginie Raisson, Le Dessous des Cartes : Coffret en 2 volumes : Atlas géopolitique ; Atlas d'un monde qui change, map of Lernoud Frederick, ed. Arte and Tallandier, 2008 (ISBN 284734540X).
Video on demand
The site artevod (www.artevod.fr) offers the episodes of the show for download in the Windows Media Video format.DVD
Each semester, Arte Video and LEPAC publish a DVD. The DVD includes 12 to 20 episodes of the show regarding a theme. DVDs released so far:- Latin AmericaLatin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, the other America; - African continent;
- The unity of ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
; - USA, an imperialistic geography;
- GeopoliticsGeopoliticsGeopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
and ReligionReligionReligion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
; - EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, a model geopolitics?; - Europe as an alternative?;
- Polar worlds;
- Middle EastMiddle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
geopolitical pivot; - A planet in relief.
School text Book
- Le dessous des cartes Terminale : L’espace mondial
- Le dessous des cartes Première : L’Europe et la France
- Le dessous des cartes Seconde : Les Hommes occupent et aménagent la Terre
- Le dessous des cartes Troisième : Le Monde d’aujourd’hui