Map and census mutually constitute each other to bound identities territorially.

Evidence

It would be unwise to overlook the crucial intersection between map and census. For the new map served firmly to break off the infinite series of ‘Hakkas,’ ‘Non-Tamil Sri Lankans,’ and ‘Javanese’ that the formal apparatus of the census conjured up, by delimiting territorially where, for political purposes, they ended. Conversely, by a sort of demographic triangulation, the census filled in politically the formal topography of the map. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 662

Categorization

• XREF: The census-map intersection is the mechanism by which identity categories get concretized and bounded — precisely how nationalist/Islamophobic category systems get territorial and demographic reality imposed on them. — connects to: The modern census’s innovation was quantifying populations into aggregate series — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 651; Maps can precede and shape territorial reality rather than merely reflect it. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 660; Colonial states invented historical maps fabricating ancient territorial identities. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 663 (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: Two administrative technologies mutually construct each other’s objects: the map terminates what the census enumerates, and the census populates what the map draws — a recursive epistemic loop central to how modern states manufacture legible populations.

Related

• Maps can precede and shape territorial reality rather than merely reflect it. (similarity 0.85)
• Colonial states invented historical maps fabricating ancient territorial identities. (similarity 0.82)
• The modern census’s innovation was quantifying populations into aggregate series (similarity 0.81)
• The map can create a national community where none previously existed (similarity 0.79)
• The map now precedes and engenders the territory, not the reverse (similarity 0.78)
• Maps can construct territory rather than merely represent it (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Colonial states invented historical maps fabricating ancient territorial identities. #expands (0.92) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 663
• The map can create a national community where none previously existed #expands (0.90) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 668