This groundbreaking collection of over twenty-five keyword entries from leading scholars in the emerging field of critical outer space studies offers stimulating interdisciplinary conversations about humanity's relationship with the cosmos.

National and commercial space activity has reached a level of political, economic, and cultural relevance unknown since the height of the Cold War. From the launching of satellite mega-constellations and efforts to deflect Earth-threatening asteroids, to projects to settle Mars and return to the moon, the hype, imaginaries, and investments now clustering around space activity raise urgent questions about how outer space relates to larger systems of power. Who has the right to explore and settle space? What histories of colonialism and capitalism shape current space ambitions? In what ways do space exploration projects reflect and reproduce Earth-bound inequalities? How might alternative, more just and environmentally sustainable futures in space be imagined?

Outer space has long generated radical reimaginings and reconceptualisations of humanity and its futures. Taking inspiration from the weird and generative possibilities of outer space, this collection offers new forms of theory and analysis for examining the varied ways we relate to space. A key resource in this exciting and vibrant new area of critical enquiry, this collection is an essential read for those seeking to better understand the social, cultural, and political impacts of the accelerating transformation of outer space into a site of economic ambition, geopolitical contestation, and environmental concern.

Offers an engaging, exciting, and accessible opening onto social sciences and humanities scholarship on outer space Brings together over twenty-five leading scholars and emerging voices from across disciplines Adopts an experimental and creative approach to critical outer space studies

Autorentext

A.R.E. Taylor is an anthropologist and Senior Lecturer in Communications at the University of Exeter (UK). He works at the intersection of social anthropology, media archaeology, and critical infrastructure studies. His research concentrates on the relationship between infrastructure and outer space, with a focus on space weather, spaceports, and data centres. He is an Editor for the Journal of Extreme Anthropology and a founding member of the Social Studies of Outer Space (SSOS) Network. He is also a founder of the Cambridge Infrastructure Resilience Group (CIRG), a network of researchers exploring critical infrastructure protection in relation to global catastrophic risks.

Klappentext

"Human relationships with outer space are undergoing rapid transformation. What futures emerge from this remain to be seen. It is a time when radical thinking is both necessary and fertile in social studies of outer space. This book of keywords provides an array of deeply disorienting interventions. In refusing to treat outer space as simply a series of challenges for technical and social engineers, it disturbs how we think about outer space as both an environment and as a field of social science. Most excitingly of all, it demonstrates the potential in this for reimagining ourselves as humans, and Earth as our home planet. In doing so, one of its triumphs is bringing to the fore global voices marginalised by the dominant space powers and the space industry. It is a vital provocation."

— James S. Ormrod, University of Brighton, UK

"This dictionary of key words for the social studies of outer-space is an essential resource for those working in this vanguard field of the social sciences and those entering it. Assembled in the manner of a Surrealist ‘anti-dictionary’, the entries work to open up key terms, phenomena, tropes, and analytical concepts - not to stabilize them, but to rather critically destabilise these terms of reference and generate more innovative, expansive and orthogonal approaches. This dictionary helps enable an ever expanding multiplicity of perspectives that confound existing settlements and arrangements of power to suggest critical new interventions for the study of outer-space. Situated in the contemporary era of ‘New Space’ and its novel and contentious configurations of varied state, commercial, national and regional interests, this compilation is a vital resource for scholars and students to help orient themselves, intervene and plot the future trajectories of social science research."

— Victor Buchli, University College London, UK

"This critical collection provides an engaging introduction to recent scholarship on outer space, employing a range of often-surprising keywords to explore the social and political implications of both commercial 'NewSpace' ventures and alternative, oppositional perspectives. Rest assured, the keyword-based format doesn't result in a dull dictionary or encyclopedia! Instead, concise essays tackle the subject from diverse disciplinary viewpoints, creating a richly refracted set of theories, arguments, and provocations."

— K. Maria D. Lane, University of New Mexico, USA.

This groundbreaking collection of over twenty-five keyword entries from leading scholars in the emerging field of critical outer space studies offers stimulating interdisciplinary conversations about humanity’s relationship with the cosmos.

National and commercial space activity has reached a level of political, economic, and cultural relevance unknown since the height of the Cold War. From the launching of satellite mega-constellations and efforts to deflect Earth-threatening asteroids, to projects to settle Mars and return to the moon, the hype, imaginaries, and investments now clustering around space activity raise urgent questions about how outer space relates to larger systems of power. Who has the right to explore and settle space? What histories of colonialism and capitalism shape current space ambitions? In what ways do space exploration projects reflect and reproduce Earth-bound inequalities? How might alternative, more just and environmentally sustainable futures in space be imagined?

Outer space has long generated radical reimaginings and reconceptualisations of humanity and its futures. Taking inspiration from the weird and generative possibilities of outer space, this collection offers new forms of theory and analysis for examining the varied ways we relate to space. A key resource in this exciting and vibrant new area of critical enquiry, this collection is an essential read for those seeking to better understand the social, cultural, and political impacts of the accelerating transformation of outer space into a site of economic ambition, geopolitical contestation, and environmental concern.

A.R.E. Taylor is an anthropologist and Senior Lecturer in Communications at the University of Exeter (UK). He works at the intersection of social anthropology, media archaeology, and critical infrastructure studies. His research concentrates on the relationship between infrastructure and outer space, with a focus on space weather, spaceports, and data centres. He is an Editor for the Journal of Extreme Anthropology and a founding member of the Social Studies of Outer Space (SSOS) Network. He is also a founder of the Cambridge Infrastructure Resilience Group (CIRG), a network of researchers exploring critical infrastructure protection in relation to global catastrophic risks.

Inhalt

1. Introduction - A.R.E. Taylor.- 2. Africa - Davide Chinigò and Hanna Nieber.- 3. Alien - Claire Isabel Webb.- 4. Amateur - Denis Sivkov.- 5. Anthropocene - Chakad Ojani.- 6. Debris - Nina Klimburg-Witjes and Michael Clormann.- 7. Earth- David Jeevendrampillai.- 8. Environment - Valerie Olson.- 9. Export Control - Yi-Ting Chang.- 10. Fire - Nigel Clark.- 11. Frontier - Lauren Reid.- 12. Gender - Eleanor S. Armstrong.- 13…