Damjanov, Katarina. 2022. “Commodity and the Commons: Accumulation of Capital on the Space Frontier.” Journal of Cultural Economy.

Parker, Martin. 2009. “Capitalist in Space.” The Sociological Review 57(1): 83-97.

Valentine, David. “Exit Strategy: Profit Cosmology, and the Future of Humans in Space.” Anthropological Quarterly 83(4): 1045-67.

Bellamy Foster, John. 2022. “Nature as a Mode of Accumulation: Capitalism and the Financialization of the Earth.” Monthly Review. 

Since 2015, Justin Walsh and Alice Gorman have been leading the first archaeological study of a human habitation site in space, the International Space Station. In that time, they have studied crew-created visual displays, processes for handling cargo returned to Earth, population distributions in the various ISS modules, the use of simple technologies as "gravity surrogates," and more. Recently, they performed the first archaeological work in space, with the Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment (SQuARE), which had the crew document six locations through daily photography. The data-driven insights that have emerged from this project are now being presented to companies building space stations through a new consultancy called Brick Moon.

Join us for a Film Independent screening. 

Good Night Oppy tells the inspirational true story of Opportunity, a rover that was sent to Mars for a 90-day mission but ended up surviving for 15 years. The film follows Opportunity’s groundbreaking journey on Mars and the remarkable bond forged between a robot and her humans millions of miles away." 

In 1966 the architect Cedric Price asked a lecture audience: "Technology is the answer, but what was the question?" When planning for new spaces in the future, it's often easy to get so caught up in the "how?" that we forget to examine the "why?" This talk is the product of eight years worth of research into the history of the idea that future humans can and should go and live permanently in a particular kind of novel space - outer space, away from planet Earth. Borrowing from literary studies, anthro/soc and STS, astrobiology, and the spatial practice disciplines of architecture and urban design, this is a presentation about the existence and usefulness of certain conceptual tools, that can help us to ask about all of the reasons why humans have historically wanted to make new worlds. Updating Price's question for new futures, we might ask: "Living in outer space is the answer, but what was the question?”

Centuries of Christian dominance in the West, including the United States, have created a secular culture where Christian themes such as sin, redemption, and salvation continue to resonate beyond explicitly religious contexts, extending to domains as diverse as science, technology, and space exploration. NASA and private space companies alike experience the subtle and overt impact of Christianity on their culture and worldview. This talk presents ethnographic research done with engineers and pilots affiliated with the commercial space sector, focusing on these space professionals’ religious ideas as well as how their spiritual perspectives and knowledge of space intersect. The research reveals a dominant narrative among these professionals that is informed by Christianity: humanity is living in a lost Eden, having sinned and fallen from grace, and our future on this planet is doomed. However, certain messianic figures and their space-focused endeavors, such as the relocation of humans to Mars or another habitable planet ("Planet B"), promise salvation and transcendence. This talk highlights the Christian influences on the narratives and aspirations of space professionals and underscores the continuing significance of religious themes in contemporary culture.