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NYU Space Talks ⎪ Denis Sivkov: 'Remaining in the Cradle: Amateurs and Children in Space'

The practices of contemporary Russian amateurs challenge the assumption that space can only be accessed by nation states and transnational corporations. In contrast to state-led space research and exploration, amateur cosmonautics reframe outer space as the domain of local, unaffiliated, and ordinary people. Children are the main space dreamers and consumers of space-branded goods, even though not a single child has traveled off-Earth yet. How do space amateurs address and imagine the role of children and teenagers in the creation of collective (extra)terrestrial futures? Drawing on an ethnography of space amateurs I argue that space nonprofessionals do not see children as merely the biopolitical industry’s workforce, but rather as the cosmopolitical co-creators and companions in inspiration.

Apr 19, 2023 10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)