Online
His talk „The Wrong Stuff: Orbital Space Debris as Problem and Possibility” will take us to the atmosphere miles above us, where hundreds of millions of tiny artificial particles and larger fragments are circling the planet, mostly undetected, moving as fast as speeding bullets. Orbital space debris—artificial objects and materials launched into orbit that no longer serve a purpose—has been accumulating in the sixty years since the Soviet Union sent Sputnik into space and transformed the stakes of the Cold War. In the talk Joshua reviews various attempts to witness and revalue space debris, which expose the historical and ongoing militarization of outer space. This is challenging for two reasons. First, it can be hard to link debris to permanent war preparation, because this connection has been actively foreclosed from public awareness by the US security state. Every space mission creates some debris, and many space missions had covert and classified goals that were not disclosed until later, and some never were. Moreover, it is hard even to see space debris, or know it when you’ve seen it, making reckoning with it at all a unique challenge.
Joshua Reno is Professor of Anthropology at Binghamton University. Most of his research has focused on what makes contemporary Americans truly exceptional, from their many landfills to their improbably large military. He has also done research on disability, whiteness, and science and technology studies. He is the author of several books including Waste Away: Living and Working with a North American Landfill (2016), Military Waste: The Unexpected Consequences of Permanent War Readiness (2019), and, with Britt Halvorson, Imagining the Heartland: White Supremacy and the American Midwest (2022), all published by University of California Press. His latest book, Home Signs: Living Beyond and Beside Language is due in 2024 from University of Chicago Press.
To prepare the session and ensure a fruitful discussion we suggest participants read the following research paper written by Joshua (PDF attached):
Reno, Joshua O. 2018. “Making Time With Amateur Astronomers and Orbital Space Debris: Attunement and the Matter of Temporality”. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 5 (1):4-18. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.33336.
To join the session, please use the following link:
https://hu-berlin.zoom.us/j/63251939371?pwd=SjdiaEhaTlgwNGp2bHNwN3l6WFBVZz09
Meeting ID: 632 5193 9371
Password: 313517
If you have any troubles accessing the texts or further questions regarding the session or the ETROD series, please contact Janine Hauer (etrod@zirs.uni-halle.de).