Introduction

This book explores what happens to forms of ethnography, ideas of the field, and the style of anthropology when outer space figures as a central organising frame for research design, practice, and analysis. It reflects a distinct rise in the critical attention paid by anthropologists to the role of the extraterrestrial in social life. This mirrors the rise in outer space interest in society at large, as the commercialisation of space, expansion of space infrastructures, and rising momentum in human spaceflight mark the so-called ‘new space age.’ Empirically tracing how outer space figures in social relations on Earth requires that we think creatively and flexibly about notions such as time, scale, and place. This creativity reflects a wider trend in anthropological thinking, whereby the discipline increasingly studies social phenomena beyond a focus on geographically bound communities in fieldwork. Thinking through outer space, we contend, can offer new styles and approaches to anthropological inquiry that widen disciplinary practice in novel and, perhaps, unexpected ways. Each of the eleven essays in this collection demonstrates this productive potential of thinking through outer space, whilst capturing and critically engaging with pivotal geopolitical, social, and economic forces as they unfold.