74 | 2025
Études spatiales critiques : définir un champ émergent
The special issue Critical Outer Space Studies: Framing an Emerging Field addresses the urgency of critically rethinking the discourses and imaginaries that underpin contemporary space exploration. By foregrounding the interplay between cultural representation and ideological investment more than questioning issues of technological feasibility, this issue lays the groundwork for Critical Outer Space Studies as an emerging interdisciplinary field. Significantly enough, the contributors bring together perspectives from literary and cultural studies, political theory, gender studies, science and technology studies, and astronomy to examine how discourses and representations of space exploration can challenge hegemonic and discriminatory aspects and open avenues for alternative, ethical imaginaries. This special issue thus calls for a paradigm shift, away from narratives of expansion and escape, and toward ecological and justice-oriented approaches to humanity’s cosmic imaginaries. By situating space exploration within broader cultural and political contexts, the emerging field of Critical Outer Space Studies that this issue attempts to introduce demonstrates the vital role of the humanities and social sciences in shaping how we (re)imagine humanity’s future beyond Earth.
Editor's notes
Avec la participation financière de l’équipe de recherche CAS, UR801.
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Western Cosmology and Space Conquest [Full text]
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New Directions: Opening Up Outer Space Studies [Full text]
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