The Africa Off-Earth Network
The Africa Off Earth Network is made up of an international network of scholars who share an interest in studying outer space from Africa. We engage with the material politics of outerspace, anchoring our discussion with telescopes, satellites, and other space technologies to elaborate on how planetary and cosmic objects are rendered discernible, visible, and meaningful. In so doing we attend to the earthly articulations and life experiences of doing space science and technology research across Africa. AOEN has emerged out of a number of inter- and transdisciplinary workshops since 2018 that have addressed current investments in astronomy and space science infrastructures on the continent.
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Our logo provides ample room for dwelling on questions that our common concerns raise. Read from bottom to top, the strata’s lengths and positions develop the outline of Africa until they provide the ground for a telescope that is directed at various objects at the outer reaches of space. Stratified knowledge of Africa and ever more focused knowledge of outer space are mutually constituted through the apparatuses of telescopes, satellites and ground-based laboratories. The logo works with spaces. Spaces in-between the lines are necessary for the image to work on a two-dimensional plane, but these spaces also gesture toward potentialities in representing Africa, telescopes, and celestial objects. They indicate the spaces – or scope – of our research interests.
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Africa Off-Earth Network 