Insights & Perspectives

In December 2022, our network was featured in the interview: Exploring Space from an African Perspective: the Giant Telescope “Square Kilometre Array” in South Africa with Irina. The interview covers African perspectives of space, and specifically explores the multifaceted effects of the Square Kilometre Array telescopes in South Africa.

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In October 2022, Tadej attended the MIASA International Conference on “African Cities: Climate Change and the Search for Resilience“ at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique. His presentation, Hybrid Landscapes and the Future of African Cities was directly inspired by his Landscapes essay, a contribution to the Scapes essay series.

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In December 2022, James Merron, Siri Lamoureaux, and Irina Turner published this article in Filosofia Theoretica, reflecting on productive offshoots of indisciplinary thinking and collaboration in space sciences.

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In July 2022, we published a series of essays written by members under the topic Scapes:

— In Part 1: Introduction to Scapes, James Zimmerman Merron introduces the concept with insights into the interplay of terrestrial formations and extraterrestrial space.

— In Part 2: Escapes, Hanna Nieber ruminates on space, distance, and Earth’s situatedness in the context of outer space research and narratives of escape.

— In Part 3: Timescapes, Davide Chinigò conceptualises the Square Kilometer Array as a timescape, bridging distant and near futures and showcasing the intertwining of scientific imagination, human temporalities, and technological progress.

— In Part 4: Landscapes, Tadej Pirc reflects on landscapes as a fusion of physical characteristics and human interventions, highlighting the impossibility of finding a place untouched by human influence and emphasising the inseparability of humans and nature.

— In Part 5: Scapus, Irina Turner shows how linguistic landscapes of the Square Kilometre Array and off-earth exploration prompt reflection on describing the unknown, alternative perspectives, and non-discovery in our relationship to space.

— In Part 6: Scapegoat, Susann Ludwig demonstrates how comparison shapes knowledge, and explores how the meaning of scape metamorphoses through its use in various words.

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In June 2022, at the conference of the African Studies Association Germany, Siri and Hanna are convened a panel “Re-Wiring Africa: How Do Quests for Scientific Progress and for Decoloniality Resonate With Each Other?”

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In May 2021, in an effort to demystify magnetic fields in galaxy clusters, James Chibueze, published this paper in the Nature journal, exploring the jets in a particular galaxy in a cluster, and how the structure of these jets can give us clues about the magnetic fields.

In April 2021, James Chibueze’s application for strategic funding to build an array of 4 small (~6m) telescopes for his university was approved. He is in contact with the Chinese company that will build the SKA dishes to assist with this project.

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In November 2020, several AEON members featured in the ROUNDTABLE – AFRICAN STUDIES AND 4IR: IN SEARCH OF AN APPROPRIATE ANALYTICAL APPROACH organised by the Research Group on Africa, Philosophy and Digital Technologies (APDiT). We are currently working on a publication. You can see the line up here.

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In October 2020, James Merron, published this article in Roadsides, exploring how the AVN telescope in the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory shapes the way space is produced, organised, and experienced.

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In February 2020, we met for a workshop in Germany. On page 65, the Newsletter of African Studies Bayreuth reported on the activities around the SKA workshop in Bayreuth.

Irina Turner and Hanna Nieber also summarise the activities of this workshop, “SKAnning Space from Africa”, around the theme of “Becoming” (page 77).

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In August 2019, we met for a workshop in Ghana. Our first workshop, Translating the SKA, attempted to bridge disciplinary gaps by bringing together natural and social scientists from Africa and Europe. Here are the lessons, insights, and translations we managed at the margins of our disciplines.