Culture of extraterrestriality
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A culture of extraterrestriality is the cultural imagination and description of otherworldlyness, alienness or outright outer space, characterizing the other through extraterrestrial space,[1][2] beyond mere extraterritoriality or periphery, being the space that is imagined or described as extraterrestrial, or simply any space outside a described land. It creates conditions of extraterrestrialness,[3] spatially set apart otherness, unlike any othered cohabiting entity.
Extraterrestriality has been a feature of many past and contemporary cultures.[4] Politically it has been an element of utopianism and colonialism,[1] particularly its formation, colonies being the product in extraterrestrial space. Such histories have informed contemporary cultures of extraterrestriality, informing the prospecting of space exploration and the reception of its findings, particularly for space colonization and the search for extraterrestrial life.[5] Colonialism was associated with extraterrestrial space already in the first half of the 17th century when John Wilkins suggested in A Discourse Concerning a New Planet that future adventurers like Francis Drake and Christopher Columbus might reach the Moon, and people to live there.[6]
See also
[edit]- Extraterrestrials in fiction
- Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
- Potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact
- Expatriate
- Anthropocentrism
References
[edit]- ^ a b Wisniewski, Mark Edward (2022-04-05). "Britain's Extraterrestrial Empire: Colonial Ambition, Anxiety, and Ambivalence in Early Modern Literature". e-Publications@Marquette. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
- ^ Smith-Ruiu, Justin (2023-11-06). "Where do aliens come from?". UnHerd. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
- ^ "Conditio extraterrestris". UZH (in German). Retrieved 2024-07-11.
- ^ "Extraterrestrial culture: How we express ourselves through space…". The Planetary Society. 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
- ^ Dick, Steven J. (1996). "Other Worlds: The Cultural Significance of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate". Leonardo. 29 (2). The MIT Press: 133–137. doi:10.2307/1576349. ISSN 0024-094X. JSTOR 1576349. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
- ^ Caroline Haskins (14 August 2018). "THE RACIST LANGUAGE OF SPACE EXPLORATION". Retrieved 1 November 2020.