Cosmic Pasts, Fictitious Presents and Speculative Futures in Mexican Outer Space Narratives
Anne Johnson, Universidad Iberoamericana
Abstract
Drawing on my recent book Mexico in Space, this talk examines three interwoven temporal registers in Mexican outer space narratives. The cosmic past invokes pre-Hispanic astronomical knowledge as a source of legitimacy and belonging in contemporary space endeavors. The fictitious present interrogates the strategic mythologies and institutional performances that sustain Mexico's space sector while obscuring structural inequalities. The speculative future traces the imaginative labor of scientists, artists, and communities who project Mexican cosmic presence through decolonial thought and situated knowledge. Across these registers, Mexican space narratives operate not as linear progress but as baroque entanglements of remembering, fabulating, and worldmaking.
Biography
Anne W. Johnson is a Professor in the Graduate Program in Social Anthropology in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Universidad Iberoamericana. Her most recent book, Mexico in Space: From La Raza Cósmica to the Space Race, was recently published by the University of Arizona Press. She is currently conducting research projects on space art and astronomical observation practices in Mexico.
Location
online via zoom (register for here)