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Placing Outer Space: An Earthly Ethnography of Other Worlds
Lisa Messeri
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Description for Placing Outer Space: An Earthly Ethnography of Other Worlds
Paperback. Lisa Messeri traces how planetary scientists-whether working in the Utah desert, a Chilean observatory, or the labs of MIT-transform celestial bodies into places in order to understand the universe as densely inhabited by planets, in turn telling us more about Earth, ourselves, and our place in the cosmos. Series: Experimental Futures. Num Pages: 248 pages, 38 illustrations. BIC Classification: JHM; PGS; RG. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 5817 x 3887 x 15. Weight in Grams: 477.
In Placing Outer Space Lisa Messeri traces how the place-making practices of planetary scientists transform the void of space into a cosmos filled with worlds that can be known and explored. Making planets into places is central to the daily practices and professional identities of the astronomers, geologists, and computer scientists Messeri studies. She takes readers to the Mars Desert Research Station and a NASA research center to discuss ways scientists experience and map Mars. At a Chilean observatory and in MIT's labs she describes how they discover exoplanets and envision what it would be like to inhabit them. Today’s planetary science reveals the universe as densely inhabited by evocative worlds, which in turn tells us more about Earth, ourselves, and our place in the universe.
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2016
Publisher
Duke University Press
Condition
New
Series
Experimental Futures
Number of Pages
248
Place of Publication
North Carolina, United States
ISBN
9780822362036
SKU
V9780822362036
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-50
About Lisa Messeri
Lisa Messeri is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Yale University.
Reviews for Placing Outer Space: An Earthly Ethnography of Other Worlds
"To become an exoplanet scientist, Messeri shows (in part by undergoing some training herself), is to learn to see and convey these abstractions as something more relatable — as 'super-Earths' or 'mini-Neptunes' or such. 'To excite the community about a particular visualization,' as Messeri nicely puts it, 'is to convince them that the image contains a world.' And to really excite the community, presumably, is to convince them that a world contains little green men."
James Ryerson
New York Times Book Review
"Placing Outer Space is a welcome addition to the literature on planetary science. Not only has Messeri achieved what has eluded so many writers—putting humans at the center of the account—she has also succeeded in crafting a compelling narrative of discovery."
Matthew Shindell
Physics Today
"Messeri’s book is an excellent addition to both the increasing scholarship concerning the cosmos in science and technology studies and the resurgent field of outer space anthropology. Her thorough analysis of place-making practices by an often insulated community is accompanied by her vivid and absorbing ethnographic writing. Placing Outer Space is an excellent example of academic writing that is supremely beneficial and accessible to both the academy and the public"
Taylor R. Genovese
LSE Review of Books
"Messeri is to be commended for crafting an engaging account that is fully accessible to an outside audience. Her beautiful ethnographic narrative and clear applications of theory make her readers feel comfortable. . . . For anthropologists attempting to pen a scholarly monograph that engages both the broader public and the community they study, this is a worthy example."
Janet Vertesi
American Anthropologist
"Lisa Messeri's spirit of adventurous ethnographic contact carries the day, delivering new insights into off-Earth explorations by experts and amateurs alike. In bringing us, up close, to those engaged in fashioning new home worlds and remapping the cosmos, Messeri urges us to follow the future making. That enterprise is in good hands."
Debbora Battaglia
American Ethnologist
"A thoughtful investigation of planetary science. . . . Students of the history of science and astronomy will find many new ideas here that are worth pondering."
Maria Lane
Journal of Anthropological Research
"A first-rate example of ethnographic research into the epistemological frameworks that shape the work of astronomers engaged in planetary science. Messeri has produced a superb discussion of how scientists move the unfamiliar into the realm of the familiar."
John W. Traphagan
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
James Ryerson
New York Times Book Review
"Placing Outer Space is a welcome addition to the literature on planetary science. Not only has Messeri achieved what has eluded so many writers—putting humans at the center of the account—she has also succeeded in crafting a compelling narrative of discovery."
Matthew Shindell
Physics Today
"Messeri’s book is an excellent addition to both the increasing scholarship concerning the cosmos in science and technology studies and the resurgent field of outer space anthropology. Her thorough analysis of place-making practices by an often insulated community is accompanied by her vivid and absorbing ethnographic writing. Placing Outer Space is an excellent example of academic writing that is supremely beneficial and accessible to both the academy and the public"
Taylor R. Genovese
LSE Review of Books
"Messeri is to be commended for crafting an engaging account that is fully accessible to an outside audience. Her beautiful ethnographic narrative and clear applications of theory make her readers feel comfortable. . . . For anthropologists attempting to pen a scholarly monograph that engages both the broader public and the community they study, this is a worthy example."
Janet Vertesi
American Anthropologist
"Lisa Messeri's spirit of adventurous ethnographic contact carries the day, delivering new insights into off-Earth explorations by experts and amateurs alike. In bringing us, up close, to those engaged in fashioning new home worlds and remapping the cosmos, Messeri urges us to follow the future making. That enterprise is in good hands."
Debbora Battaglia
American Ethnologist
"A thoughtful investigation of planetary science. . . . Students of the history of science and astronomy will find many new ideas here that are worth pondering."
Maria Lane
Journal of Anthropological Research
"A first-rate example of ethnographic research into the epistemological frameworks that shape the work of astronomers engaged in planetary science. Messeri has produced a superb discussion of how scientists move the unfamiliar into the realm of the familiar."
John W. Traphagan
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute