Relational Space: Outer Space Podcast Trilogy (Episode 3)

This is the third and final episode in a special AnthroPod trilogy highlighting three anthropologists of outer space. It follows the first two episodes in the series with Dr. David Valentine and Dr. Debbora Battaglia.

Incorporating soundscapes created from the NASA audio archive, these episodes aim to connect the work of these anthropologists with current events and popular culture.

Dr. Valerie Olson

In this episode I interview Dr. Valerie Olson, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado at Irvine. We discuss various topics including:

• The limits of the Anthropocene
• The rise of systems thinking
• Off-world architecture
• Increasing space garbage
• The familiarization of Mars
• Underwater astronaut training
• The Scott Kelly twin study
• Health, food, and the body off-planet

Long exposure of Earth. Photo by NASA.

I hope you will continue to join us on on the final leg of this journey to better understand what it means to be human beyond the planet on which we have evolved.

For another podcast exploration of outer space anthropology, see this episode of the Cultures of Energy podcast with Lisa Messeri on her exciting new book, “Placing Outer Space: An Earthly Ethnography of Other Worlds.”

The first observed other solar system in detail. By NASA.

Special thanks to Executive Producer Marios Falaris for valuable feedback and NASA for their vast sound library. You can find AnthroPod at SoundCloud, subscribe to it on iTunes, or use our RSS feed.