African Space Art as a New Perspective on Space Law

Abstract

Abstract “African Space Art as a New Perspective on Space Law” analyses African space art told through the work of African artists who retell an alternative history of spaceflight from an African cultural archive that produces a more inclusive history for humanity in space. A mix of artworks are analyzed, including the MaaSci (2017) series by Jacque Njeri, and the short film Afronaut (2014) by Nuotama Bodomo. The artworks expose different moral and ethical viewpoints that provide new ideas about the future of space governance. The artworks show how African histories, cultures, and philosophies can decolonize space travel through a deconstruction of the familiar tropes of the white, male astronaut. Space travel’s history of colonization and frontier thinking is challenged through exploring the African archive that is embedded in the artworks, so that spaceflight’s future is directed by the female Afronaut/cyborg embodying the next generation of space travelers protecting space from commercial exploitation.