Becoming Interplanetary

On September 27, 2018, we will be hosting a public event at the Library of Congress Kluge Center, entitled "Becoming Interplanetary: What Living on Earth Can Teach Us about Living on Mars”.

Click here to view the detailed schedule!

The event will be a day of panels and performances, organized around three "beats" (see below).  Scroll down to view our complete list of speakers and performers! The event will be held in the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress from 9am-5pm on 9/27, with a reception to follow. Attendance is open to the public and no registration is required.

Beat 1: The Right Stuff

Tom Wolfe’s book, “The Right Stuff”, cemented the ideal of the cowboy astronaut, drawing on the frontier themes that have long been used to talk about space. How do these narratives of space exploration inform and influence modern ideas about who can explore space? What does it mean to have the “Right Stuff”, and how is that meaning evolving?

Beat 2: Mars on Earth

Thanks to our spacecraft, we now know more about the Martian environment than ever before-- and are on the precipice of sending humans to explore further. What can we learn from the history of exploration on Earth, and how might we understand the Martian environment within the framework of these Earthly lessons? 

Beat 3: Alternative Futurisms

Science fiction has the power to inspire and instruct us as we envision the future, but it has also long been a vehicle for myths of manifest destiny. What alternative viewpoints on humanity’s future in space might exist, and how might these conceptualize life off-world in radically different ways? 

Beat 1: The Right Stuff

Tom Wolfe’s book, “The Right Stuff”, cemented the ideal of the cowboy astronaut, drawing on the frontier themes that have long been used to talk about space. How do these narratives of space exploration inform and influence modern ideas about who can explore space? What does it mean to have the “Right Stuff”, and how is that meaning evolving?

Brenda J. Child

Northrop Professor and Chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of Minnesota

Brian Nord

Research Scientist, The University of Chicago

Brenda J. Child is Northrop Professor and Chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of Minnesota, and former Chair of the Department of American Indian Studies. She is the author of several books in American Indian history including Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940 (1998), which won the North American Indian Prose Award; Holding Our World Together: Ojibwe Women and the Survival of Community (2012); Indian Subjects: Hemispheric Perspectives on the History of Indigenous Education (with Brian Klopotek, 2014). Her 2014 book My Grandfather’s Knocking Sticks: Ojibwe Family Life and Labor on the Reservation won the American Indian Book Award and the Best Book in Midwestern History Award. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian- Smithsonian and past-president of the Native American & Indigenous Studies Association. Child was born on the Red Lake Ojibwe Reservation in northern Minnesota where she is a member of a committee writing a new constitution for the 12,000 member nation.

Brian Nord’s current research is in teaching intelligent machines to search for clues of the universe’s origin and destiny. In particular, he uses artificial intelligence to study the cosmos, including dark energy, dark matter, and the early universe. Nord also communicates with the public regarding science, science policy, diversity, and inclusion. He trains scientists in public communication, advocates for science funding, and works with high school students in the classroom and in research environments. Nord is a Visiting Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and a Senior Member of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP) at the University of Chicago. He leads a team of researchers (deepskieslab.com) who apply AI to questions in cosmology. Nord is co-leader of education and public engagement at KICP, where he organizes a year-long institute that provides opportunities for high school students to innovate in hands-on physics experiences outside the classroom. Nord is also co-creator of ThisIsBlackLight.com, an online curriculum to teach about the Black experience in America. You can find him on Twitter at @iamstarnord.