Overview
From Aztec sun stones to satellite launches, from muralist visions to dark sky parks, Mexico’s engagement with outer space is fundamental to its identity. Mexico in Space offers a groundbreaking look at how the country has navigated the tensions between technological dependence and sovereign dreams. Anthropologist Anne W. Johnson reveals Mexico’s unique relationship with outer space, describing Indigenous knowledge, nationalist projects, artistic visions, and community practices. Through rich ethnographic detail and historical insight, Johnson challenges the notion that space is for everyone and shows whose voices truly shape the world’s cosmic futures. Johnson introduces us to satellite engineers, community astronomers, space generation youth, and artists imagining Mars, each crafting alternative cosmic futures. As space exploration increasingly becomes the domain of billionaires and superpowers, this book offers a compelling counternarrative, demonstrating how Mexican cosmic engagements suggest more just, inclusive ways of inhabiting Earth and beyond and providing vital lessons for reimagining humanity’s place in the cosmos.
Full Product Details
Author: Anne Johnson
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Imprint: University of Arizona Press
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9780816554843
ISBN 10: 0816554846
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 24 February 2026
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
""This is a tour de force of thick description of Mexico and its history from pre-Hispanic times to the present day and its intimate and nuanced relationship to outer space. Firmly linked to terrestrial histories and experiences, it elegantly deploys historical tropes to think with and is an analytical model for researchers to aspire to for the wider understanding of society and outer space.""--Victor Buchli, author of An Archaeology of the Immateria
“This is a tour de force of thick description of Mexico and its history from pre-Hispanic times to the present day and its intimate and nuanced relationship to outer space. Firmly linked to terrestrial histories and experiences, it elegantly deploys historical tropes to think with and is an analytical model for researchers to aspire to for the wider understanding of society and outer space.”—Victor Buchli, author of An Archaeology of the Immaterial
Author Information
Anne W. Johnson is a professor in the graduate program in social anthropology in the Department of Social and Political Science at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.
