ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Nicole Mikly

• In Event: Shifting Narratives in Space Science and Technology (1)

English Abstract

The expansion of remote sensing and satellite observation in the late twentieth century transformed the ways in which the Earth was represented and known. Technologies originally conceived to study seismic and volcanic phenomena gradually contributed to a new planetary vision—one in which the Earth appeared as a dynamic, stratified, and visually governable system. This paper examines how these processes reshaped the relationship between the sciences of the subsurface and those of the atmosphere, as well as the tensions between expertise, technology, and environmental awareness.
Drawing on a materialist and dialectical perspective, I propose to analyze satellite observation as a mediating practice between the material and the conceptual, where visual representations of the Earth embody political, epistemological, and aesthetic values.
Through a critical reading of secondary sources and publicly available visual materials, the paper seeks to show how Earth observation not only produced new forms of knowledge, but also fostered new sensibilities and collective practices around territory, extraction, and the management of environmental risk.

Author

• Nicole Mikly, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona