The Ecobiopolitics of Space Biomedicine

Abstract

Using data from an ethnographic study of American astronautics, I argue that, in an inversion of the usual clinical model, astronaut medical subjecthood is fundamentally environmental rather than biological. In extreme environments like outer space, the concept of environment cannot be bracketed out from life processes; as a result, investments of power and knowledge shift from life itself to the sites of interface among living things, technologies, and environments. To illustrate what this means on the ground, I describe space biomedicine as a form of environmental medicine that seeks to optimize and manage technically enabled human ecologies where life and environment are dually problematized. I provide two examples of what I term its ecobiopolitical strategies: creating a new “space normal” physiological category and situating humans as at-risk elements within integrated biological/technological/environmental systems.

Key Words:

• aerospace medicine
• biopolitics
• environmental health
• environmental medicine
• extreme environments
• medical ecology

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

James Faubion, Hannah Landecker, and Amy Ninetto guided drafts of this paper, and I am indebted to this journal's reviewers for fostering its improvement. The research was supported by Rice University, the National Science Foundation (#06020442), and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Valerie A. Olson

VALERIE A. OLSON received a PhD in social/cultural anthropology from Rice University. She conducted fieldwork at NASA centers and the European Space Agency, where she examined interdisciplinary technical theorizations of embodiment, human/environment interaction, and human ecology.