Beyond Awe: Zines as counter-narratives for science engagement with outer space
Written by Dr Eleanor S Armstrong
Presented by Eleanor S Armstrong (University of Leicester)
In this paper I demonstrate how zines (pronounced ‘zeen’, a word that is a contraction of ‘magazine’) about space science can be theorised as a site of science education at the margins. Through exploring different zines and their potential to create counter narratives I offer a series of objects that might reshape how we teach and learn about outer space. These objects develop cautionary engagement with and resistance to expansionist, colonialist imaginaries that underpin so much cultural material about outer space produced by official actors, offering science educators a rich site of counter-narratives and pluralising cultural texts that can be drawn on in pursuit of a more socially-just science education.
Bio: Dr Armstrong is a Space Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, UK, where she leads the Constellations Lab. She was awarded her PhD at University College London, UK, in 2020; since then she has held posts at the University of Delaware and Stockholm University, as well as visiting positions at, among others, the University of Cambridge, Ingenium Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, New York University, and University of Vienna. Armstrong is Trustee of Pride in STEM; co-lead of the international biannual conference Space Science in Context; and co-developer of the design studio EXO-MOAN. Her research focuses 1) on queer feminist approaches to social studies of outer space, particularly the presentation of femininities, feminisms, and femmes in public discourses about outer space; and 2) on anti-colonial work in science and natural history museums.
This colloquium was held on 17 March 2025 at the Department of Journalism, 26 Crozier Road, Stellenbosch Central. You can watch a recap of the presentation on our YouTube page and listen to Dr Armstrong’s CapeTalk interview.