All posts by Emma Louise Backe

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About Emma Louise Backe

I am a PhD candidate in the Anthropology Department of George Washington University, with an MA in Medical Anthropology. My research deals with the politics of care for survivors of gender-based violence in the United States and South Africa, and I do consulting work in international development and global health related to gender. I regularly tweet at @EmmaLouiseBacke.

SpaceX’s biggest rocket flies for the first time: But Do We Understand What This Actually Means?
Anthropology in Outerspace

SpaceX’s biggest rocket flies for the first time: But Do We Understand What This Actually Means?

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What if we trained our imaginations to appreciate that the way for reaching the stars in a Starship i.e., attaining knowledge, unity and harmony, was not strictly technological but social and cultural as well? What if we recognised that technological and social innovation did not come from the apparent eureka moments (and individualised capital) of the elites but the accumulated wisdom and creativity of our species?

Shadows of the Past: Rings of Power’s Complicated Penumbra
Study of geek culture

Shadows of the Past: Rings of Power’s Complicated Penumbra

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Rings of Power fails to lean into the possibility of moral ambiguity, instead reproducing the same simplistic binaries between good and evil. For the Elves, the inherent “goodness” of their race, and their purpose on Middle Earth is eminently visible, communicated through the sheer beauty of their people, their clothes, their architecture, their relationship to nature. Even more disturbingly, Rings of Power also reinforces cultural narratives that equate deformity with evil through the character of Adar, a “corrupted” Elf or Uruk.