Who’s Moon? Framing Lunar Activities from an Indigenous Cosmopolitics Perspective

The Northumbria University Law School is home to an expert Space Law Team researching on current legal issues and challenges in Earth’s orbits, on celestial bodies, and across tech such as governance challenges regarding cybersecurity or the use of AI with satellite systems. The Law School also hosts various space law and regulating tech modules at the undergraduate and master’s levels. The Law School includes two Space Law LLM Programmes: Space Law LLM (full-time) and Space Law LLM (part-time, distance learning). To learn more about space law at the Northumbria University Law School please visit: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/business-services/research-and-consultancy/space/space-law-and-policy/

Sarah Peltz, Space Law LLM Student, Northumbria University

Keywords: cosmopolitics, indigenous knowledge, Moon

Image credit: Pixabay July 2017 https://pixabay.com/

“Cosmopolitics is now the common situation for all collectives. There is no common world, and yet it has to be composed, nonetheless.”

Bruno Latour

The new age of space exploration has ascribed outer space the status of the final frontier. The final locale for human exploration and greatness. This romanticisation of conquering outer space repeats flaws from the origin of frontier theory coined by Frederick Jackson Turner when describing the colonisation of the Americas by Europeans. He saw the frontier as the boundary between what he thought of as civilisation, the European settlers, and savages, the indigenous population. The idea of space as a final frontier has a problematic origin, it perpetuates a western hegemonic view of outer space. Efforts to include other approaches into outer space and move away from the colonial mindset which dominates outer space have been driven by a decolonial perspective. A decolonial framework engages with different knowledge systems while unpacking global power dynamics. It acknowledges the role of nature and non-sentient beings. To successfully decolonise space, we must take seriously the different cosmologies present.

The Moon is an example of a deep-rooted colonial narrative in outer space. Although there isn’t a native human population on the Moon as there was on the frontier in the Americas there are still different worlds within which the Moon exists which should be respected when conducting activities on the Moon, not only because the Moon is the province of all humankind but also because we could learn a great deal from other perspectives and worlds. The current discourse on lunar resource use does little to account for other conceptions of the Moon. The new governance framework should create a politic where all lunar politics are considered, cosmopolitics is a useful tool for understanding how these problems might occur in the future and how to solve them.

An alternative framework

Cosmopolitics, not to be conflated with Kantian cosmopolitanism, is the understanding that we inhibit a pluriverse in which human non-human relations frame our interactions and decision-making process. The cosmos is not one universal reality, instead the cosmos is made up of plural intersecting realities. Engaging with cosmopolitics means understanding that our politics and the political system within which we live is not the only one and that we use our politics to explore the possibility of other worlds. The inclusion of cosmos within cosmopolitics is to emphasise that humans are not the only entities that should be considered within politics. One of the tenants required by Isabelle Stengers, the primary founder of cosmopolitics, is that the approach must be applied to specific situations and not generalized. The approach has most often been applied to conflicts surrounding nature as the approach considers the influence of nature on humans. This approach does not discuss the merit of the different worlds but rather accepts that there are intersecting worlds and instead discusses how to resolve the different views.

One such situation which could benefit from a cosmopolitics approach is the use of lunar resources. The Moon and the role of the Moon differs among cosmologies. The extent that the Moon is believed to exercise power and the relationship to the Moon humans have differs between differing cosmologies. Even in the western hegemonic cosmology on earth where the Moon is seen only as a physical object without spiritual presence, human interactions are still affected by the Moon. After all the Moon is the cause of high and low tides. In other cosmologies the Moon plays a vital role in ceremonies and traditional beliefs. We can learn from other cosmologies to not put nature in opposition to ourselves and instead embrace it as one politic. Instead of framing the Moon as an object we should see it as a co-producer, a co-agent in our cosmos. De-centring humans has been coined by Sylvie Pourier as a cosmocentric approach.

Indigenous cosmopolitics of the Moon

Indigenous knowledge systems often view nature as being inhabited by spirits, the moon is no different. The Anishnawbe view the natural world as part of the first family and thus having spiritual presence. Their calendar months are named after the Moon due to their understanding of how their relationship to the Moon directly impacts their life. The same goes for the indigenous people of turtle island who honour the Moon through “Thirteen Grandmothers Teachings”. The spirit of the Moon symbolizes guidance, protection and tranquillity, through the teachings various lessons are learnt about the natural world. Each month brings a different lesson taught by the Moon. Aboriginal people view the Moon and life on Earth as inextricably linked. For Canadian first nations the Moon is seen as a protector and the full Moon is used for giving direction. The Moon is also seen as the guardian of animals and the overseer of their reincarnation. The Moon sends animals to hunter who observe traditions. The halo around the Moon was used to by indigenous people across Australia as a weather predicter. The halo is a bright ring around the room which forms when there are ice crystals in the air. The level of precipitation was predicted by how many stars were between the halo and the Moon. This method is an accurate predicter of weather, and the method transcends cosmologies. However, the practice by indigenous communities was recorded far before other cosmos adopted the practice and was overlooked because indigenous cosmologies were overlooked.

Indigenous cosmopolitics in practice

The acceptance of a pluriverse and the success of indigenous cosmopolitics can be seen in some South American states. In Bolivia and Ecuador there have been social movements striving to change alter the dominant worldview on land ownership and resource use. One of the demands which was communal across indigenous groups was the call for land rights. Calling for the use of a communal ownership model. This model views land use as a communal right, with obligations to share and care for the land, some of these tenants are also echoed in The Outer Space Treaty. The treaty calls for the communal use of outer space and cooperation in outer space, there can be no exclusion or claim of sovereignty by states. The Indigenous groups in Ecuador succeeded in changing the constitution. The first article acknowledges that Ecuador is a plurilateral state. The Bolivian constitution was also altered to include pluralism. The idea behind plurinationality is the drive for the acceptance of an indigenous cosmovision by states, it challenges the concept that there is such a thing as a unitary state.  In the Ecuadorian constitution also grants rights to land, also known as nature rights. Nature rights, are now also part of Bolivian law. Nature rights involve giving nature legal personhood, nature must be respected, and humans must live in harmony with nature. This illustrates the more than human relations which Bruno Latour describes in relation to cosmopolitics.

Another seminal case in the understanding of the necessity of indigenous cosmopolitics was the banning of Caribou hunting by the Newfoundland and Labrador government in Canada. The Caribou population was dwindling and so the governor believed that it was no longer sustainable for the indigenous populations to hunt Caribou. The Innu chief believed that this ban was a threat to their way of life and so was not going to accept the ban. The indigenous communities believed that the dwindling population of Caribou was not because of over-hunting but because of a declining relationship between them and the Kanipinikassikue (Caribou). They believed the relationship deterioration was caused by the younger generation of Innu not respecting the hunting protocol practices and that if the relationship was repaired Caribou numbers would increase. However, a hunting ban wouldn’t allow them to repair their relationship. Cosmopolitics requires an acknowledgment of different worlds and the seeking of the common goal, which in this case is the prosperity of the Caribou or Kanipinikassikue. In using cosmopolitics as a tool we can accept that different truths exist instead of arguing about what is true and focus on common goals instead.

Conclusion

Cosmopolitics can be a useful tool to resolve future governance conflicts surrounding the Moon and other outer space activities. The achievement of indigenous groups in South America to alter constitutions is a great achievement considering they weren’t allowed participation in the political sphere, polity, until the late twentieth century. When the Outer Space Treaty was written indigenous cosmopolitics was not part of the discussion. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was not adopted until 2007. There have been initiatives since then to include different perspectives into the discourse at the UN. The Pact for the Future is an example of attempting to counter the western dominance over international governance, however, it still frames the world as one world, thus falling short of acknowledging a pluriverse in which multiple cosmologies exist. A space specific initiative has been the Space 2030 Agenda with the goal of creating a more inclusive vision of outer space in line with Article I of the Outer Space Treaty. The agenda acknowledges that space has become intrinsic to our daily lives, this sentiment though does not pay respect to the fact that for many indigenous communities and their cosmologies space has always played a part of their daily lives.

There is not a singular experience of the Moon. Social sciences and initiatives by the UN described above begin to address the issue of who gets to speak on what and what expert opinion entails. Cosmopolitics goes a step further in arguing that we speak of different worlds on different things that intersect. These different worlds should be considered on the Moon, especially since the Moon exists across different pluriverses in different ways. Without the use of cosmopolitics we will never truly decolonise space, the Moon is but the starting point.