Mars Unearthed

What would a museum depicting human life on Mars look like? Yale’s undergraduate class “The Anthropology of Outer Space” will offer their take on this fascinating thought experiment, in a pop-up event in David Friend Hall on Tuesday, April 29 from 10 AM to 5 PM. The course spends the semester learning to think about how outer space – far from being an empty void – is teeming with human culture, aspirations, and anxieties.
 
The class has created a collection of objects for their theoretical museum: “This museum tells the story of the history and culture of our human presence on Mars. Since the first astronaut landed in 2036, our communities have gone through many changes in terms of how we work, govern, and enjoy life on the Red Planet. The conflicts of our past are on display in this museum, as well as our flourishings in the present. This museum was established in 2236 during the Martian bicentennial and we welcome both tourists and new immigrants from Earth who know very little about the Red Planet, as well as Martians curious to learn more about themselves and their neighbors.”