Since the successful launch of the first satellite Sputnik in October 1957, the history of Soviet space exploration has received much attention mainly for its influence on military competition and Cold War politics. But space exploration was much more than a technological breakthrough. It left a distinct and lasting impact on everyday life and popular culture in many countries. These links and connections between space, politics and culture in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe will be explored at a conference in Basel in January 2009.

It will focus on three broad directions of research :

I. Thick descriptions: The imprint of space travel in Soviet everyday and popular culture

How did space travel influence popular culture andeveryday life, how did it affect material and visual cultures, aesthetic forms, consumption and construction (e.g., space design: the influence on material culture, living environments and automation of the home? How did cosmos exploration change earthly symbols, icons, language? Did space travel lead to a new Lebensgefühl, a change in emotional styles and expressions?

II. Long-term and long-range effects: Repercussions of Soviet spaceflight in Eastern Europe and for Soviet History

Did space exploration have an impact on the social constitution of the Soviet Union? Are there good reasons to speak of a Sputnik generation? The ongoing popularity of the Soviet space project as a lieu de mémoire for ‘Soviet nostalgia’ in contemporary Russia certainly suggests a strong influence on the individual as well as shared memories of the Soviet post-war society.
We would like to ask especially for the way Soviet space achievements were communicated to audiences in Socialist Eastern Europe, where the Sputnik years were at the same time marked by instability and opposition to Soviet dominance, and to look at the roles of cosmonauts as icons and ambassadors for the new, post-Stalin Soviet Union.

III. Comparative perspectives: East and West, natural and cultural sciences

Not only do we have little comparative work on the impact of space travel in East and West until now, but also the technological making of space exploration is usually discussed apart from its cultural repercussions and discursive framings. We would like to bridge the gap between natural and cultural scientists and encourage researchers of Soviet and Western space technology to enter into a dialogue with scholars studying various cultural perspectives - from the highly-debated costs of space exploration to questions of space travel’s impact on the physiology of the men and women in space.

A publication of the contributions is planned.

The CFP (closed) can be downloaded here.
Please click on "Conference program" to see the preliminary program.