The Stories We Tell: How Spatial Grammars of Conquest and Domination Build Future Space

Keywords: spatial grammars, future space, technology
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 32

Abstract

Cultural and feminist geographers have identified the importance of spatial grammars of domination and how they have historically aided imperialism and colonization by providing justification for racial conquest of bodies and territory. Just as historical spatial grammars need attention in how they historically produced space based on social hierarchy, so too do future spaces whose production is still in flux. This paper highlights the importance of stories told in popular culture which are then taken up in scientific and scholarly projects in order to maintain future social hierarchies of dominance. Specifically, this paper directs attention to how spatial grammars of domination have been used to imagine and build the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Further, this paper offers “epistemic disobedience” as introduced by scholar Sylvia Wynter as a spatial imagination that can combat future grammars of conquest and domination.