From the Intercellular to the Extraterrestrial: The Need for Interdisciplinary Spatial Study

There is a critical need to reframe the future study of socio-spatial relations. Current constructs connected to specific disciplinary traditions are often constrained by one-dimensional approaches. The purpose of this article is to share and provoke new forms of socio-spatial study premised on interdisciplinary exchanges. Lefebvre proposes that to discuss space is to analyze the interactions of material environments, mentalities, and social practices. But such enquiries demand myriad analytical tools, and we contend that the study of space requires a reconfiguration of disciplinary parameters, including a willingness to reach across methodological boundaries. We offer two illustrative case studies. One understands the social inhabitation of space as something microscopic and occurring within our cells. The other uses anthropological research to understand how non-Western cultures conceptualize so-called “outer” space in relational terms. Our approach offers new perspectives on socio-spatial relations and a wider understanding of how humans interact with and within space.