Constructing the Universe: Henrietta Leavitt, Harvard's Global Observatories, and the Materiality of Scientific Empire
Outer Space
Andromeda
Conference
Coloniality
Writing
Outer Space
Andromeda
Conference
Coloniality
Writing
Conference Paper Presentation
INSAP 2025
Celestial Connections Across Time and Space
The 13th International Conference on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena
8-13 June 2025
Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Abstract
This paper investigates the entanglements of coloniality, gender,and materiality in the history of astrophysical discovery, focusing on Henrietta Leavitt’s groundbreaking work on Cepheid variables and its reliance on Harvard Observatory’s imperial network. While Leavitt’s discoveries are celebrated for enabling Edwin Hubble’s formulation of an expanding universe, less acknowledged are the structures of extraction and global labor underpinning her achievements. Harvard’s establishment of observatories in Peru and South Africa exemplifies the intersection of colonial practices with the pursuit of scientific progress, leveraging local environments and labor to secure astronomical data critical to Western epistemic projects.
Philanthropy, such as that of Uriah A. Boyden, also played a pivotal role, underwriting telescopes and observatories while encoding imperial ambitions within scientific advancement. These dynamics invite parallels to contemporary astronomical endeavors like the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), which, spanning South Africa and Australia, continues to depend on transnational collaborations entangled with neo-colonial geopolitics. Deploying Saidiya Hartman’s methodology of the “wayward,” this paper interrogates the materiality of the instruments and networks that facilitated Leavitt’s breakthroughs, drawing connections to broader systems of racial capitalism and resource extraction. By placing historical narratives in dialogue with modern developments such as the SKA, this paper reframes astronomical history as part of an ongoing colonial entanglement where past, present, and future remain interwoven. Ultimately, the paper contributes to a critical reexamination of how the material processes and infrastructures of science—both historical and contemporary—operate within frameworks of inequality, asking how we might construct more equitable models for collaborative global research.
INSAP 2025
Celestial Connections Across Time and Space
The 13th International Conference on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena
8-13 June 2025
Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Abstract
This paper investigates the entanglements of coloniality, gender,and materiality in the history of astrophysical discovery, focusing on Henrietta Leavitt’s groundbreaking work on Cepheid variables and its reliance on Harvard Observatory’s imperial network. While Leavitt’s discoveries are celebrated for enabling Edwin Hubble’s formulation of an expanding universe, less acknowledged are the structures of extraction and global labor underpinning her achievements. Harvard’s establishment of observatories in Peru and South Africa exemplifies the intersection of colonial practices with the pursuit of scientific progress, leveraging local environments and labor to secure astronomical data critical to Western epistemic projects.
Philanthropy, such as that of Uriah A. Boyden, also played a pivotal role, underwriting telescopes and observatories while encoding imperial ambitions within scientific advancement. These dynamics invite parallels to contemporary astronomical endeavors like the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), which, spanning South Africa and Australia, continues to depend on transnational collaborations entangled with neo-colonial geopolitics. Deploying Saidiya Hartman’s methodology of the “wayward,” this paper interrogates the materiality of the instruments and networks that facilitated Leavitt’s breakthroughs, drawing connections to broader systems of racial capitalism and resource extraction. By placing historical narratives in dialogue with modern developments such as the SKA, this paper reframes astronomical history as part of an ongoing colonial entanglement where past, present, and future remain interwoven. Ultimately, the paper contributes to a critical reexamination of how the material processes and infrastructures of science—both historical and contemporary—operate within frameworks of inequality, asking how we might construct more equitable models for collaborative global research.
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