Son[i]a #463

Anthropologist and researcher Alana Osbourne works at the crossroads of anthropology, critical geography, postcolonial thought, and Black studies, tracing how histories of empire continue to shape contemporary ways of seeing, knowing, and organizing the world. Her work is attuned to the subtle but persistent afterlives of colonialism, that extend beyond obvious political or economic structures into cultural institutions, scientific practices, and even imaginaries of the future. In this interview, Osbourne reflects on how these layered histories demand new critical tools and interdisciplinary approaches capable of holding together questions of race, space, materiality, and power.

At the center of the conversation is her recent project engaging with Belgium’s Parliamentary Commission on its Colonial Past, which she reads through an unexpected constellation: museums, inorganic matter, and outer-space travel. Using the Mineral Cabinet at the AfricaMuseum as a point of departure, Osbourne examines how mineral collections, cartographic practices, and extractive logics are deeply entangled with colonial knowledge production. From this historic exhibition room just outside Brussels, she unfolds a broader inquiry into how narratives of extraction and domination not only structure the past and present, but are projected into speculative futures, raising urgent questions about racism, resource exploitation, and the enduring reach of colonial epistemologies beyond the Earth itself. In this podcast, we talk to Alana Osbourne about rocks, colonial continuities, emptiness, aluminium, rockets and so much more. 

With the support

_{Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.}