The Anthropology of Alien Civilizations - There are good reasons why anthropolgists should be included in plans for long duration spaceflight and first contact with alien civilizations. Wired magazine has a great interview with anthropologist Kathryn Denning, covering many areas where space exploration and our knowledge of human society intersect.
Anthropologists are good at looking at discourses, and the stories that people tell to structure their lives and their behavior. So there are anthropologists working on the discourse surrounding interstellar flight. And anthropologists have always worked on the phenomenon of UFO abductions and aliens on Earth and that sort of stuff.
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