Wednesday 4 November 2026 5:30pm to 6:30pm
Department of Zoology Main Lecture Theatre
Department of Zoology Entry is via the Department of Zoology, Monkey Parade Entrance (by the Museum of Zoology), through the archway from Downing Street (accessible without a swipe card).About
The search for life in the universe and crewed space exploration are distinct fields of research, drawing on different sciences and technologies. These contemporary endeavours nonetheless share a common feature: both develop technical apparatuses designed to better understand the conditions necessary for life, whether human life in outer space or possible extra-terrestrial life beyond our planet. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted within French astrobiology research programmes, namely Origins and Conditions for the Emergence of Life at Université PSL (2017–2020) and PEPR Origins: From Planets to Life (launched in 2023), this lecture examines how humans redefine life by experimentally constructing artificial environments or by modelling extra-terrestrial ones. Anthropology, as a science of comparison and shifting perspectives, helps us understand how these space-related technical objects transform the way we conceive of life on Earth.
Perig Pitrou is a Senior Researcher at the CNRS, based at the Maison Française d'Oxford and at the Collège de France, Université PSL, where he leads the research group ‘Anthropology of Life’. He is the author of Ce que les humains font avec la vie (2024) and Comment habiter notre planète. Une lecture d'Avatar (2025), both published by Presses Universitaires de France. He has also co-edited Otherwhere Ethnography: An Introduction to Outer Space Studies (Oxford University Press, 2025) and Off Earth Atlas: A Guide to the Social Study of Outer Space (Intellect, forthcoming 2027).
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