Traditional Cultures and Heritage in Astronomy and Space Sciences

Dear Colleagues,

There are wide-ranging links between ancient cultural traditions and space—traditional cultures and heritage, tangible or intangible, are dynamic expressions of societies, which encompass the generational transmission of customs, testimonies, identities, and values. Humanity is opening up to the cosmos in all its dimensions and areas of knowledge and, in this context, this Special Issue attempts to explore the deep historical and ongoing relationship between human cultures and their projection to the cosmos, emphasizing the often-overlooked contributions of indigenous and ancient astronomical traditions to modern space sciences and cultural heritage preservation. The focus is on the cultures of native and autochtonous peoples such as the Nahua, Maya, Quechua, Guarani, Aymara, Mapuche, Inuit, Navajo, Cherokee, Wayuu, Guanche, and other similar groups in Australia (aboriginal people) and Africa (with its wide regional human diversity).

The overarching goal of the Special Issue is to examine how diverse indigenous societies developed sophisticated astronomical (and space sciences) knowledge systems as living cultural heritage. This encompasses the recovery of traditional knowledge and the integration of ancestral perspectives into contemporary space science and policy, education, planetary protection, and the ethics of space exploration, as well as other potential related themes. Contributions should offer valuable insights into how indigenous worldviews continue to shape and influence contemporary ecological and cultural practices in our modern pathway to the cosmos.

The editorial novelty of the SI will include (a) introducing “indigenous spatiality” as a central analytical category—space is not a neutral background or mere container, but a co-protagonist entity that is co-constituted together with indigenous practices, cosmologies, and memories; (b) blending indigenous critical theories of space with their modern counterparts, without subordinating one to the other; (c) decolonizing the very notion of “heritage” (inherited from European law and the nation-state) by proposing alternative concepts such as “living heritages,” “body-territories,” “heritage in motion,” or “relational heritage”; and (d) incorporating posthuman, ethical, and ontological approaches to think about heritage beyond the nature–culture dichotomy.

We welcome original research articles and reviews, and we look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Jesus Martinez-Frias
Dr. Estelvina Rodríguez-Portillo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• traditional cultures
• heritage
• space
• cosmovision
• identity
• archaeoastronomy
• cosmos
• living cultural system