This thesis has investigated the role of the American private space industry in the ongoing securitization of outer space within the United States context. Whereas scholars have thoroughly examined...Show moreThis thesis has investigated the role of the American private space industry in the ongoing securitization of outer space within the United States context. Whereas scholars have thoroughly examined the role of the state in the securitization of outer space, it has thus far predominantly overlooked possible securitizing moves performed by the private space industry, as well as the role of the novel NewSpace industry within that process. Therefore, this investigation aims to examine the private space companies SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) building upon securitization theory. Specifically, it will provide a discourse analysis on those companies’ webpages, uncovering four discourses possessing either or both securitizing speech acts and performative securitization. This thesis finds that the private space industry took on a facilitating role regarding the securitization of outer space by proliferating and enhancing space launching capabilities and engaging with the U.S. military and national security services. Furthermore, it might have contributed to the securitization of outer space by performing speech acts, but this investigation refrains from drawing that conclusion, as it has not investigated the audience involved and thus cannot estimate whether the speech acts were performed successfully. Nevertheless, these findings combined with the academic literature on PMSCs, suggest that private space companies sometimes can look and act like PMSCs, explaining why private space companies might be incentivized to contribute to outer space securitization.Show less
In the past decade, global protestations have targeted colonial monuments in former metropoles and settler nations’ public spaces. The contestations denounce the colonial discourse behind the...Show moreIn the past decade, global protestations have targeted colonial monuments in former metropoles and settler nations’ public spaces. The contestations denounce the colonial discourse behind the monuments. This research investigates how colonial monuments produce and perpetuate a colonial discourse in the public space. The research rests on two case studies: a Leopold II statue and a Leopold II bust present in the Brussels’ public space. Gillian Rose’s (2016) Visual Methodologies serves as a methodological basis to address both cases. First, an image analysis based on sites and modalities unravels the various colonial characteristics of the monuments. Second, the discussion reflects how these colonial characteristics support the four pillars of colonial discourse: knowledge, subjectivity, institutions, and practices. The research concludes that the content of the depiction, production context, location, and circulation of the monuments produce and perpetuate the colonial discourse that legitimised the violent colonisation of Congo under Leopold II.Show less
