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Paper short abstract

TAMBO is a newly proposed observatory to detect cosmic neutrinos in the Colca Valley of Peru. To forego the colonial resonances of astronomical land relations, the collaboration has included social scientists to ensure responsible siting practices. Yet, what, here, does responsibility entail?

Paper long abstract

In cosmic research frontiers, colonial pasts reverberate. Astronomical observatories take up fragile lands, use precious resources, and build on extractive histories. What would it take to practice cosmology otherwise? In this short talk, I introduce TAMBO, the Tau-neutrino Mountain-Based Observatory, a proposed observatory in the Colca Valley of the Peruvian Andes. From its inception, TAMBO has included social scientists to think with physicists about how to build better earthly relations in addressing cosmic conundrums. As much as the observatory aims to observe elusive neutrinos released in supernovae and black hole surroundings, it also sets out to unfold what cosmic responsibility entails in the mountains of the Colca Valley—a region known for pre-Inca rooted communities, condor habitats, and histories of extractive industry. I report on the progress of this interdisciplinary collaboration as they try to find responsible and socially just ways of siting the experiment, build coproductive relations and collaborations with local communities, and manage frictions between astrophysics aims and terrestrial care.