Corporate Empires from the Extraterritorial to the Extraterrestrial

"These Vast Worlds Which We Can Never Reach": Corporate Empires from the Extraterritorial to the Extraterrestrial

Towards the end of his life, lamenting that the whole world had been “nearly all parceled out” among Europe empires, the late nineteenth-century colonial magnate Cecil Rhodes proclaimed that “I would annex the planets if I could." A century and some later, we find ourselves closer than ever to Rhodes's dream of colonizing “vast worlds which we can never reach,” as states and companies across the globe vie to explore, exploit, and settle Low Earth Orbit, the Moon, and even Mars. But how “new” is this “new space race" in fact? Rather than envisioning our current moment as merely a second phase of mid-20th century state-driven space competition, this talk considers the genealogy of these extraterrestrial projects in the institutions and ideologies of extraterritorial empire, paying particular attention to, on the one hand, the long history of the relationship between corporations and colonial expansion and, on the other, the surprisingly complex and enduring role outer space played in shaping territorial and imperial ambitions on Earth.

Philip Stern is Professor of History at Duke University, where he teaches and writes on various aspects of the intellectual, political, economic, business, and legal histories of the British Empire. He is author or editor on four books and over three dozen articles and essays, including The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India, awarded the Morris D. Forkosch Prize by the American Historical Association, and most recently, Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations that Built British Colonialism, winner of the 2024 Stansky Prize from the North American Conference on British Studies. Stern is also the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This event is presented as part of the Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Program, established in 1993 by the University of Melbourne’s Council on the recommendation of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund Committee. The program invites internationally distinguished scholars to visit the University of Melbourne, enriching the University’s academic, intellectual and cultural life. Miegunyah Fellows typically spend several weeks on campus, presenting a public lecture and specialist seminars, engaging with students and staff, and often collaborating on research initiatives. The program is made possible through the generous support of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund.