From 5G to drones: For a feminist geopolitics of the electromagnetic spectrum

2025/05/30 by Daisy Curtis, Anna Jackman · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

paper · doi:10.1177/03091325251345831

openalex publication_date 2025/05/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

The electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) underpins and informs everyday life. Foregrounding particular portions of the EMS (radio, gamma), geographers theorise spectrum as infrastructure, territory/resource to manage, non-human and material. Extending this, we think across spectrum while bringing it into novel dialogue with feminist geopolitics. Pursuing a feminist geopolitics of the EMS, we draw on examples of spectrum-reliant technologies (5G, drones) to outline a three-part agenda. Exploring EMS and the body , we reflect on diverse bodily interactions with spectrum. In more-than-human encounters , we attend to multiple non-human relations with spectrum. In Living with EMS , we explore EMS at home and everyday spectrum practices.

Citations

• The personal is political: Feminist geographies of/in austerity
• Accounting for care within human geography
• Living on with Sellafield: Nuclear infrastructure, slow violence, and the politics of quiescence
• Digital geographies 1: Reality bytes

Discussions

• 'From 5G to drones: For a feminist geopolitics of the electromagnetic spectrum'. New in @proghumgeog.bsky.social , Daisy Curtis & I think across the spectrum, developing a feminist-inspired agenda att [bsky, 3 points, 1 comments]

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