ASTRONOMY DEVELOPMENT AND FILMMAKING IN THE KAROO

Abstract

The Square Kilometre Array when completed will be the largest radio telescope in the world. The core of the

African part of the array will be located in South Africa in the Karoo Desert. The town closest to the core is

Carnarvon, the capitol of the Kareeberg Municipality. SKA ≥ Karoo Radio Telescope is a documentary film that

captures the hopes and dreams of the people living near the SKA core and a variety of SKA stakeholders.

The film is an experimental form of research ethnography centered around a set of hypotheses that were

tested through the interviews conducted for the documentary. For example, one of the hypotheses was that

the long term beneficiaries of the SKA will be the astronomers regardless of their proximity to Carnarvon,

and that those beneficiaries would have very weak to non–existent ties to Carnarvon or that region of the

Karoo Desert. Another hypothesis was that the people of Carnarvon would not have a clear understanding

of the nature of astronomy development projects in contrast to traditional development projects. Transcripts

from film clips are used to illustrate the „answers‟ to these hypotheses and other tensions surrounding the

SKA. Finally, the title tries to capture the pride and sense of ownership that people in the region and South

Africa have towards the SKA, but it is much more than a regional or national telescope.