Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research, while enhancing transferable skills. Students were challenged to describe their research, scholarship or creative activity in 150 or fewer words to share with our community.

From Stars We Come, To Stars We Return: Exploring Ancient and Indigenous Cosmic Worldviews

from stars we come, to stars we return,
ancient skies, where cosmic fires burn,
through ages past, in tales untold
i seek the wisdom of the old.

ancestral puebloans of chaco canyon,
built monuments with meticulous passion.
under skies of deep blue,
they saw in 1054 the supernova’s view.

in the islamic golden age,
astronomers turned a cosmic page.
with keen eyes, they traced the light,
charting stars through endless night.

the northern song, in china’s heart,
mapped the heavens, a profound art.
in sacred scripts and crafted stone,
the crab's bright burst, their skies adorned.

across the globe, far and wide,
the cosmos seen from every side.
not just through europe’s eyes,
but in each culture's starry skies.

i challenge now, the narratives old,
with stories rich and visions bold.
through science, art, and history intertwined,
i broaden the scope of cosmic mind.

Ashar Mobeen
PhD, Visual Arts
Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Supervisor
John Hatch (https://www.uwo.ca/visarts/about/facultypages/hatch_j.html)

Ashar Mobeen (he/him) is a Canadian-Pakistani writer, curator, and second-year PhD candidate at Western University. His research investigates the manifestation of comprehensive astronomical understanding in the art and architecture of ancient and Indigenous civilizations across the globe. By reconstructing the cosmic perspectives of these societies through their art and conjoining his findings with modern scientific understanding, Ashar believes that he can potentially offer answers to questions that humanity continues to ponder. Ultimately, he hopes that his research can address the need for a post-humanist perspective, counter to the mandates of anthropocentric hubris and its imprisonment within binary power dynamics. In the face of catastrophes such as climate change, rising food insecurity, and collapse of biodiversity, he contends it is critical to re-evaluate not only our position in the cosmos, but with the very land we call home. Ashar is also a member of the Centre for Sustainable Curating, where he assists with research into waste, pollution, the climate crisis, and the creation of exhibitions and artworks with low carbon footprints.

You can connect with Ashar on the web at https://asharmobeen.ca/.

View Ashar's work as it appears in the Inspiring Minds Digital Collection: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/inspiringminds/623/.