Publications
Books, peer-reviewed scholarship, public writing, reviews, and other publications.
Books
Forthcoming
Weibel, Deana L., Glen E. Swanson, and Jon Lomberg. Voyager’s Golden Record: An Enduring Reflection (working title). Forthcoming from Profile Books in the United Kingdom and the University of Chicago Press in North America.
Published
Weibel, Deana L. (May 2026) The Ultraview Effect: What we can Learn from Astronauts about Awe, Humility, and Exploring the Unknown, University of California Press.
Weibel, Deana L. (February 2022) A Sacred Vertigo: Pilgrimage and Tourism in Rocamadour, France. Lexington Books.
Crane, Hillary and Deana Weibel (eds.) (December 2012) Missionary Impositions: Conversion, Resistance, and Other Challenges to Objectivity in Religious Ethnography, edited volume, Lexington Books.
In Development
Weibel, Deana L. Earthlings Without Earth: Space Medicine, Human Transformation, and a Future Beyond Our Planet (working title). A public-facing book examining how space medicine defines and manages the risks, adaptations, and bodily transformations associated with human life beyond Earth. Preliminary research is underway, and the project has been discussed with the author’s editor at the University of California Press.
Selected Reviews And Media Coverage Of The Ultraview Effect
Ferreira, Becky. August 2026. “The Role of the Astronaut Is in Flux.” MIT Technology Review. Review essay featuring The Ultraview Effect, with interview.
Foust, Jeff. June 2026. “Review: The Ultraview Effect.” The Space Review.
French, Francis. February 2026. “Book Review: The Ultraview Effect.” Higher Orbits.
Other Peer-Reviewed Publications
Forthcoming
“The Space-Flown Body: How Medical Spaceflight Researchers Manifest the Destiny of Human Biology,” for the edited volume Outer Space Expansionism and Ideology in Cross-Cultural Perspective, edited by John Traphagan, for publication by McFarland Books.
Published
Co-authored with Michael Di Giovine, “Anthropological Perspectives on Pilgrimage” for the edited volume Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Pilgrimage: Historical, Current, and Future Directions, edited by Heather Warfield, for publication by Peter Lang Publishing (2023).
“Astronauts as Chosen People: Religious Ways of Understanding the Astronaut Experience and Life After Space,” a chapter for the edited volume Religion & Outer Space, edited by Eric Mazur and Sarah McFarland Taylor, for publication by Taylor and Francis (2023).
“Sherpas on the Moon: The Case for Including ‘Native Guides' in Space Exploration,” for the edited volume, Reclaiming Space: Progressive and Multicultural Visions of Space Exploration, edited by James Schwartz, Linda Billings and Erika Nesvold, for publication by Oxford University Press (2023).
Schwartz, James SJ, Sheri Wells-Jensen, John W. Traphagan, Deana Weibel, and Kelly C. Smith. "What do we need to ask before settling space?" Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 74:4 (2021).
Weibel, Deana L. 2020 “The Overview Effect and the Ultraview Effect: How Extreme Experiences in/of Outer Space Influence Religious Beliefs in Astronauts” for a special issue of the journal Religions, edited by Deana L. Weibel and Glen E. Swanson
Weibel, Deana L. 2020 “Following the Path that Heroes Carved into History: Space Tourism, Heritage, and Faith in the Future” for a special issue of the journal Religions, edited by Mohammad Sharifi and Michael di Giovine.
Weibel, Deana L. 2019 “Medieval 'Miracle of Equilibrium' or Contemporary ‘Sanctuary of Rock-Hard Faith'?: How Digital Media Guides Visitors' Experiences at the Shrine of Rocamadour, France,” a chapter in an edited volume on “Religion and Mobile Apps” for Palgrave Macmillan's Contemporary Anthropology of Religion series, edited by Jacqueline Fewkes.
Weibel, Deana L. 2019 “Mock Rituals, Sham Battles, and Real Research: Anthropologists and the Ethnographic Study of the Bontoc Igorot in 1900s ‘Igorrote Villages,'” in Histories of Anthropology Annual. Volume 13, University of Nebraska Press. Edited by Regna Darnell and Frederic W. Gleach.
Weibel, Deana L. 2016 “Rocamadour Pilgrimage” in The Oxford Companion to Cheese by Catherine Donnelly (ed.). Oxford University Press.
Weibel, Deana L. 2015 'Up in God's Great Cathedral': Evangelism, Astronauts, and the Seductiveness of Outer Space” in The Seductions of Pilgrimage: Afar and Astray in the Western Religious Tradition, by Michael Di Giovine and David Picard (eds). Ashgate Studies in Pilgrimage, Ashgate Publishing, pp. 233-256.
Weibel, Deana L. 2014 “A Savage at the Wedding and the Skeletons in My Closet: My Great-Grandfather, “Igorotte Villages,” in Mutuality: Anthropology's Changing Terms of Engagement, by Roger Sanjek (ed). University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 99-117.
Weibel, Deana L. 2012 “Blind in a Land of Visionaries: When a Non-Pilgrim Studies Pilgrimage” in Missionary Impositions: Conversion, Resistance, and Other Challenges to Objectivity in Religious Ethnography, Hillary K. Crane and Deana L. Weibel (eds). Lexington Books, pp. 92-109 .
Weibel, Deana L. 2012 “Magnetism and Microwaves: Religion as Radiation” In The Body and Religion: Modern Science and the Construction of Meaning, David Cave and Rebecca Sachs Norris (eds). Brill Academic Publishing. pp. 171-198.
Weibel, Deana L. and Glen E. Swanson. 2006. Malinowski in Orbit: ‘Magical Thinking' in Human Spaceflight. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 13 (3): 53-61.
Weibel, Deana L. 2005a. “The Virgin Mary Versus the Monkeys” In Religious Innovation in a Global Age, George N. Lundskow (ed.). McFarland. pp. 247-257.
Weibel, Deana L. 2005b. “Of Consciousness Changes and Fortified Faith: Creativist and Catholic Pilgrimage at French Catholic Shrines” In Pilgrimage and Healing, Jill Dubisch and Michael Winkelman (eds.). University of Arizona Press.. pp. 111-134.
Weibel, Deana L. 2003. Controlling Chance, Creating Chance: Magical Thinking in Religious Pilgrimage. The Journal for the Academic Study of Magic 1: 161-178.
Weibel, Deana L. 2002a. The New Age and the Old World: the Interpretation and Use of European Shrines by Religious Creatives. Maria: A Journal of Marian Studies 2.(2): 81-87.
Weibel, Deana L. 2002b. 'The Energy We Call the Goddess': the Religious Creativist Use of a Roman Catholic Shrine. Maria: A Journal of Marian Studies 2.(2): 88-94.
In Development
“Awe as Planetary Method.” Chapter invited for The Oxford Handbook of Planetary Methods, edited by Frederic Hanusch and Clemens Finkelstein. Oxford University Press.
Guest Editing
Guest editor (with space historian Glen E. Swanson) of a special issue of the journal Religions called “The Mutual Influence of Religion and Science in the Human Understanding and Exploration of Outer Space” (2020) (to be published in book format, 2021).
Book Reviews
Weibel, Deana (2020) Review of Space Tourism, edited by Erik Cohen and Sam Spector. Invited submission to the Journal of Tourism and Social Change.
Weibel, Deana (2014) Review of Tourism and the Power of Otherness: Seductions of Difference, edited by Michael DiGiovine and David Picard. Invited submission to the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage.
Other Publications
Weibel, Deana L. (2026). “‘Vastly, Hugely, Mind-Bogglingly Big’: The Galaxy Garden as a Milky Way Analog.” The Space Review, July 6, 2026. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5259/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2026). “Seeing an Eclipse from Earth Is Awe-Inspiring—for Astronauts Seeing One from Space, the Scene Was Even More Grand.” The Conversation, April 30, 2026. https://theconversation.com/seeing-an-eclipse-from-earth-is-awe-inspiring-for-astronauts-seeing-one-from-space-the-scene-was-even-more-grand-281488
Weibel, Deana L. (2026) “Mirroring mango salad: How ISS culture shaped Artemis 2,” The Space Review, April 20, 2026. https://thespacereview.com/article/5206/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2026) “What the Artemis II astronauts revealed about awe in space,” University of California Press Blog, April 16, 2026. https://www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/what-the-artemis-ii-astronauts-revealed-about-awe-in-space
Weibel, Deana L. (2026) “‘Project Hail Mary’ demonstrates how intellectual humility can be a guiding force for scientists and astronauts,” The Conversation, March 31, 2026. https://theconversation.com/project-hail-mary-demonstrates-how-intellectual-humility-can-be-a-guiding-force-for-scientists-and-astronauts-279404
Weibel, Deana L. (2026) “Opinion | Let’s recognize historic moon flight by Grand Rapids native Christina Koch,” Bridge Michigan, March 31, 2026. https://bridgemi.com/guest-commentary/opinion-lets-recognize-historic-moon-flight-by-grand-rapids-native-christina-koch/
Weibel, Deana L. (2025) “‘God is in control’: A field report from the Ark Encounter’s ‘Astronaut Encounter,’” The Space Review, August 4, 2025. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/5037/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2025) “’A bonafide frigging flight’: How NS-31 broke spaceflight norms and created an online uproar,” The Space Review, April 21, 2025. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4975/1
Weibel, Deana L. “The Impossible Collection: Space-Flown Religious Objects Outside my Grasp.” For the Collecting Religion online forum, edited by James Bielo and Matthew Hayes, February 3, 2025.
Weibel, Deana L. (2024) "’Not quite the plan, but here we are’: NASA ritual and the reintegration of the Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts" The Space Review, September 30, 2024. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4865/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2024) "The sacred Moon: Navigating diverse cultural beliefs in lunar missions" The Space Review, January 29, 2024. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4733/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2023) "Honoring and dishonoring the dead in outer space: How a Virgin Galactic spaceflight sparked a scandal in anthropology" The Space Review, September 25, 2023. https://thespacereview.com/article/4657/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2023) "The highs and lows of extreme tourism: The Titan accident and commercial expeditions to space and the deep sea" The Space Review. July 31, 2023. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4630/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2023) "Cultural considerations in space exploration: Insights for NASA’s Artemis 2 mission" The Space Review. June 5, 2023. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4596/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2022) "Boozy Chimps in Orbit and Intoxicating Saturns: Where Space Pop Meets Tiki Culture" The Space Review. July 5, 2022.https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4414/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2021) "Black ugliness and the covering of blue: William Shatner's suborbital flight to 'death,'" The Space Review. October 18, 2021. https://thespacereview.com/article/4265/1
Weibel, Deana L., and Glen E. Swanson. "Introduction to Special Issue: The Mutual Influence of Religion and Science in the Human Understanding and Exploration of Outer Space." (2021): 444.
Weibel, Deana L. (2020) “‘Maybe You Were Put Here to be the Answer': Religious Overtones in the New Space Force Recruitment Video” The Space Review. May 11, 2020. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3942/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2020) “Magnificent Isolation: What We Can Learn from Astronauts about Social Distancing and Sheltering in Space.” The Space Review. March 23, 2020. https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3903/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2019) “Destiny in Space.” Anthropology News 60 (4): 26-27.
Weibel, Deana L. (2019) “Astronauts vs. mortals: space workers, Jain ascetics, and NASA's transcendent few.” The Space Review. April 18, 2019. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3690/1
Weibel, Deana L. (2017) “Space exploration as religious experience: Evangelical astronauts and the perception of God's worldview.” The Space Review. August 21, 2017. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3310/1#idc-cover
Weibel, Deana L. (2015 Kindle edition, 2016 Print edition) “Pennies from Heaven: Objects in the Use of Outer Space as Sacred Space” in Touching the Face of the Cosmos: On the Intersection of Space Travel and Religion, Paul Levinson and Michael Waltemathe (eds.), Connected Editions (Kindle version) and Fordham University Press (print edition).
Weibel, Deana (2015) “Lessons from GVSU's Ethnographic Field School,” (blog post) Engaged GVSU: Reflections from the GVSU Office of Community Engagement, https://gvsucommunity.wordpress.com/2015/04/01/lessons-from-gvsus-ethnographic-field-school/.
Weibel, Deana L. and Katie L. Kujala, (2014) "Blessed Goats: On the Melding of Church and Cheese in Rocamadour, France," in the "Research Notes" section of the Spring 2014 issue of Digest: A Journal of Foodways and Culture.
Weibel, Deana L. & Patricia O. Afable. (2012) “'The Igorrote Village' at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, 1909: Bontoc Performers and their American Showman" In Igorot by Heart: Keynotes and Selections of a Generation, John Dyte et al (eds.) Igorot Global Organization, pp. 213-243.
Weibel, Deana L. (2007a) Society for the Anthropology of Religion monthly column in Anthropology News, “Magic, Science and Religion in Space?” Volume 48, Number 2.
Weibel, Deana L. (2007b) “A New Take on Kinship Studies” in the Grand Valley State University Anthropology Club's Winter 2007 Anthropology Advocate.
Edited Reports
An Ethnographic Study of Volunteering at Festival of the Arts, Grand Rapids, edited with Michael Wroblewski, submitted to Mark Azkoul and Baird Hawkins of the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts Board of Directors on July 18, 2022.
“Stories” for Bethany: A Collection of Refugee Stories Based on Interviews Conducted by the Students of ANT 400, Ethnographic Methods, Fall Semester 2016, submitted to Alyssa Hall of Bethany Refugee and Immigrant Services on December 14, 2016.