UFOs: Reframing the Debate

by Robbie Graham, D. W. Pasulka (Foreword by), Ryan Sprague (Contribution by)

Overview

IF YOU LIKE YOUR UFO LITERATURE TO CONFIRM WHAT YOU ALREADY ‘KNOW,’ THIS IS NOT THE BOOK FOR YOU!

The UFO field has produced thousands of dedicated researchers over the years, and reams of literature; but to what end? What can we claim to know conclusively today about the underlying nature of UFO phenomena that we didn’t know in the late-1940s? UFO study has always suffered from major organizational and methodological problems. It has also become dangerously self-referential.

If ever we are to further our understanding of the UFO enigma, we must fundamentally reframe our debate. We must wipe the board clean and fill it with new ideas, new theories, even new language. We must be willing to start from scratch when the field stagnates. We must be critical, sober, and free of dogma—ready to rinse away the residue of our own beliefs.

UFOs: Reframing the Debate is a collection of original essays exploring alternative perspectives on UFOs and how we might more usefully study the phenomenon in the 21^st Century. The book brings together some of the most progressive and iconoclastic thinkers in the field for an incisive deconstruction of current popular ideas. Critical but constructive, this challenging volume represents a range of differing (even conflicting) alternative viewpoints on UFOs and related phenomena.

UFOs: Reframing the Debate is a cold, hard, slap in the face for ‘UFOlogy,’ a call to break away from established ideas, approaches, and practices, and to boldly tread a new path in quest of understanding what may very well be the greatest mystery of all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786770233
Publisher:	White Crow Books
Publication date:	05/23/2017
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Robbie Graham has pursued the UFO mystery for more than half his life. He has lectured around the world on the subject and has been interviewed for the likes of the BBC, Coast to Coast AM, Canal+ TV, Channel 4, and Vanity Fair, among many others. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The Guardian, New Statesman, Filmfax, and Fortean Times. He holds first class degrees in Film, Television and Radio Studies (BA hons) and Cinema Studies (MA) from Staffordshire University and the University of Bristol respectively. He is the author of Silver Screen Saucers: Sorting Fact from Fantasy in Hollywood's UFO Movies (White Crow Books, 2015).

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THE EDITOR

WITHIN

SELECTED THOUGHTS FROM THIS VOLUME

FOREWORD

BY DIANA WALSH PASULKA

INTRODUCTION

BY ROBBIE GRAHAM

CHRIS RUTKOWSKI

OUR ALIEN, WHO ART IN HEAVEN

MIKE CLELLAND

THE EXPERIENCE IS IMPORTANT

JACK BREWER

THE FUTURE LEADS TO THE PAST

JOSHUA CUTCHIN

IN FOR A PENNY, IN FOR A POUND: MOVING UFOLOGY BEYOND MATERIALISM

MICAH HANKS

TOWARD A BETTER UFOLOGY: APPLYING SCIENCE TO THE STUDY OF UAP

LORIN CUTTS

ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOWABOUT FLYING SAUCERS IS WRONG

CURT COLLINS

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

SMILES LEWIS

TRUFO VS. UFAUX: PLANETARY POLTERGEISTS & WEAPONS OF MASS ENCHANTMENT

MJ BANIAS

UFOS AND MODERN CAPITALISM: DISSENT, DISENFRANCHISEMENT, AND THE FRINGE

RED PILL JUNKIE

ANARCHY IN THE UFO!

SUSAN DEMETER-ST. CLAIR

MAKING MOUNTAINS OUT OF MASHED POTATOES: UFOS AS A PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL EVENT

RYAN SPRAGUE

FRANKENSTEIN & FLYING SAUCERS: CREATING, DESTROYING, AND RE-ANIMATING A PHENOMENAL MONSTER

GREG BISHOP

THE CO-CREATION HYPOTHESIS: HUMAN PERCEPTION, THE INFORMATIONAL UNIVERSE, AND THE OVERHAUL OF UFO RESEARCH

ROBERT BRANDSTETTER

DISCOVERING OUR HUMANITY IN THE ALIEN OTHER

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

ENDNOTES

INDEX

Editorial Reviews

“Once in a while, when the study of UFOs sinks deep into stale complacency, a breath of fresh air blows in to wake up the participants and revitalize the discussion. This book is just such a refresher. Instead of the perennial standoff between believers, who treat extraterrestrial visitation as established fact, and skeptics, who dismiss the whole subject as obvious foolishness, the contributors to UFOs: Reframing the Debate find nuance and layers where too many others see only black and white or foregone conclusions. These essays honor the full scope of the phenomenon—the material, high-strangeness, experiential, psychological, social, cultural, expressive, mythic, and religious aspects alike—and recognize them as equally important, equally revealing dimensions of a complex whole. Each chapter will fascinate and infuriate readers with fixed ideas of what is true and important about UFOs, as well as set new ideas and connections buzzing in their brains. This brash, rejuvenating effort to lift ufology out of its intellectual morass is an achievement of Fortean thinking that Charles Fort himself might envy.”

—Thomas E. Bullard, Ph.D.

Author of The Myth and Mystery of UFOs

“Robbie Graham's UFO anthology reframes the UFO from facile tabloid fare into its real challenge—how to interpret strange experiences offering hints of an Underlying Fundamental Ontology. To tackle such a difficult and at times bewildering task, a deep multidisciplinary dive is required. And that's exactly what you'll find in this thoughtful and stimulating book.”

—Dean Radin, Ph.D.

Chief Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences

Author of Supernormal

“Robbie Graham has assembled a set of essays with very subversive insights into the nature of UFO phenomena. If you intend to seriously study UFOs, you must read this book.”

—George P. Hansen

Author of The Trickster and the Paranormal

“More than another recitation of the latest UFO events, UFOs: Reframing the Debate takes one giant step backward to get a good look at where the field as a whole stands in these early decades of the 21st century. Whether you are a hard-core materialist fan of the extraterrestrial hypothesis of UFO origins, gobsmacked and captivated by the frequency of ‘high strangeness’ UFO sighting reports, or a devotee of the ‘space brothers’ camp of UFO enthusiasts, there’s something herein that is sure to delight and offend you, by turns. These thoughtful, critical essays deserve a thoughtful, critical reading by all who have ever wondered ‘what about…’ and ‘what if…’”

—Brenda Denzler, Ph.D.

Author of The Lure of the Edge

"The UFO, to paraphrase a wise man who may never have lived, is a sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere. It might be a vehicle; it might be a passage between worlds; it might be a world in itself; it might be an intelligent other; it might be an intelligent us. It is a symbol representing everything we don’t yet understand about the worlds we inhabit, and, most importantly, our relationships to them. Collectively, the contributors to this timely volume recognize this; they understand that there is no UFO phenomenon, there are only phenomena, just as there is no UFO story, there are only UFO stories. Despite the best efforts of some luminous minds, many of them included here, the UFO debate has, for far too long, been a circular one—this book should help that circle to become a sphere."

—Mark Pilkington

Author of Mirage Men

From the Publisher