
UFOs, the Absurd, and the Limit of Anthropological Knowledge
Imagining the Impossible in Chile
Diana Espirito Santo(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 20. September 2024
Book
Hardback
170 pages
978-1-032-49466-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book offers an ethnographic and conceptual analysis of contemporary UFO phenomena, focusing specifically on Chilean ufology and the ufological "absurd", nonsensical instances for their experiencers in which there is no conceptual way out. It asks how anthropology can come to terms with what is not said, what is not known, what is in the dark, or even with what both "is" and "is not". The work draws on three years of participant observation with empirical ufologists, amateur sky watchers, and contactees of varying kinds in Chile. The chapters mobilize three main bodies of literature to elucidate the ufological absurd: negative theology, anthropology of play and deceit, and the physics of dark matter. They explore notions of parallax, paradox, and trickster anthropology. The author takes UFO phenomena, specifically the absurd aspects, as a heuristic with which to posit a conversation between domains; a conversation which highlights darknesses, finiteness, and the limits of representation and media in anthropology, one that could perhaps signal the route to a new language. Consideration is given to how not-knowing can be a space of extreme productiveness for the discipline. The argument put forward is that only by doing an anthropology that looks outside of itself for conceptual inspiration can we come to terms with the non-representable, the un-conceptualizable, the fully paradoxical. This innovative book will be of particular interest to scholars of anthropological theory and religion.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate
Illustrations
3 s/w Abbildungen, 3 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder
3 Halftones, black and white; 3 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
449 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-49466-1 (9781032494661)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Diana Espirito Santo
UFOs, the Absurd, and the Limit of Anthropological Knowledge
Imagining the Impossible in Chile
Book
05/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€60.00
Shipment within 10-20 days

Diana Espirito Santo
UFOs, the Absurd, and the Limit of Anthropological Knowledge
Imagining the Impossible in Chile
E-Book
09/2024
1st Edition
Routledge
€60.49
Available for download

Diana Espirito Santo
UFOs, the Absurd, and the Limit of Anthropological Knowledge
Imagining the Impossible in Chile
E-Book
09/2024
1st Edition
Routledge
€60.49
Available for download
Person
Diana Espirito Santo (PhD University College London) is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. Her previous book with Routledge is Spirited Histories: Technologies, Media, and Trauma in Paranormal Chile (2022).
Content
Introduction
1 Parallax
2 Paradox
3 Deceit
4 Dark
5 Trickster
1 Parallax
2 Paradox
3 Deceit
4 Dark
5 Trickster