E.T. Culture: Anthropology in Outerspaces [Paperback]

Debbora Battaglia (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2006

Anthropologists have long sought to engage and describe foreign or “alien” societies, yet few have considered the fluid communities centered around a shared belief in alien beings and UFO sightings and their effect on popular and expressive culture. Opening up a new frontier for anthropological study, the contributors to E.T. Culture take these communities seriously. They demonstrate that an E.T. orientation toward various forms of visitation—including alien beings, alien technologies, and uncanny visions—engages primary concepts underpinning anthropological research: host and visitor, home and away, subjectivity and objectivity. Taking the point of view of those who commit to sci-fi as sci-fact, contributors to this volume show how discussions and representations of otherworldly beings express concerns about racial and ethnic differences, the anxieties and fascination associated with modern technologies, and alienation from the inner workings of government.

Drawing on social science, science studies, linguistics, popular and expressive culture, and social and intellectual history, the writers of E.T. Culture unsettle the boundaries of science, magic, and religion as well as those of technological and human agency. They consider the ways that sufferers of “unmarked” diseases such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome come to feel alien to both the “healthy” world and the medical community incapable of treating them; the development of alien languages like Klingon; attempts to formulate a communications technology—such as that created for the spaceship Voyager—that will reach alien beings; the pilgrimage spirit of UFO seekers; the out-of-time experiences of Nobel scientists; the embrace of the alien within Japanese animation and fan culture; and the physical spirituality of the Raëlian religious network.

Contributors. Debbora Battaglia, Richard Doyle, Joseph Dumit, Mizuko Ito, Susan Lepselter, Christopher Roth, David Samuels

Editorial Reviews

Review

“E.T. Culture is a very strong theoretical intervention and a fascinating read. It is remarkable for its expansive, multiple-explanations approach. Each article makes a different, and each a compelling, argument for what UFOness is all about.”—Kathleen Stewart, author of A Space on the Side of the Road: Cultural Poetics in an “Other” America

“Who would have guessed in this dark and fearful time that a collection of essays on aliens would offer so much hope? Debbora Battaglia and her contributors open up new spaces for thinking. They provide us with room to breathe. Approaching otherness and the uncanny not with anxiety but with optimism, her anthropology of visits invites us to make ourselves open to ambiguity, an invitation which, in an unfortunate age of absolutes, we would all do well to accept.”—Jodi Dean, author of Aliens in America: Conspiracy Cultures from Outerspace to Cyberspace

From the Publisher

Who would have guessed in this dark and fearful time that a collection of essays on aliens would offer so much hope? Debbora Battaglia and her contributors open up new spaces for thinking. They provide us with room to breathe. Approaching otherness and the uncanny not with anxiety but with optimism, her anthropology of visits invites us to make ourselves open to ambiguity, an invitation which, in an unfortunate age of absolutes, we would all do well to accept."—[RR;PP] Jodi Dean, author of Aliens in America: Conspiracy Cultures from Outerspace to Cyberspace

"E.T. Culture is a very strong theoretical intervention and a fascinating read. It is remarkable for its expansive, multiple-explanations approach. Each article makes a different, and each a compelling, argument for what UFOness is all about."—[RR;PP] Kathleen Stewart, author of A Space on the Side of the Road: Cultural Poetics in an "Other" America --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (January 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822336219
• ISBN-13: 978-0822336211
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #872,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful and innovative collection, February 23, 2009

By 

T. Boellstorff - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: E.T. Culture: Anthropology in Outerspaces (Paperback)

This is a wonderful and innovative collection. The various authors look at different ways that people talk about aliens and extraterrestrials and use these case studies to examine some important issues about contemporary culture, like (1) ideas about what it means to be "human," (2) notions of "visitors" and "encounters," and (3) ideas of "here" and "elsewhere." It's read to teach with (students love talking about UFOs!) and also good as a source of ideas of all kinds. There's a whole emerging literature in anthropology and other disciplines tackling these kinds of topics, and much of it is quite exciting and provocative - certainly true for this volume!