UFOs, Otherness, and Belonging: Identity in Remote Aboriginal Australia

Abstract

UFO beliefs exist around the world yet they have been almost exclusively analysed within the context of urban American society. This article seeks to understand the ways in which people from differing social and cultural backgrounds also engage in UFO narratives. In a remote Aboriginal desert community in Central Australia, descriptions of UFOs merge popular and media portrayals of extraterrestrials with elements and themes found in local Aboriginal cosmology. Consequently, Aboriginal narratives regarding extraterrestrial beings are able to both reflect the local social environment of race relations and affirm Aboriginal identity.

Notes

1. See Mack (1999), Marrs (2000), Raynes (2004), Red Star (2000; 2002), and von Däniken (2002).

2. I have use pseudonyms throughout this article and also included the age, when possible, of each individual.

3. I was aware of only five Aboriginal residents who claimed that UFOs did not exist. These individuals, ranging in age from 25 to 53, did not offer an alternative explanation for UFO sightings, such as a ghost, shooting star, or aircraft. John simply told me that the pervasive talk of aliens in the community was ‘rubbish’.

4. Examples include comparisons between UFOs and angels (Saler et al., 1997, p. 71; Saliba, 1995, p. 36; Thompson, 1991), between space and heaven (Saler et al., 1997, p. 141), between Men in Black and the devil (Rojcewicz, 1987), abductions to initiation or rites of passage (Bullard, 1989, p. 162), aliens and demons (Partridge, 2004; Saliba, 1995, p. 36), and UFO phenomenon and fairies (Purkiss, 2000, p. 317–22; Silver, 1999; Thompson, 1991; Vallée, 1969).

5. For more information on spirit beings and their ability to recognise and harm outsiders see Cawte (1974), Meggit (1962), Peile (1997), Reid (1983), Rose (1992), and Tonkinson (1978).