UFOs, Conspiracy Theories and the New Age - Millennial Conspiracism

How-and why- were UFOs so prevalent in both conspiracy theories and the New Age milieu in the post-Cold War period? In this ground-breaking book, David G. Robertson argues that UFOs symbolized an uncertainty about the boundaries between scientific knowledge and other ways of validating knowledge, and thus became part of a shared vocabulary. Through historical and ethnographic case studies of three prominent figures-novelist and abductee Whitley Strieber; environmentalist and reptilian proponent David Icke; and David Wilcock, alleged reincarnation of Edgar Cayce-the investigation reveals that millennial conspiracism offers an explanation as to why the prophesied New Age failed to arrive-it was prevented from arriving by malevolent, hidden others. Yet millennial conspiracism constructs a counter-elite, a gnostic third party defined by their special knowledge.An overview of the development of UFO subcultures from the perspective of religious studies, UFOs, Conspiracy Theories and the New Age is an innovative application of discourse analysis to the study of present day alternative religion.>

Product details

• Authors: David G Robertson, David G. Robertson, David G. (The Open University Robertson
• Assisted by: James Cox (Editor), Steven Sutcliffe (Editor), William Sweetman (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2017
• EAN: 9781350044982
• ISBN: 978-1-350-04498-2
• No. of pages: 264
• Series: Bloomsbury Advances in Religious Studies; Bloomsbury Advances in Religio; Bloomsbury Advances in Religio
• Subjects: Guides > Spirituality > Ancient knowledge, ancient cultures; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works