| Title | How to Live with Aliens |
|---|---|
| Contributor | Susan Lepselter (author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.53288/0361.1.16 |
| Landing page | https://punctumbooks.com/titles/living-with-monsters-ethnographic-fiction-about-real-monsters/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Susan Lepselter |
| Publisher | punctum books |
| Published on | 2023-05-11 |
| Long abstract | This partly satirical essay imagines a networking-style seminar for aliens and humans in the not-too-distant future. Three kinds of “aliens speak to their human audience: one, a hybrid between human and “little gray,” a type well known from narratives of alien abduction; a benevolent “Nordic” alien, a type popular in mid-twentieth century space lore; and finally a “reptilian,” the sinister alien type prevalent in much uncanny conspiracy theory. Listening to these alien speakers’ ideas on how to live with aliens reminds us, finally, that we must first live in more intentional ways with each other, and care for our own vulnerable Earth. |
| Page range | pp. 279–298 |
| Print length | 20 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
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Susan Lepselter is Associate Professor of American Studies and Adjunct Associate Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at Indiana University Bloomington. She spent years interviewing people who told of their experiences with UFOs and aliens. Her book The Resonance of Unseen Things: Poetics, Power, Captivity and UFOs in the American Uncanny (University of Michigan Press, 2016) won the Society for Cultural Anthropology Bateson Prize of 2017. Currently, she is working on a book of poetry and prose about encounters between humans and animals.