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Conspiracy theories and UFOs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Damien Karbovnik*
Affiliation:
Université de Strasbourg, France
*
Damien Karbovnik, Université de Strasbourg, Institut d’Histoire des religions, Palais Universitaire, 67084 Strasbourg, Cedex, France. Email: damien.karbovnik@hotmail.fr

Abstract

Ever since UFOs were first spotted in the sky in 1947, many theories have sought to explain these apparitions that defy science. Some of them lend weight to conspiracy theories. Even though there is a wide spectrum of conspiracies involving a certain amount of people and organizations, the purpose of this article will be to follow one particular author's point of view, Jimmy Guieu's, namely because of the global approach that he favors. Guieu, a pioneer of ufology, followed its evolution up until his death in 2000 and tried, through his many works, to offer some enlightening information on UFOs. Ranging from Black-out to the secret government embodied by the MJ-12, he patiently assembled the pieces of a puzzle whose final product takes the form of “romans-vérité”. Although he remains a rather marginal author, some approaches similar to Jimmy Guieu's can be seen on television in widely distributed productions; this will allow us to put forward the existence of a recurrent narrative structure in the alien conspiracy theory.

Type
Conspiracy Theories and popular culture
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2020

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