UFOs- Reframing the Debate

The UFO field has produced thousands of dedicated researchers over the years, and reams of literature; but to what end? What can we claim to know conclusively today about the underlying nature of UFO phenomena that we didn’t know in the late-1940s? UFO study has always suffered from major organizational and methodological problems. It has also become dangerously self-referential.If ever we are to further our understanding of the UFO enigma, we must fundamentally reframe our debate. We must wipe the board clean and fill it with new ideas, new theories, even new language. We must be willing to start from scratch when the field stagnates. We must be critical, sober, and free of dogma—ready to rinse away the residue of our own beliefs. UFOs: Reframing the Debate is a collection of original essays exploring alternative perspectives on UFOs and how we might more usefully study the phenomenon in the 21st Century. The book brings together some of the most progressive and iconoclastic thinkers in the field for an incisive deconstruction of current popular ideas. Critical but constructive, this challenging volume represents a range of differing (even conflicting) alternative viewpoints on UFOs and related phenomena. UFOs: Reframing the Debate is a cold, hard, slap in the face for ‘UFOlogy,’ a call to break away from established ideas, approaches, and practices, and to boldly tread a new path in quest of understanding what may very well be the greatest mystery of all. **Review“Once in a while, when the study of UFOs sinks deep into stale complacency, a breath of fresh air blows in to wake up the participants and revitalize the discussion. This book is just such a refresher. Instead of the perennial standoff between believers, who treat extraterrestrial visitation as established fact, and skeptics, who dismiss the whole subject as obvious foolishness, the contributors to UFOs: Reframing the Debate find nuance and layers where too many others see only black and white or foregone conclusions. These essays honor the full scope of the phenomenon—the material, high-strangeness, experiential, psychological, social, cultural, expressive, mythic, and religious aspects alike—and recognize them as equally important, equally revealing dimensions of a complex whole. Each chapter will fascinate and infuriate readers with fixed ideas of what is true and important about UFOs, as well as set new ideas and connections buzzing in their brains. This brash, rejuvenating effort to lift ufology out of its intellectual morass is an achievement of Fortean thinking that Charles Fort himself might envy.”—Thomas E. Bullard, Ph.D.
Author of The Myth and Mystery of UFOs“Robbie Graham's UFO anthology reframes the UFO from facile tabloid fare into its real challenge—how to interpret strange experiences offering hints of an Underlying Fundamental Ontology. To tackle such a difficult and at times bewildering task, a deep multidisciplinary dive is required. And that's exactly what you'll find in this thoughtful and stimulating book.” —Dean Radin, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences
Author of Supernormal“Robbie Graham has assembled a set of essays with very subversive insights into the nature of UFO phenomena. If you intend to seriously study UFOs, you must read this book.”—George P. Hansen
Author of The Trickster and the Paranormal“More than another recitation of the latest UFO events, UFOs: Reframing the Debate takes one giant step backward to get a good look at where the field as a whole stands in these early decades of the 21st century. Whether you are a hard-core materialist fan of the extraterrestrial hypothesis of UFO origins, gobsmacked and captivated by the frequency of ‘high strangeness’ UFO sighting reports, or a devotee of the ‘space brothers’ camp of UFO enthusiasts, there’s something herein that is sure to delight and offend you, by turns. These thoughtful, critical essays deserve a thoughtful, critical reading by all who have ever wondered ‘what about…’ and ‘what if…’”—Brenda Denzler, Ph.D.
Author of The Lure of the Edge"The UFO, to paraphrase a wise man who may never have lived, is a sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere. It might be a vehicle; it might be a passage between worlds; it might be a world in itself; it might be an intelligent other; it might be an intelligent us. It is a symbol representing everything we don’t yet understand about the worlds we inhabit, and, most importantly, our relationships to them. Collectively, the contributors to this timely volume recognize this; they understand that there is no UFO phenomenon, there are only phenomena, just as there is no UFO story, there are only UFO stories. Despite the best efforts of some luminous minds, many of them included here, the UFO debate has, for far too long, been a circular one—this book should help that circle to become a sphere."














—Mark Pilkington
Author of Mirage Men