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.
