A UFO over a Planetarium: Epistemological Propaganda and Alternative Forms of Knowledge about the Outer Space in the USSR, 1940s – 1960s

Abstract

The article examines the origins and development of narratives about historical and present-day contacts with alien civilizations (ufology) in the USSR after World War II. The current research literature usually interprets ufology as a form of quasi-religious and mythological thinking, yet my study of the genealogy of Soviet ufology demonstrates that the development of alternative knowledge about the outer space was a by-product of the state-sponsored propaganda of scientific knowledge. This relationship suggests that the common understanding of the public communication of science as a mere tool for the transfer of knowledge from experts (scholars) to the public is simplistic and misleading. By bringing together science popularizers and broad audiences in a communication chain, the post-WWII Soviet mass scientific literacy campaign required the former to mater new narrative forms to appeal to the latter. The narrativization of science for its public communication means that popular science genres exist in a rhetorical and literary context, rather than belonging to the domain of the production and verification of scientific knowledge. This makes stories and their structural elements (plot development, internal conflict, and the hierarchy of characters) a key aspect of science communication. Consequently, a history of ufology in the post-World War II USSR serves as an illustrative case revealing how the epistemological polyphony and diversity emerged in late Soviet society.