UFOtherness and Conspiracy Narratives
Dates of the course: 15 October 2025 - 1 January 2026
Teaching language(s): English, French
Credits: 3 ECTS
Contact: univseh@univ-tlse2.fr
Universities involved: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf / Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès
Profile and prerequisites:
- Students have to be enrolled in the first year of a Master programme (min M1) to enrol in the course.
- English B1
- French B1
Teaching modalities: Online lecture wednesday morning
Student mobility: HHU to Toulouse the week 17 November 2025 (10 HHU students + other UNIVERSEH students)
Assessment modalities: Final reports: Critical documentation of the student’s project (3-4 pages).
The course is open to students from these universities: Open to all
How to apply: Send your application by email universeh@univ-tlse2.fr
Lecturers:
- Rolf Kailuweit
- Florent Poupart
Objectives: This course aims to uncover the role these narratives play within societal discourse and examine the psychological motivations behind belief systems such as conspiracy theories relating to Earth and outer space, such as Flat Earth theory or Raelian beliefs.
Course Learning Outcomes:
- Recognize basic facts about how (real or fictitious) exocultures and UFOtherness are dealt with. Retrieve information about established alien conspiracy narratives. Know the main work in psychology on conspiracy theories, in particular concerning Space and Earth.
- Interpret and compare textual and visual messages from different times, summarize and translate documentation from English to French and vice-versa. Understand the differences between ideological conviction and delusional conviction.
- Carry out the acquired knowledge and understand to recognise space-based conspiracy narratives.
- Focus on different techniques of storytelling. Distinguish types of space-based narratives. Deconstruct conspiracy ideologies.
- Monitor the interlinguistic and interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Design posters and storyboards, producing short documentary films, podcasts and or short theatrical performances.
- Acquire and hone a variety of project management skills.
Description:
This course explores the fascinating intersection of cultural studies and social psychology, examining the preoccupation with exocultures and UFOtherness—space-based figures of radical difference (as defined by Lewis & Kahn, 2010). Through a deep dive into narratives that bridge the real and the imagined, students will analyze the cultural and psychological impact of extraterrestrial themes.
Key topics include:
- Analysis of the narrative interplay between factual reporting and fictional storytelling in human-alien encounters.
- Exploration of the boundary between engaging science fiction and controversial conspiracy theories that shape public perceptions of space.
- Comparative study of how various space programs, both public and private, envision interactions with extraterrestrial cultures, referred to as exocultures.
The course aims to uncover the role these narratives play within societal discourse and to examine the psychological motivations behind belief systems such as conspiracy theories related to Earth and outer space, including the Flat Earth theory and Raelian beliefs.
Practical engagement is a core component of the course, with students participating in field research, interviews, and content production across various media formats, including podcasts, films, and theater productions. The program is particularly designed to engage students from Romance, German, and English-speaking backgrounds, fostering a rich, multicultural dialogue on these critical topics.