Full Description
Bigfoot exists. Not necessarily as a biological creature, but certainly as an object around which thousands of Americans organise their lives, analysing evidence, and making knowledge. This book examines the Bigfooting community sociologically. Using concepts from Science and Technology Studies (STS) as well as cultural sociology, Lewis and Bartlett shed new light on what it is to do 'science', what it is to behave 'scientifically', and where the borders of legitimate scientific practice lie.
Through detailed interviews with Bigfooters themselves, this book explores the ways in which the Bigfooting community makes sense of traces and absences to make knowledge claims that are acceptable to those within that community. It also shows how Bigfooters, in the face of scepticism, attempt to render Bigfoot a proper object of scientific inquiry outside of their own circle.
This fascinating, accessible, and entertaining reading will appeal to scholars and students of science and technology studies, cultural sociology, and the sociology of mystery, as well as to those interested in the public trust in and understanding of science.
Contents
Prologue: Credible Sightings: The Garden Rat and the Woodland Ape; Introduction: A Science and Technologies Studies Perspective on Bigfooting; 1. Becoming Sensitised to Bigfoot; 2. Following in the Footsteps; 3. The Camera Never Lies; 4. Encounters as Evidence; 5. Impressions of Bigfoot; 6. Standards and Significance: The Sounds of Bigfoot; 7. Bringing Back the Body (Parts); 8. Big Feet and Tall Tales; Conclusion: The State and Status of the Field; Epilogue: A Note on Truth and Post-Truth.
