Cian is delighted to welcome Dr Edward Guimont to the cabin for a wide-ranging chat about monster hunters and strange beliefs in the context of post-colonial Africa and the American frontier. Dr Guimont teaches at the University of Connecticut and has written about archaeology in Zimbabwe, cryptozoology, myths of living mammoths, and is now working on the Flat Earth idea within the colonial period. Amongst other things, we cover:


-History of Great Zimbabwe and the myth of Ophir


-Nessie and Scottish Nationalism


-The Sirius Mystery


-Arthur C Clarke and Carl Sagan


-Qanon, Bill Cooper as UFO conspiracy


-The origins of the ‘dinosaurs in Africa’ myth


-The Scramble For Africa and Neo-Colonialism and Cryptozoology


-Young Earth Creationists and Ctyptozoology


-The Myth of the Living Mammoth In North America


-The Closing of the Frontier and American Monsters


-EcoGothic Extinction Fiction


-Links to Conspiracy Culture


NOTES:


Dr Edward Guimont’s Twitter


https://twitter.com/edward_guimont


Hunting Dinosaurs in Central Africa, Dr Edward Guimont


https://contingentmag.org/2019/03/18/hunting-dinosaurs-africa/


Dr Edward Guimont’s Website


https://edwardguimont.com/


The Sirius Mystery, Robert Temple


https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Sirius-Mystery/Robert-Temple/9780892817504


Africa Is A Country


https://africasacountry.com/


A Living Dinosaur?, Roy Mackal


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Dinosaur-Search-Mokele-Mbembe/dp/9004085432


Thomas Jefferson Monster Hunter, Justin Mullis on the Monster Talk Podcast


https://monstertalk.skeptic.com/webpage/thomas-jefferson-monster-hunter


EcoGothic Extinction Fiction, Jennifer Schell


https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315464930/chapters/10.4324%2F9781315464930-12


Floating Coast, Bathsheba Demuth


https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393635164

Twitter Mentions