ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the relationships between fundamental concepts such as “nature”, “existence”, and “selfhood”, and the cosmologies that they shape. It centres on a script about an imagined extraterrestrial encounter co-authored by a Thai ufological Buddhist and a Dutch curator during a collaborative filmmaking workshop in Thailand. Despite jointly writing a cohesive narrative, the script’s interpretation varies depending on one’s underlying ontological framework. By working with Thai-Buddhist-derived concepts in the script, the chapter presents one among many ways of composing and relating to the cosmos. Framed by an astronomer’s research into the Milky Way, the chapter draws parallels to the challenges faced by astronomers and anthropologists when making sense of unfamiliar worlds, such as how to unsettle taken-for-granted logics and common assumptions. Inspired by Thai-Buddhist metaphysics, it suggests that reconfiguring various elements like concepts, field sites, and ontologies offers a strategic anthropological approach to researching, analysing, and writing.
