O DISCO VOADOR DO MORENÃO: UFOLOGIA, IDENTIDADE E CULTURA EM MATO GROSSO DO SUL

Abstract

In 1982, during a football match between Operário-MS and Vasco da Gama-RJ for the "Taça Ouro," an unidentified flying object (UFO) flew over the skies of Campo Grande and was witnessed by thousands of spectators at the Pedro Pedrossian stadium, known as Morenão. This event is regarded by Brazilian ufologists as one of the world's largest collective sightings of flying saucers. Therefore, this dissertation explores the intersection of ufology, cultural representation, and identity in Campo Grande, the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul. The study aims to understand the "Caso Morenão" and its implications for the city of Campo Grande. It examines the appearance of the Flying Saucer at the Morenão stadium in the context of accepted UFO sighting characteristics within the ufology community, and discusses the relationship between the sighting and collective memory. During fieldwork, dialogues were conducted with nine individuals, including two ufologists from Alto Paraíso de Goiás, contributing to the understanding of national ufology structure, and seven residents of Campo Grande who witnessed the event both inside and outside the stadium. It was found that the Morenão event possesses attributes that categorize it within ufology as a collective sighting of a flying saucer, and that the incident continues to influence the imagination of Campo Grande residents to this day. Keywords: Flying Saucer. Morenão. Ufology. Identity. Collective Memory. Popular Culture.