Alien Imaginations : Science Fiction and Tales of Transnationalism

As both an extra-terrestrial and a terrestrial migrant, the alien provides a critical framework to help us understand the interactions between cultures and to explore the transgressive force of travel over geographical, cultural or linguistic borders. Offering a perspective on the alien that connects to scholarship on immigration and globalization, __Alien Imaginations__ brings together canonical and contemporary works in the literature and cinema of science fiction and transnationalism. By examining the role of the alien through the themes of language, anxiety and identity, the essays in this collection engage with authors such as H.G. Wells, Eleanor Arnason, Philip K. Dick and Yoko Tawada as well as directors such as Neill Blomkamp, James Cameron and Michael Winterbottom. Focusing on works that are European and North American in origin, the readings in this volume explore their critical intent and their potential to undermine many of the central notions of Western hegemonic discourses. __Alien Imaginations__ reflects upon contemporary cultural imaginaries as well as the realities of migration, labor and life, suggesting models of resistance, if not utopian horizons. The Figure Of The Alien Is At The Heart Of Science Fiction And Has Helped Us To Understand And Explore Interactions With Other Cultures And The Possibilities Of Life Beyond Both The Modern Configuration Of The Nation-state And The Natural Order Of Life On Earth. Alien Imaginations Brings Together Canonical And Contemporary Works In The Cinema And Literature Of Science Fiction, Transnationalism, And Globalization In Order To Examine The Role Of The Alien As Well As The Realities Of Migration, Labor, And Life In The Twenty-first Century. The Essays In This Collection Discuss Films Such As District 9, Avatar, And Code 46, As Well As Novels By H.g. Wells, Philip K. Dick, Or Ray Bradbury. As We Continue Down The Road To A Global Economy And Culture, Alien Imaginations Offers A Critical Reflection Upon Our 'imagined Realities' While Also Turning To Speculative Fiction And Cinema To Provide Us With Examples Of Resistance, If Not A Utopian Horizon-- Preface / Dame Gillian Beer, University Of Cambridge (uk) -- Introduction / Ulrike Küchler, Freie Universitat Berlin (germany), Silja Maehl, Brown University (us) And Graeme Stout, University Of Minnesota (us) -- Alien Art: Encounters With Otherworldly Places And Inter-medial Spaces / Ulrike Küchler -- Space: The Final (queer) Frontier. The Sexual Other In Eleanor Arnason's Ring Of Swords / Emilie Mccabe, University Of Toronto (canada) -- Alienated Labor: William Gibson's Girls / Jen Caruso, Minneapolis College Of Art And Design (us) -- Assimilating Aliens: Imagining National Identity In Oskar Panizza's Operated Jew And Salomo Friedlander's Operated Goy / Joela Jacobs, University Of Chicago (us) -- Canned Foreign. Transnational Estrangement In Yoko Tawada / Silja Maehl -- Migrants And The Dystopian State / Matthew Goodwin, University Of Massachusetts Amherst (us) -- Alienation, Hybridity, And Liminality In Ray Bradbury And Archie Weller / Celia Guimares Helene, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (brazil) -- The Interplanetary Logic Of Late Capitalism: Global Warming, Forced Migration And Cyborg Futures In Philip K. Dick's The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch / Andrew Opitz, Hawaii Pacific University (us) -- Control And Flow: Winterbottom's Migratory Cinema / Graeme Stout -- Human Subjects/alien Objects: Abjection And The Constructions Of Race And Racism In District 9 / Andrew Butler, Canterbury Christ Church University (uk) -- Was Of The Worlds / John Mowitt, Leeds University (uk) -- Meeting The Other: Cyborgs, Aliens & Beyond / Bianca Westermann, Ruhr Universitat, Bochum (germany) -- This Is I, Hamlet The Dane! Hamlet's Migration And Integration In The Dramatic Theater As Cyberspace / Gerrit Roessler, University Of Virginia (us). Edited By Ulrike Küchler, Silja Maehl, And Graeme Stout ; Foreword By Dame Gillian Beer. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents Notes on Contributors Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction Imagining the alien “Alien studies” Border experiences References Part 1: Alien Language 1. “Was of the Worlds” Linguistricks Alienations Married to the Blob Notes References 2. Alien Art: Encounters with Otherworldly Places and Inter-medial Spaces Lost in translation: Alien other and alien art Art as convention Art as communication Art as cognition Postmodern prospects Notes References 3. Assimilating Aliens: Imagining National Identity in Oskar Panizza’s Operated Jew and Salomo Friedlaender’s Operated Goy The Operated Jew The Operated Goy Notes References 4. Canned Foreign: Transnational Estrangement in Yoko Tawada Outsiders inside Wonder and estrangement The strange journey of reading The material and the virtual Conclusion Notes References Filmography Part 2: Alien Anxieties 5. Human Subjects—Alien Objects? Abjection and the Constructions of Race and Racism in District 9 The construction of race Apartheid, South Africa, and District 9 Abjection Conclusion Note References Filmography 6. The Interplanetary Logic of Late Capitalism: Global Warming, Forced Migration, and Cyborg Futures in Philip K. Dick’s The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Pharmatopia Ontological uncertainty, politics, and global warming Elysium Notes References Filmography 7. Migrants and the Dystopian State Dystopia at the Mexico-US border A Chicano/a dystopia Conclusion Notes References 8. Meeting the Other: Cyborgs, Aliens, and Beyond From strangers to the other From cyborgs to transitory hybrids A desire for decidedness? Strange bodies Challenging the postmodern? Notes References Filmography Part 3: Alien Identities 9. Space: The Final (Queer) Frontier—The Sexual Other in Eleanor Arnason’s Ring of Swords Cultural productions and subjectivity Thinking differently about alien encounters Cultural productions and identity in Ring of Swords The discourse of sexuality and science fiction Homonormativity in Ring of Swords Queer: The final frontier Thinking differently, thinking queerly Notes References 10. Alienation, Hybridity, and Liminality in Ray Bradbury and Archie Weller Hybridization—‘the same but different’ Liminality—“lost in a sea of brownness” Conclusion Notes References 11. Case Histories: Alienated Labor in William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition and Zero History The soul at work: Alienation Feeling not foreign, but alien Zero history, atemporality, dead men’s clothes References 12. Control and Flow: Winterbottom’s Migratory Cinema Down The Silk Road Amor fati Xenotopia Notes References Filmography 13. “This is I, Hamlet the Dane!” Hamlet’s Migration and Integration in the Dramatic Theater as Cyberspace Act I: Theater as cyberspace Act II: Hamlet as migrant and cyborg The rest is silence, or is it? Notes References Index As both an extra-terrestrial and a terrestrial migrant, the alien provides a critical framework to help us understand the interactions between cultures and to explore the transgressive force of travel over geographical, cultural or linguistic borders. Offering a perspective on the alien that connects to scholarship on immigration and globalization, this book brings together canonical and contemporary works in the literature and cinema of science fiction and transnationalism. By examining the role of the alien through the themes of language, anxiety and identity, the essays in this collection engage with authors such as H.G. Wells, Eleanor Arnason, Philip K. Dick and Yoko Tawada as well as directors such as Neill Blomkamp, James Cameron, and Michael Winterbottom