To Seek Out New Worlds

To Seek Out New Worlds

To Seek Out New Worlds Science Fiction and World Politics Edited by Jutta Weldes

ISBN 978-1-4039-6058-0 ISBN 978-1-4039-8208-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781403982087 TO SEEK OUT NEW WORLDS Copyright Jutta Weldes, 2003. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2003 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS. Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN IS THE GLOBAL ACADEMIC IMPRINT OF THE PALGRAVE MACMILLAN division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. 978-0-312-29557-8 (hardback) 978-1-4039-6058-8 (paper) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available from the Library of Congress A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. First Palgrave Macmillan edition: May 2003 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Diana and Jennifer with love.

CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix 1 Popular Culture, Science Fiction, and World Politics: Exploring Intertextual Relations 1 Jutta Weldes PART I WORLD POLITICS IN OUTER SPACE 2 To know him was to love him. Not to know him was to love him from afar : Diplomacy in Star Trek 31 Iver B. Neumann 3 Bumpy Space: Imperialism and Resistance in Star Trek: The Next Generation 53 Naeem Inayatullah PART II ALIENS AMONG US 4 Aliens, Alien Nations, and Alienation in American Political Economy and Popular Culture 79 Ronnie D. Lipschutz 5 Demon Diasporas: Confronting the Other and the Other-Worldly in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel 99 Patricia Molloy 6 Forbidden Places, Tempting Spaces, and the Politics of Desire: On Stalker and Beyond 123 Aida A. Hozic

PART III FUTURE WORLDS, ALTERNATIVE IMAGININGS 7 Representation is Futile? American Anti-Collectivism and the Borg 143 Patrick Thaddeus Jackson and Daniel H. Nexon 8 The Problem of the World and Beyond : Encountering the Other in Science Fiction 169 Geoffrey Whitehall 9 Feminist Futures: Science Fiction, Utopia, and the Art of Possibilities in World Politics 195 Neta C. Crawford Contributors 221 Index 223

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This volume has been a labor of love. I must, first and foremost, thank the contributors, who have made this project supremely enjoyable. Naeem and Aida initially had the idea for a book on science fiction (SF) and world politics, and everyone has done their bit with enthusiasm. The contributors combined knowledge of world politics and SF has made this enterprise serious fun. Several other individuals deserve mention. Special thanks are due to Cindy Weber for her excellent comments at the 2001 International Studies Association (ISA) meeting in Chicago on initial incarnations of several of the chapters and on the project as a whole. They influenced the very structure of the volume. Thanks as well to Louiza Odysseos for her comments on several additional chapters at the 2002 ISA in New Orleans. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Richard Little for encouraging me to pursue a project on popular culture: few international relations scholars are as open-minded as he. A semester s study leave from the Department of Politics at the University of Bristol an unusually supportive and intellectually vibrant environment allowed me to finish this project while starting several others. Special thanks go to Iver Neumann for quick and insightful assistance when I most needed it. I am grateful to Toby Wahl for his support of this project and to all those at Palgrave who so efficiently shepherded this manuscript through the production process. Finally, Mark Laffey provided constant encouragement and read lots and lots of drafts of the introduction (and told me to add the italics). Sadie and Finian took advantage of my interest in SF to stay up late watching Star Trek, and occasionally Buffy.