2017 04 27 - Journal of Popular Culture - Vol 50 No 2 - Tromly

Magazine Overview

This document is an excerpt from an academic article titled "Race, Citizenship, and the Politics of Alien Abduction; Or, Why Aliens do not Abduct Asian Americans" by Lucas Tromly, published in The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 50, No. 2, 2017. The article critically examines the discourse surrounding alien abduction, arguing that it is an inherently American phenomenon that reinforces national identity and citizenship, often in exclusionary ways.

The American Experience of Alien Abduction

Tromly begins by stating that alien abduction is an "inherently American experience," noting that the vast majority of abductees are American. He questions why national borders would be relevant to aliens, yet observes that abduction narratives remain "topocentric" to the United States. Drawing on Wai Chee Dimock's work on natural disasters, Tromly suggests that alien abduction, like catastrophe, reduces a nation to "simply the spot where catastrophe hits." The article posits that the discourse of alien abduction offers a conservative formulation of American national identity, where the extraterrestrial other establishes a uniformity among abductees that affirms the unity of the American citizenry.

Racial Exclusion in Abduction Narratives

A central argument of the article is that the community delineated by abduction narratives is problematic due to its racially exclusionary dimension. Tromly contends that abduction culture implicitly assumes America is homogeneously white, as evidenced by the "curious absence of the figure of the minority abductee." Asian Americans, whose racial and national identities are not easily conflated into a "fantasy of national sameness," struggle to occupy the role of abductee. The article critiques the idea that alien contact consolidates human collectivity, arguing that in narratives of invasion, the unity produced often serves to magnify existing terrestrial divisions and reinforce American exceptionalism, as seen in the film *Independence Day*.

The Undoing and Reinforcement of National Identity

Tromly explores how abduction experiences are often described as troubling pre-existing political identities, yet paradoxically, they can also "shore up a restrictive American identity." This occurs not through the event itself, but through the selection of who is chosen for abduction. The article challenges the conviction that there is no demographic pattern to abduction, citing researchers like Budd Hopkins and John E. Mack who claim abductees represent a "cross section of American society." Mack, in particular, argues that the egalitarian nature of abduction constructs a community of equals. However, Tromly argues that Mack's demonstration of diversity is underwritten by an assumption of sameness, excluding differences like race.

Race as a Challenge to Inclusivity

The article emphasizes that race presents the most significant challenge to the assumed inclusivity of alien abduction. It asserts that alien abduction is "racially exclusive," with the vast majority of claimants being white. The whiteness of abductees is presented as axiomatic, and even critics who analyze abduction culture tend to obscure this racial imbalance. The repeated claims of abduction narratives to represent a "large and racially diverse nation" are seen as a way of excluding race as a meaningful category. This exclusion leads to a scarcity of minority experiences of alien abduction in the discourse.

The Captivity Narrative Framework

Tromly then turns to the generic roots of the abduction narrative, suggesting that abductees unconsciously revert to the American genre of the captivity narrative. The language used in abduction narratives often echoes that of "Indian" captivity narratives. Analyzing abduction through the lens of captivity narratives helps to understand how race is handled. Christopher Castiglia's work on classic captivity narratives, where white women are captured by racial others, is discussed. Castiglia argues that in these narratives, "capture implies freedom as its constitutive opposite," and being free is equated with being American. This framework, Tromly suggests, inherently excludes minority Americans who cannot automatically acquiesce to the values of white, Anglo-American males.

The Hull Case and Racial Alienation

The article examines Peter Ho Davies' short story "The Hull Case," which revisits the abduction of Barney and Betty Hill. Davies's story foregrounds the role of race, resisting the occlusion of this aspect found in other accounts, including Mack's. The narrative highlights the racial tensions within the interracial marriage of Henry and Helen Hull and how their differing experiences of racism in America influence their accounts of abduction. Henry's experience of abduction is framed by his alienation as a black American, blurring alien abduction with racial profiling by police. His inability to fully enter the national narrative of abduction, unlike Helen, strains their marriage and highlights how race determines the interpolation of personal experience into the national context.

Conclusion and Recurring Themes

The article concludes that while abduction narratives may trouble pre-existing political identities, they ultimately serve to reinforce a restrictive American identity, particularly through the lens of race and citizenship. The discourse of abduction, by assuming a homogenous and egalitarian abductee population, subtly excludes the particularities of race and embodiment, thereby reinforcing abstract notions of citizenship at the expense of lived experience. The recurring themes include the construction of American national identity, the exclusionary nature of race in cultural narratives, the concept of abstract citizenship, and the influence of historical genres like the captivity narrative on contemporary UFO discourse.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The article consistently critiques the dominant narratives of alien abduction for their implicit racial biases and their role in reinforcing a particular, often exclusionary, vision of American identity and citizenship. It argues that the discourse, while appearing to embrace diversity, actually relies on assumptions of sameness and overlooks the significance of race and other particularities. The editorial stance is critical and analytical, aiming to deconstruct the political implications embedded within popular culture phenomena like alien abduction.

This document consists of pages 286-292 from a publication titled "Race, Citizenship, and the Politics," authored by Lucas Tromly. The content delves into the intersection of alien abduction narratives with issues of race, citizenship, and national identity in American culture, with a particular focus on the absence and representation of Asian Americans within this genre.

The Politics of Abduction and Race

The text begins by analyzing the experiences of characters like Henry, whose abduction narrative is saturated with America's racial history, drawing parallels to the American slave narrative rather than the 'Indian' captivity narrative. Adam Roberts's perspective is cited, suggesting that abduction narratives retell the story of the African slave trade in a contemporary science fiction context, forcing white abductees to endure experiences mirroring those of Black slaves.

Asian American Absence in Abduction Narratives

A central argument is the conspicuous absence of Asian Americans from contemporary abduction narratives. This absence is contextualized by Lowe's argument about the historical exclusion of Asians from the terrain of national culture. The text posits that for Asian Americans, being excluded from the threat of alien abduction is not a blessing but an indication of their marginalization from a community that is implicitly defined as 'human enough' to warrant abduction.

The significance of this absence is shaped by how abduction is understood. If taken as true accounts, it raises questions about alien preferences for certain ethnicities. If viewed as imagined stories of anxiety or trauma, it suggests these narratives may not be useful for expressing Asian American concerns. However, the text argues that a more compelling reason for their exclusion is that Asian Americans, and the associations they bear in popular discourse, disrupt the logic of the abduction narrative.

Disrupting the Abduction Narrative

Two primary reasons are presented for why an Asian American presence is untenable in abduction discourse:

1. Attributed Characteristics: The radical difference in appearance, culture, and language ascribed to Asian Americans places the figure of an Asian American abductee in an intermediate position between alien captor and human captive. This blurs the species difference crucial to the abduction narrative. Neil Badmington's work is referenced, noting that in narratives where humans and aliens breed, the human subject must be a 'fine specimen of the purely human' to be reassured of their distinctness.
2. Suspicions about Identity: Asian Americans, due to projected differences, have not always met the prerequisite of 'pure humanity.' Their 'Asianness' is sometimes used to mark the otherness of extraterrestrial aliens, drawing comparisons to features like slanted eyes. More productively, the text examines similarities between alien characteristics and long-standing Asian American stereotypes, such as the 'Yellow Peril' (overwhelming America with determination) and the 'model minority' (technologically adept, emotionless, and 'inhumanly productive'). These stereotypes make Asian Americans seem uncannily similar to aliens, rendering them inadmissible to the abduction narrative.

Location and Belonging

The logic of abduction also requires unequivocal location; one must be taken 'from somewhere.' This is compromised if the abductee was not at home in their original location. Historically, Asian Americans have been denied requisite embeddedness in the nation, often considered 'permanent foreigners' incapable of becoming 'real' Americans. This perception of being a diasporic population, characterized by mobility rather than belonging, informs their portrayal in science fiction, where they might appear during interplanetary travel but are absent from abduction narratives.

Cultural Reception and Representation

Despite abduction narratives being considered marginal, their purchase on US culture signals an agreeability to mainstream American thought. The text examines the ideological work these narratives perform by tracking minority presence. The film *Independence Day* is mentioned, where an army major mocks a veteran's claims of abduction, even as they defend against alien invaders. This highlights the marginalization of abduction narratives.

Steven Spielberg's *Close Encounters of the Third Kind* (1977) is analyzed for its representation of diversity. In the film's final scene, a large alien ship lands, and a group of abductees are freed. Among them is an apron-clad man who appears to be Asian. However, this instance of racial diversity is minimized; the audience's attention is directed toward white air force pilots. The Asian-American man's appearance is brief, and his status as an unimportant part of a collective neutralizes his difference. The film ultimately consecrates the white protagonist, Roy Neary, as the representative American, while the unnamed Asian American abductee vanishes from the screen, unable to serve a representative function.

Notes and Works Cited

The document includes extensive notes and a works cited section, referencing numerous scholars and works on alien abduction, race, citizenship, science fiction, and Asian American studies. Key figures cited include John E. Mack, Bridget Brown, Luise White, Jodi Dean, Neil Badmington, Arif Dirlik, Sohn, Adam Roberts, Whitley Strieber, and others. Films and texts discussed include *Independence Day*, *Close Encounters of the Third Kind*, and various academic works.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes are the intersection of alien abduction narratives with race, citizenship, and national identity in the United States. The text argues that abduction narratives, while seemingly about extraterrestrial encounters, function as a lens through which to examine anxieties and assumptions about American identity, belonging, and racial hierarchies. The editorial stance is critical, highlighting how the genre implicitly reinforces dominant racial paradigms and excludes or marginalizes minority experiences, particularly those of Asian Americans, by analyzing their representation (or lack thereof) within these narratives.