A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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understand<strong>in</strong>g is roughly that what we conceive <strong>of</strong> as <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividual subject is largely <strong>the</strong><br />
accretion <strong>of</strong> social convention—a carapace <strong>of</strong> attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and practices that<br />
orig<strong>in</strong>ate “outside” <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividual but are reproduced and lived by <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividual <strong>in</strong> such a way<br />
that <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividual imag<strong>in</strong>es <strong>the</strong> traits, behaviors etc. that follow from this <strong>in</strong>ternalization as<br />
somehow orig<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g from <strong>the</strong> self. In o<strong>the</strong>r words, what I th<strong>in</strong>k <strong>of</strong> as <strong>the</strong> “I” is <strong>in</strong> fact an<br />
assemblage <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>tersect<strong>in</strong>g external forces. All this talk <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>side and outside is merely a<br />
convenient metaphor <strong>in</strong> so far as <strong>the</strong> dist<strong>in</strong>ction collapses under <strong>the</strong> poststructuralist critique.<br />
This basic conception is operative <strong>in</strong> such <strong>the</strong>oretical constructs as Foucault’s understand<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> capillary nature <strong>of</strong> power and especially <strong>in</strong> his study <strong>of</strong> penality, as well as <strong>in</strong> Deleuze and<br />
Guattari’s body without organs. 292<br />
Both <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se constructs function to radically br<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to<br />
question <strong>the</strong> notions <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>teriority so central to understand<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> stable subject. The basic<br />
argument is that <strong>the</strong> subject as such is an enabl<strong>in</strong>g fiction—a fiction that underwrites status quo<br />
property relations, modes <strong>of</strong> production and distributions <strong>of</strong> power. In short, <strong>the</strong> poststructuralist<br />
critique isolates <strong>the</strong> subject as a l<strong>in</strong>chp<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> system <strong>of</strong> late capitalism. It should be no surprise<br />
<strong>the</strong>n, that those who espouse such a critique would welcome <strong>the</strong> demise <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> “Human.” The<br />
goal <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> poststructuralist critique is, <strong>in</strong> many ways, <strong>the</strong> dissolution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> subject (a goal,<br />
which like <strong>the</strong> general philosophical critique <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> subject, has precedents that run back to at<br />
least <strong>the</strong> mid-n<strong>in</strong>eteenth century—<strong>in</strong> this case, to <strong>the</strong> efforts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> English Romantics and <strong>the</strong><br />
French Symbolists). The gray exemplifies a certa<strong>in</strong> shift <strong>in</strong> understand<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> subjectivity that<br />
emerged over <strong>the</strong> latter half <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> twentieth century.<br />
292 Michel Foucault, Discipl<strong>in</strong>e and Punish: <strong>the</strong> Birth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Prison (New York: V<strong>in</strong>tage, 1995); Gilles Deleuze and<br />
Felix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (M<strong>in</strong>neapolis: University <strong>of</strong> M<strong>in</strong>nesota Press, 1983);<br />
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (M<strong>in</strong>neapolis: University <strong>of</strong><br />
M<strong>in</strong>nesota Press, 1987).<br />
203