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jodi dean
by Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) - December 16, 2000

If conspiriology required an event to highlight the cultural shift from maverick early adopters to a wider mainstream audience, then Jodi Dean's recent political writings are a useful case-study.

Dean, a professor at the Department of Politiccal Science, Hobart-William Smith Colleges, ignited a firestorm with her seminal book 'Aliens In America' (New York: Cornell University Press, 1998). Her 'pop marginalia' survey was one of the first to convey the complex maze of hyperlinks and self-referential logic that the Internet has widely propagated. If anyone required confirmation that conspiriology and fringe-watching were now hip marketing tools, Dean's dizzying list of statistics and examples provided ample evidence. The 'paranoid style' of American politics once identified by political scientist Richard Hofstadter had been ruthlessly commodified in the post 'X-Files' environment.

Drawing upon Postmodern, Post-structuralist and Feminist discourse, Dean explicitely drew parallels between UFO abductee and NASA astronaut experiences with technology. UFO narratives filled a void caused by changing space exploration objectives, openly subverting propagandistic films like 'Apollo 13' (1995).

'Aliens In America' received the highest accolades from publications such as the 'Village Voice', but was ruthlessly attacked by Frederick Crews in the 'New York Times Review Of Books'. Crews and others were angry at Dean's postmodern realtivistic 'fictions'; her consensus with abductees that their experience was a genuine political force; that liberating humans from greed and dogma could be achieved through other methods than the humanistic skepticism promoted by organizations like CSICOP. Clique-seeking conspiriologists contended that Dean had added little new to ongoing debates.

Dean had discovered some important but partial truths, relying on egalitarian values, anti-hierarchical worldviews, subjective nonlinear thinking and fuzzy logic. Both disparaging groups attacking Dean argued from absolute positions, often attacking other writers like Budd Hopkins and Whitley Streiber as well. Both missed the very subtle political aspects of Dean's analysis, particularly how the battle for democratic ideals is now fought across the cultural meme pool, and not just within conservative institutions or previous power-structures.

In the post-millennial world, informed conspiriologists are grasping towards an emerging 'Integral Culture' that is holarchical, interdependent, context-bound, multi-dimensional and relying on natural flows.

Not only is Jodi Dean's work poised to make this momentous leap, but the controversies surrounding her writings offer vital signs of the potentially malignant symptoms lurking within us all. Read and learn from her voice at your own risk.

Aliens In America
This site promotes Jodi Dean's seminal book Aliens In America (New York: Cornell University Press, 1998), featuring excerpts; author news; events and more. A stylish site promoting a worthy book.

Jodi Dean: Political Theory
Jodi Dean's homepage details her courses focusing upon feminism, political theory and UFO/Conspiracy-related subcultures. Useful background information for understanding the subtle aspects of Dean's socio-political analysis.

UFOMind: Jodi Dean Unnoficial Link Page
A collection of links to Jodi Dean related web-sites; author photo; brief bigraphical details.

Magic, Metaphor, And Power
This site features the online program for the 'Magic, Metaphor, and Power: The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory' held at Drake University on November 6th and 7th, 1998. Jodi Dean was a participant, and the information here offers a glimpse at the academic milieu.

Aliens Book Published By Cornell University Press Attracts Some Out-Of-This-World Attention
This Cornell University Press file highlights the controversial impact of Jodi Dean's conspiriology work within the academic community.

The Skeptic Annotated Bibliography: Aliens In America
A damning review of Aliens In America from Taner Edis attacks Jodi Dean's postmodern language and accomodation of abductee viewpoints.

Jodi Dean: Resume
This page outlines Jodi Dean's academic resume; puplication history; classes taught; current research; and contact details. Useful for advanced research and personal correspondence.

Book Review: Aliens In America
An intriguing review of Jodi Dean's popular book, highlighting some facets worthy of discussion within the general conspiriology community: "Her persistent emphasis on the instability of reality has a paranoid tinge to it, particularly as she refuses to state whether she believes in abduction or not. Instead she focuses on the subversive potential of abduction narratives, a potential I believe she overstates, describing them as an appropriate response to an age in which truth is tenuous and multiple. Thus she seems to side with abduction researchers in their dismissal of objective and expert opinion; Dean suggests that the scientific community fails to understand that there is no basis for an overarching, consensus reality."

The Symbolism of UFOs And Aliens
Written mainly from a Jungian perspective, John Fraim's essay briefly mentions Jodi Dean's book Aliens In America, but is useful for background context.

Webs Of Conspiracy
A brief Jodi Dean essay on the Internet's conspiracy culture which convesys her postmodern writing style and includes links to several competing sites.

The Lit Parade: Our 25 Favourite Books Of 1998
The Village Voice included Jodi Dea's book 'Aliens In America' in its top twenty-five books of 1998. Here is why: "Jodi Dean's Aliens in America is a lively odyssey through the epistemological briar patch of UFO research, alien-abduction narratives, and their attendant conspiracy theories. A professor of political science with a voracious appetite for pop marginalia, Dean covers all the extraterrestrial bases with the assuredness we've learned to expect from the best works of cultural studies and with a low dosage of the theoryspeak we've learned to fear from the worst."

AUFON News: April 23, 1998
Fearures an interview with Aliens In America artist Jeff Westover about his abductee experiences.

Jodi Dean Abducts Us Aliens
The intro to a classic Mondo 2000 interview with Jodi Dean conducted by R.U. Sirius reveals hidden agendas behind Frederick Crews' attacks on Dean's wink-wink literati style.

Coming Out As An Alien: Feminists, UFOs, And 'The Oprah Effect'
This insightful essay by Jodi Dean explores the links between contemporary feminism, politics and UFO subcultures. Issues explored include critical attitudes to subjective experiences; media exposure and feminist critics; and the complicated relationship between celebrity, power and authority.

Jeff Westover: Alien Art
Devoted to the truly eye-opening art of Jeff Westover, whose work appears in Jodi Dean's 'Aliens In America' book, this is a must-view site!

The Night of Light
Subtitled The Automatic Collagings Of Jeff Westover, this site explores the strange twilight realm where bewildered minds are forced itno cathartic confrontations with their dimly perceived Alien Essence. Incendiary viewing!

UFOlogy: Ivory Tower
This Salon magazine article explores the stealth infiltration of UFOlogy by Academia. A very useful background article exploring the inflection point where psychologists/sociologists and conspiriologists collide.

Are Aliens Abducting Your Education?
Yale University's Michael Frazer attacks Jodi Dean for her use of Poststrucuralism and Postmodernism in 'Aliens In America', arguing against the extreme relativism apparent in these academic disciplines. Frazer further contends that Dean's academic publishers value style over substance.

The Mindsnatchers
From the New York Review of Books archive, this is a legendary scathing review by Frederick Crews of Jodi Dean's 'Aliens In America': "It scarcely matters to Dean, then, that our popular culture, in which she herself shows every sign of being uncritically immersed, devours the "subversive" abduction tales like so many Big Macs; nor does it matter that the state of Nevada is drawing tourists to an official Extraterrestrial Highway commemorating alien contacts; nor that one can now attend an abduction onference held on the grounds of MIT and then read a sympathetic account of it in the upscale and none too revolutionary New Yorker."

Culture Watch: Alien Nation
A review for The Nation which merges Jodi Dean's book 'Aliens In America' with the film 'X Files: Fight The Future' (1998) and other UFO-related material. Interesting for cross-analysis purposes.

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