Papers by Eliza Gellis
Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, 2021
In many ways, Spock is Star Trek's "original Other," defining the role of aliens, androids, and o... more In many ways, Spock is Star Trek's "original Other," defining the role of aliens, androids, and other Others, whose differences—and similarities—allow the show to explore ethical questions and the human experience. But Spock as developed and portrayed by Nimoy—the audience's first and often defining portrayal—offers a uniquely Jewish interpretation of Spock's alienness, Otherness, and hybridity. This article connects previous work on Star Trek and hybridity with Jewish studies, arguing for Spock's Jewish hybridity and demonstrating how Spock's liminal identity reflects Nimoy's interpretation of a Jewish experience. Jewish identity has long destabilized binaries and resisted easy categorization; as such, Nimoy's Jewish Spock refigures the hybrid as more than the sum of its parts, allowing for new perspectives on hybridity, identity, and Otherness. Nimoy's portrayal of Spock is not only a positive self-representation of Jewish identity, it forces us to reconsider the dichotomies that undergird our theorization of hybridity in science fiction and beyond.
The Routledge Handbook of Comparative World Rhetorics, 2020
This chapter analyzes the sociocultural background and rhetorical strategies of the Book of Esthe... more This chapter analyzes the sociocultural background and rhetorical strategies of the Book of Esther in the Tanakh, or the Hebrew Bible. The only book of the Tanakh without any reference to God, the text tells the story of Esther, a young Jewish woman who becomes Queen of Persia and saves the Jewish people from a genocidal plot. By placing Esther as a cultural artifact within the larger context of Jewish history, I argue that the text’s inclusion in the canon speaks to the lived experiences of a conquered and exiled people. As the centerpiece of the Purim holiday, the Book of Esther has played (and continues to play) an important role in shaping discourse around Jewish peoplehood as defined by Diasporic community. Rather than focusing on a metaphorical return to Jerusalem through spirituality or religious observance, Esther addresses the practical realities of survival in the Diaspora. As both a woman and a Jew, the eponymous Queen Esther’s access to power is limited and indirect; as a rhetor, she develops strategies of delaying and trust-building, thus anticipating the Renaissance rhetoric of the courtier by almost two millennia. Ultimately, the Book of Esther seeks to address the question of how Jewish people in the Diaspora can be successful members of larger society while maintaining their unique identity.
Thesis Chapters by Eliza Gellis
In this thesis, I explore the ways in which the Star Trek franchise posits hybridity. Examining ... more In this thesis, I explore the ways in which the Star Trek franchise posits hybridity. Examining three hybrid characters—Spock and B’Elanna, both half-human, half-alien, and Data, an android—I explore how each character relates to their hybrid identity and envisions their own hybridity. Rejecting previous models for hybridity that use an additive, percentage-based logic, I use these characters to create a new framework for hybridity. Beginning with the figure of the Jew as an example of alternative Otherness, I posit hybridity as an emergent entanglement, a unifying force that reconciles and reinforces the disparate parts of the self—while retaining an Otherness all its own. Ultimately, I envision this hybridity as a useful framework not only within Star Trek and science fiction, but as a larger framework to carry throughout theoretical explorations of identity and selfhood.
Conference Presentations by Eliza Gellis
Feminisms and Rhetorics 2017, 2017
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Papers by Eliza Gellis
Thesis Chapters by Eliza Gellis
Conference Presentations by Eliza Gellis