Spock's Jewish Hybridity

Abstract

abstract: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.