Scientists Need to Take Back the Word ‘Alien’ Before We Find Extraterrestrials
Immigration law professors often grapple with the use of the term “alien,” which is nothing less than the DNA of the INA (Immigration and Nationality Act). The term is often questioned and criticized.
Neel Patel on Inverse writes about the problems with the term “alien” in scientific circles:
“When we talk about aliens these days, we’re almost always talking about one of two groups: extraterrestrials or immigrants. It’s confusing and racist and it needs to stop. The word should exclusively refer to E.T. and not just for reasons of common decency. Scientists need it.
The word “alien” has a strange history. Derived from the Latin word aliēnus, meaning “belonging to someone else,” the term arose sometime in the mid-14th century and was initially used to describe something as strange or of foreign origin. When dark age monks described something as alien, they meant it seemed unnatural within the context of the society and ecosystem.”
Patel goes on:
“[T]he concept of the alien has subtle social consequences,” University of California at Davis School of Law Dean Kevin Johnson wrote in a 1997 paper that ran in The University of Miami Inter-American Law Review. “[I]t helps to reinforce and strengthen nativist sentiment toward members of new immigrant groups, which in turn influences U.S. responses to immigration and human rights issues.”
Thankfully, people are starting to excise “alien” from the immigration lexicon in favor of words that are less disparaging. The most notable example is the set of revisions made to California’s labor code.
KJ