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Axial algebras are a class of commutative non-associative algebras which have a natural group of automorphisms, called the Miyamoto group. The motivating example is the Griess algebra which has the Monster sporadic simple group as its Miyamoto group. Previously, using an expansion algorithm, about 200 examples of axial algebras in the same class as the Griess algebra have been constructed in dimensions up to about 300. In this list, we see many reoccurring dimensions which suggests that there may be some unexpected isomorphisms. Such isomorphisms can be found when the full automorphism groups of the algebras are known. Hence, in this paper, we develop methods for computing the full automorphism groups of axial algebras and apply them to a number of examples of dimensions up to 151. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can we think of the legendary Wandering Jew as a monster? The figure does not easily fit the common definition of a monster and yet, the Wandering Jew is extraordinary. In the medieval and early modern sources of the legend, the Wandering Jew, who once sinned against Christ and is therefore doomed to be an immortal eyewitness to the Passion, serves as a model for the faithful. In his 1796 gothic novel, The Monk, Matthew Lewis creates a new strand of the Wandering Jew tradition, a gothic Wandering Jew, a being transformed from wonder to horror through association with centuries of antisemitic accusations against Jews as agents of conspiracy, ritual murder, nefarious magic, and disease. This essay argues that a variation on the representation of the gothic Wandering Jew, which began with Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, further adapts the legend to make the Wanderer not a sign of redemption, but the monstrous cause of catastrophe not only for himself, but for those he encounters. This article, the first scholarly examination of John Blackburn's 1972 Wandering Jew novel, Devil Daddy, situates it within the strand of the legend that represents the Wandering Jew as a monstrous source of destruction. Blackburn's novel, written during a time of global concern over the development of biological weapons of mass destruction, portrays the Wandering Jew's curse as a source of manmade global environmental catastrophe. In this way, the sin of the monstrous Wandering Jew becomes one not against Christ, but against humankind. Even as Devil Daddy explicitly references the horrors of the Holocaust, this representation of a monstrous Wandering Jew haunts the text, undermining its sympathetic representation of Jewish suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary normative climate regarding sexual violence affects how perpetrators of such violence relate to their harmful acts. In this article, we analyze how men convicted of sex offences are affected by how perpetrators of such offences are often represented as monsters and ask what this tells us about what characterizes the Monster as a figure. While people convicted of sexual offences are likened to monsters in many contexts, there is little research that unpacks the characteristics of this figure and how it is contingent on ideas about and the regulation of sex offending. By analyzing data from qualitative interviews with 17 men convicted of sexual offences in Norway, we found that, although they presented themselves and the acts they were convicted of committing differently, they had a common fear of being identified as a monster. In these narratives, a monster was characterized by (1) intentionality—having intentionally harmed others, (2) preference—having a sexual preference for harmful, nonconsensual sex, and (3) authenticity—being authentically violent. We conceive of the narrative processes that the participants engage in as forms of social abjection and discuss the consequences that abjection may have for accountability, rehabilitation, and justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contextualises the history of kaijū scholarship and looks particularly at the swell of publishing that has emerged in the last decade. It argues that the release of a series of new Godzilla films has led to a greater focus on the kaijū film, but that there is recurrence of critical themes that have persisted throughout scholarship on giant monster movies since the 1960s. This provides a literature review to understand how kaijū media has been critiqued, defined and challenged in response to the near three-quarter century history of kaijū cinema to consider if studies of the kaijū media provide the impetus to look at the kaijū as deserving of its own field of study. If zombie studies and vampire studies can occupy their own emerging fields of study, why not the kaijū? If the figure of the kaijū asks the biggest questions of our cultures, then do the giant monsters not deserve their own field? But, if this is an emerging field of study, the article poses, it needs to be more than kaijū film studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I will focus on an aspect that can be inferred from reading Moby Dick: the voyage of the Pequod as an attempt to exceed the human limit with the intention to punish the culprit of his expulsion from Eden, at the same time, Moby Dick is the monster at the gates of the limit, and whose purpose is to prevent this transgression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper explores the creature's nature in Frankenstein as transitioning from a superhuman to a killing monster. Through an exploration of human nature in the novel, the study analyzes how society plays a crucial role in forming one's personality and how an individual changes owing to others' attitudes. The research is qualitative and offers a new way to analyze the unexplored reason behind the monster's cruel nature. The research follows John Locke's concept of Tabula Rasa as a methodological framework. The research concludes that the monster is superhuman but revengeful because of his master and the physical appearance of the creature misleads the characters and makes them treat him harshly which transitions him into a killing monster. The novel can further be explored from the perspective of eco-gothic to examine how disturbing natural order turns into horror and anxiety. It will challenge anthropocentric views and inspire ecological responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1978, the American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult released the song "Godzilla" as the first single from the fifth studio album Spectres. Despite not registering on popular charts, it would eventually evolve into an iconic song of its era. "Godzilla" continues to receive airplay on classic rock stations, and it remains a staple of the band's touring performances. In 2019, a cover of the song, more than forty years after its release, made its film debut in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Though the song is primarily a tribute to the Japanese monster from which it gets its name, "Godzilla" also reflects the nuclear fear and paranoia of the 1970s Cold War era. "Godzilla's" cultural impact, the song's lyrics, the Cold War context in which it was written, and its connection to the kaiju films featuring the famous monster are examined. While this is the most popular and well-known song dedicated to Godzilla, it is not the only one. Other compositions have, but they have failed to achieve the iconic status that Blue Öyster Cult's version has attained. This song has evolved into an unofficial anthem for the great monster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a decade of dormancy following the release of Tōhō Studios' Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), Godzilla and other kaijū burst back onto the scene with Legendary Pictures' Godzilla (2014). Several American sequels and a television series set in Legendary's MonsterVerse quickly followed over the next ten years. Meanwhile, Japan's Tōhō used their radioactive creation's global success to reignite their own films with Shin Godzilla (2016), an animated trilogy, and Godzilla Minus One (2023). Short-format media like Chibi Godzilla and Godziban also circulated thanks to streaming services. Similarly, Godzilla's longtime competitor Gamera also emerged from hibernation in an animated series produced by Kadokawa Corporation, Gamera Rebirth (2023). But how do these new installations relate to or depart from their predecessors' predilection to address environmental concerns? This article continues the ecocritical analysis of kaijū eiga, expanding it to the 2010s and 2020s, as a coda to our duograph Japan's Green Monsters (2018). This article picks up where we left off, examining the recent releases from an ecocritical standpoint. This analysis reveals that today's films remain steeped in environmental commentary, but both fragmented and updated for the new concerns of the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I will attempt to show how horror movies function as societies' nightmares. They can be interpreted as depictions of our collective struggle to integrate and inevitably repress national trauma. In most psychotherapeutic traditions dreams are regarded as valuable communications from the unconscious and vital for psychological maturation. Among dreams, nightmares often point to indigestible experiences on an individual level. Similarly I will argue that horror movies grapple with our collective traumas and can be interpreted just like dreams. They are our collective nightmares. The logic of this approach is based on psychodynamic and analytic theory and the shared characteristics (isomorphism) of watching a movie and having a dream. Relevant psychodynamic theory and movie analysis will be used to further this point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography of the Serbian Academy of Sciences & Arts / Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU is the property of Institute of Ethnography, SASA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

I employ the framework of Feminist Disability Studies to critically examine how the intersecting factors of disability, gender, and the politics of recognition weave an interpretation of the narratives of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein creates a creature in his lab and gets frightened when seeing it afterwards because the creature looks different from what is perceived as ‘normal’. He immediately recognizes the creature as a ‘monster’, ‘fiend’ and ‘devil’. After being rejected by his creator, the creature interacts with other characters and gets similar reactions from them because society conforms to a certain set of ableist norms about physical appearance. Frankenstein’s misrecognition has a damaging effect on the creature’s understanding of itself as he emulates the socially induced behavior of misrecognition and behaves monstrously. I argue that though the creature is artificially created by Frankenstein, the disabled monster is the byproduct of sociocultural stigma and oppression. Drawing from Feminist Disability Studies, I demonstrate how societal norms and expectations shape the experiences of disabled individuals, particularly in relation to gendered expectations. By doing a thorough textual analysis of the novel, I also argue that Shelley’s narrative serves as a powerful commentary on the marginalization of those perceived as different.

This article explores “monstrosity” as both referring to diverse subjectivities transgressing socio-cultural normativities (from queer diversity to counter-ageist, -ableist and colonialist-Western paradigms) and a methodological tool that invites emotionality, and navigating positionalities throughout research encounters. We propose a monstrous dialogue as a tool for engaging with the monstrous qualities of the research process, and propose values and orientations for practicing monstrous reflexivity and positionality to (re)configure research processes. Drawing from queer and transfeminist authors, this paper is a contribution to the conversation on monstrosity as the archetype of otherness and “other” ways of conducting research while/through narrating the self.

This article explores the work of trans* activist and photographer Mar C. Llop “Identity Constructions, Work in progress” (2017) from the perspective of contemporary Catalan critical trans studies, specifically, using trans* activist and researcher Miquel Missé’s criticism of the biomedical paradigm within contemporary trans body ethics (Missé, 2018). Drawing from historical conceptualizations of trans* identities in Barcelona and conducting a documental analysis to set a dialogue between Llop’s photographies and Missé’s arguments, this article aims at widening our current epistemological framework on trans* and other gender-dissident identities through organic materiality, practice, and experience, ultimately giving voice while producing multiple embodied queer epistemologies (Santos, 2023).

The current paper is a review of the monograph by Czech computer games researcher Jaroslav Švelch “Player vs. Monster. The Making and Breaking of Videogame Monstrosity” (2023). Švelch's work is dedicated to the figure of the monster in the gaming industry. The first chapter examines different theoretical approaches to the monstrosity. The second chapter touches on the classic gaming concept: “Player vs. Environment”. The third chapter analyzes “monster realism” as a special form of visuality. The fourth chapter of the monograph is devoted to new trends in game designers’ attitudes towards the monstrous: the manifestation of sympathy for monsters, the formlessness and incorporeality of monsters.

The article offers a theoretical exploration of one of the infinite potentialities of the monstrous body, a body that appears as deviant, non-conforming, as it escapes the pre-established boundaries of what is deemed as acceptable; it exceeds and in this exceeding it imposes its diversity while imposing a re-vision. These potentialities have been recognised by feminist, posthuman, and in particular trans* and transfeminist literature and theory, and it is the latter that will be here tackled. The trans* body is one of those bodies that are still demonised as monstrous, and it is precisely on account of that perversity to which it is associated, that, in some instances, it has chosen to identify and align with the monster. Embracing monstrosity becomes not only a symbolic but a political act of disidentification that implies embracing otherness with strength and pride: rejecting the impositions of a normative body, acknowledging one’s own multiplicity and opening up to multiplicities; becoming a figure of ‘potent fusions,’ as well as of ‘potent alliances.’

The following article examines the process of gender/genre blurring through literary fiction. More specifically, it is concerned with textual poetics and bodily politics arising from the representation of queer and other-than-normative bodies. While these subjects have been historically controlled by normative discourses, mostly compared to monsters causing moral panic, the present narratives attempt to contest this ideological reality by what we could call "literary practice of boundary blurring". This results in a distinct aesthetics where hybrid bodies and their discursive networks appear in various unexpected poetical ways and binary classifications become both troubled and troubling. Therefore, hybrid bodies and their discursive networks emerge in various unexpected poetical ways. In my analysis, critical attention is given to comparative dialogues between Monique Wittig & Léa Rivière and Virginia Woolf & Paul B. Preciado. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article develops an examination of the main aspects to be considered in the analysis that the philosophies of G. Canguilhem and M. Foucault devote to the problem of madness. The text stipulates the philosophical conditions of approach that both authors elaborate on to think about the problem of norms in the vital and social sphere. The question: what is crazy? then becomes the question of the social and political practices that have been developed concerning madmen and madness, evidencing the relevance that Canguilhem and Foucault give to the problem of norms, either in an ontological and/or historical-political framework of understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Universum is the property of Instituto de Estudios Humanisticos Juan Ignacio Molina, Universidad de Talca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Dystocia, a challenging condition in obstetrics, can arise from various causes, including fetal monsters with structural abnormalities. This case report presents a unique case of dystocia due to a fetal monster known as Perosomus Elumbis in a beetal breed goat from Pakistan. The 4-years-old pregnant doe presented with prolonged straining and failure to deliver the fetus after 8 hours of labor. Upon examination, the cervix was dilated, and only the forelimbs of the fetus were visible in the birth canal. The subsequent delivery involved the application of manual traction by using a dystocia kit, and the removal of edematous fluid from the legs. The monster fetus exhibited absence of hair growth, along with the absence of thoracic vertebrae. Two other fetuses were present, with one found dead and the other alive. Post-treatment involved fluid therapy, antibiotics, and supportive care for the doe. This case report sheds light on the occurrence of Perosomus Elumbis fetal monsters and their impact on dystocia in goat breeding. Understanding the underlying causes and implementing appropriate management strategies are crucial for successful outcomes in similar cases.

Can we think of the legendary Wandering Jew as a monster? The figure does not easily fit the common definition of a monster and yet, the Wandering Jew is extraordinary. In the medieval and early modern sources of the legend, the Wandering Jew, who once sinned against Christ and is therefore doomed to be an immortal eyewitness to the Passion, serves as a model for the faithful. In his 1796 gothic novel, The Monk, Matthew Lewis creates a new strand of the Wandering Jew tradition, a gothic Wandering Jew, a being transformed from wonder to horror through association with centuries of antisemitic accusations against Jews as agents of conspiracy, ritual murder, nefarious magic, and disease. This essay argues that a variation on the representation of the gothic Wandering Jew, which began with Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, further adapts the legend to make the Wanderer not a sign of redemption, but the monstrous cause of catastrophe not only for himself, but for those he encounters. This article, the first scholarly examination of John Blackburn’s 1972 Wandering Jew novel, Devil Daddy, situates it within the strand of the legend that represents the Wandering Jew as a monstrous source of destruction. Blackburn’s novel, written during a time of global concern over the development of biological weapons of mass destruction, portrays the Wandering Jew’s curse as a source of manmade global environmental catastrophe. In this way, the sin of the monstrous Wandering Jew becomes one not against Christ, but against humankind. Even as Devil Daddy explicitly references the horrors of the Holocaust, this representation of a monstrous Wandering Jew haunts the text, undermining its sympathetic representation of Jewish suffering.

Despite exploring other queer topics, communication scholars and rhetoricians are lacking in offering academic inquiries involving asexuality. We engaged in a critical thematic analysis of posts and comments posted from asexual and/or aromantic folks on the online communities of Reddit and AVEN, the Asexuality Visibility & Education Network. The analysis focused on three cultural tropes prominently used when describing asexual and aromantic folks, namely robots, aliens, and monsters. Our discussion centers asexual and aromantic voices and invites communication and rhetorical scholars to take steps in combating the allonormativity of our fields by centering the voices and experiences of intersectional aces and/or aros in their own research. We conclude with a call for an asexual and aromantic communication studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The narrative of a young woman who, after experiencing painful losses in her family, embarks on a journey into the unknown, where she undergoes a strange mutation, ultimately transforming into a reptile, is the subject of the novel El animal sobre la Piedra by Daniela Tarazona, originally published in 2008. The protagonist's metamorphosis sparks a discussion about monstrosity and normality, a split that marks our Western culture and is also the object of Michel Foucault's reflections in Abnormal. The "monster" is, for Foucault, the first of the "figures" or "circles" framed within the concept of "abnormality", an idea that gained a more precise configuration in the nineteenth century. In addition to Foucault, the concepts of facialization and living body, developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, and of metamorphosis, discussed by Emanuelle Coccia and Caroline Bynum, are of interest for the proposed reading. For Emanuelle Coccia, metamorphosis is a biological phenomenon that encompasses the antecedents of both the human and the non-human. The human body, in its historical process, was once that of a primate and this, in turn, also lived other previous life forms. Thus, the present study seeks to disarticulate the opposition constructed between humans and animals, perceiving how animality has always been a negative take on the Antropocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lilith has radically changed since she first appeared in ancient Mesopotamia and late antique Babylonia. Medieval Kabbalists situated her as the mother of demons and a murderous succubus, she was a muse to nineteenth century European poets and artists, and radical feminists in the 1970s reclaimed Lilith as the embodiment of female emancipation. This article critically examines four cross-cultural manifestations of Lilith, including Lilith as the "hand of Inanna," Eve's lesbian lover, genetrix and protector of children, and a trans divinity, and expands upon Creed's theory of the "monstrous-feminine" to present a unique type of feminism that has emerged from Lilith's cultural history: monster feminism. This brand of feminism is a praxis that arises from within groups marginalized by patriarchal gender roles that mobilize the monstrous as a way of resisting structural violence. These genealogies also show the way her evolution over time has been a dynamic and iterative process, rendering her a constellation of ideas rather than a single coherent figure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monsters are liminal subjects, whose ambivalent position challenges culturally established distinctions between the normal and abnormal, the ordered and disordered, and the healthy and unhealthy. They blur the lines between self and other, the familiar and the unfamiliar, and the “us” versus “them.” The indeterminacy of these categories embodies itself in what we term „human monsters” — Individuals transformed into monsters after death. These undead figures display the terrifying consequences of their transformation, primarily through their uncanny appearance and identity characteristics. This paper serves as an introduction to various perspectives on monstrous Others and the medicalization of the undead (mainly zombies). It aims to formulate initial hypotheses for researching the impacts of disease, death, and monstrous transformation, including bodily, identity, and cognitive characteristics that determine and redefine our understanding of monstrosity and humanity.

Mónica Ojeda (Guayaquil, 1988) is an Ecuadorian writer whose literature is linked to the horror in its multiple forms. Furthermore, Las Voladoras (2020), included Ojeda in a new literary genre called Andean Gothic, a category where horror and Latin American myths convey. This paper analyzes how Ojeda adapts the disposition of the narrative elements to the Andean folklore. Moreover, it studies Ojeda’s reconstruction of the female monster by introducing the figure of a woman and its double, a hybrid between witch and animal, in order to create an alter ego effect. This article addresses how this narrative maneuver links Ojeda to Franz Kafka (1883–1924) and his vision of the monster in society.

This article contextualises the history of kaijū scholarship and looks particularly at the swell of publishing that has emerged in the last decade. It argues that the release of a series of new Godzilla films has led to a greater focus on the kaijū film, but that there is recurrence of critical themes that have persisted throughout scholarship on giant monster movies since the 1960s. This provides a literature review to understand how kaijū media has been critiqued, defined and challenged in response to the near three-quarter century history of kaijū cinema to consider if studies of the kaijū media provide the impetus to look at the kaijū as deserving of its own field of study. If zombie studies and vampire studies can occupy their own emerging fields of study, why not the kaijū? If the figure of the kaijū asks the biggest questions of our cultures, then do the giant monsters not deserve their own field? But, if this is an emerging field of study, the article poses, it needs to be more than kaijū film studies.

In 1978, the American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult released the song “Godzilla” as the first single from the fifth studio album Spectres. Despite not registering on popular charts, it would eventually evolve into an iconic song of its era. “Godzilla” continues to receive airplay on classic rock stations, and it remains a staple of the band’s touring performances. In 2019, a cover of the song, more than forty years after its release, made its film debut in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Though the song is primarily a tribute to the Japanese monster from which it gets its name, “Godzilla” also reflects the nuclear fear and paranoia of the 1970s Cold War era. “Godzilla’s” cultural impact, the song’s lyrics, the Cold War context in which it was written, and its connection to the kaiju films featuring the famous monster are examined. While this is the most popular and well-known song dedicated to Godzilla, it is not the only one. Other compositions have, but they have failed to achieve the iconic status that Blue Öyster Cult’s version has attained. This song has evolved into an unofficial anthem for the great monster.

A dystociac ewe presented with the history of continuous straining, off feed and vaginal discharge had a fetal monster-monocephalus tetrabrachius tetrapus, which was managed by cesarean operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the cinematic transformations of monstrosity within the context of a growing ecological awareness and the Anthropocene. The authors argue that these transformations reflect a posthumanist shift in popular culture ethics, suggesting that human nature is intertwined with the natural world, indigenous cultures should be protected, and our relationships with other beings should be nurtured. The blockbuster film franchise MonsterVerse illustrates similar shifts occurring in the portrayal of movie monsters. It creates new narratives for cinema’s most iconic monsters, the Japanese Godzilla and American King Kong. The authors analyze the types of monstrosities presented in the franchise, the narratives they are placed in, and whether the media franchise reflects posthumanist trends in contemporary culture by constructing images of monsters. In the MonsterVerse, Godzilla and American King Kong are reimagined as ecological monsters of the Anthropocene era that represent nature’s rebellion, the urgency to save the planet, and popular posthuman perspectives on ecology. MonsterVerse thus becomes one of the popular manifestations of posthuman ethics. Данная статья обращается к кинематографической трансформации монструозности в контексте нарастающего экологического сознания в эпоху антропоцена. Авторы утверждают, что описываемая трансформация является неотъемлемой частью постгуманистического поворота и шире популярных культурных этик, которые предлагают взглянуть на человеческую природу и отношения с другими с точки зрения более экологичного понимания включенности человека в мир природы, защиты культуры коренных народов и отношений с другими существами. В частности, авторы обращаются к кинофраншизе MonsterVerse, чтобы продемонстрировать сдвиги, находящие отражения в принципах создания киномонстров. MonsterVerse по-новому рассказывает истории об одних из самых популярных монстров кинематографа: японском Годзилле и американском Кинг Конге. Авторы анализируют, какие типы монструозности представлены во франшизе, в какие нарративы они помещены, и как медиафраншиза работает с постгуманистическими тенденциями современной культуры, используя образы монстров. Авторы показывают, что Годзилла и Кинг Конг перерождаются во вселенной MonsterVerse и становятся «экологическими монстрами» эпохи антропоцена, репрезентирующими восстание природы, идею сохранения планеты и популярные посгуманистические взгляды на экологию. MonsterVerse воспроизводит постчеловеческие этики в популярной форме.

Posthumanism—or, as the philosopher Francesca Ferrando calls it, the philosophy of our time—is in high demand both as a current of thought and as a theoretical tool for analyzing popular culture. The interdisciplinary field of zombie studies is also actively developing. The article proves that zombie studies are a legitimate field of humanities and social sciences. Scholars analyze zombies within the framework of sociology, ethics, neuroscience, international relations, literary studies, etc. As a theoretical tool, many of those studying zombies apply the philosophy of posthumanism. Until now, scholars have mostly been fascinated by the one zombie plot: the zombie apocalypse. However, there is another zombie-related narrative. Some call it a sentient zombie, humanizing the undead. In such a narrative, zombies are redefined, and to them the standard definition of a zombie no longer fits. A new image of the zombie can be revealed through the monster theory. The peculiar humanization of the zombie as a monster can be characterized as posthumanization. Since the classic image of the zombie in this case is redefined, we need to find a new term for the new monster. The author proposes to name the new sentient zombies post-zombies and suggests that their monstrosity should also be redefined, supporting these ideas through the analysis of Day of the Dead (1985), Warm Bodies (2013), and The Girl with All the Gifts (2016). Постгуманизм — философия нашего времени, как называет его философ Франческа Феррандо — крайне востребован и как течение мысли, и как теоретический инструмент для анализа популярной культуры. Междисциплинарная область исследований zombie studies также активно развивается. В статье доказывается, что zombie studies — легитимная область науки. Ее представители анализируют зомби в рамках социологии, этики, нейронауки, международных отношений, литературоведения и т.д. При этом многие из тех, кто изучают зомби, используют философию постгуманизма в качестве теоретического инструмента. До сих пор ученые в основном были увлечены одним нарративом о зомби — зомби-апокалипсисом. Однако автор статьи отмечает, что существует другой нарратив о зомби. Некоторые называют его «разумным зомби» — происходит гуманизация зомби. В этом нарративе зомби переопределяется, и стандартная дефиниция зомби не подходит. Для того чтобы раскрыть новый образ зомби, автор обращается к теории монстра. Так что своеобразная гуманизация зомби как монстра может быть охарактеризована как постгуманизация. Поскольку в данном случае переопределяется классический образ зомби, для нового «монстра» нам необходимо найти новый термин. Автор статьи предлагает называть новых разумных зомби «постзомби», монструозность которого тоже должна быть переопределена. Для этого автор обращается к фильмам, в которых представлен этот нарратив — «День мертвецов» (1985), «Тепло наших тел» (2013), «Новая эра Z» (2016).

This article explores the work of trans* activist and photographer Mar C. Llop "Identity Constructions, Work in progress" (2017) from the perspective of contemporary Catalan critical trans studies, specifically, using trans* activist and researcher Miquel Missé's criticism of the biomedical paradigm within contemporary trans body ethics (Missé, 2018). Drawing from historical conceptualizations of trans* identities in Barcelona and conducting a documental analysis to set a dialogue between Llop's photographies and Missé's arguments, this article aims at widening our current epistemological framework on trans* and other gender-dissident identities through organic materiality, practice, and experience, ultimately giving voice while producing multiple embodied queer epistemologies (Santos, 2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores "monstrosity" as both referring to diverse subjectivities transgressing socio-cultural normativities (from queer diversity to counter-ageist, -ableist and colonialist-Western paradigms) and a methodological tool that invites emotionality, and navigating positionalities throughout research encounters. We propose a monstrous dialogue as a tool for engaging with the monstrous qualities of the research process, and propose values and orientations for practicing monstrous reflexivity and positionality to (re)configure research processes. Drawing from queer and transfeminist authors, this paper is a contribution to the conversation on monstrosity as the archetype of otherness and "other" ways of conducting research while/through narrating the self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The subject of this article is the Beetle, the eponymous villain from Richard Marsh's 1897 novel, whose ability to transform back and forth between human and insect and terrorise England marks them out as an exemplary monster. Read against the theoretical background of imperial Gothic, The Beetle presents monstrosity in a multiplicity of ways. In the theoretical part of the article, the foundations for explorations of monstrosity are laid in order to identify two types of impact a monster has on a person: a cognitive threat and a distorted reflection of themselves. Then follows the introduction of Stephen Arata's concept of reverse colonisation and imperial Gothic as defined by Patrick Brantlinger. In the analytical part of the article, the major themes of imperial Gothic - going native, barbaric invasion, diminished opportunities for heroics - are identified in The Beetle to show how the villain's monstrosity is manifested in them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nineteenth-century literary representations of crowds in urban landscapes convey both the radical and revolutionary aspects of the working-class movement and the anti-modern aspects of chaos and collective violence. This article explores the entangled relationships between crowds and women from the decline of the Chartists in the late 1840s to the rise of the Socialists in the 1880s. In Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton (1848) and Margaret Harkness's George Eastmont, Wanderer (1905), both narrators describe a crowd of angry rioters as the "Frankenstein-monster". This article begins by examining Gaskell's representations of her heroine and crowds in North and South, and then analyses Harkness's novels and articles while scrutinising her figurative use of the word "monster". Despite the differences in the way women's roles are represented in their novels, Gaskell and Harkness associate women's bodily actions with female political statements. This analysis of women's writing on Victorian industrial issues aims to illuminate the textuality of bodies which invites a radical reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Spanish horror films set in the late Franco period are a highly successful genre. However, academics have criticised its study, arguing that such films are of low quality. Nevertheless, the genre is a fundamental cultural source for understanding how fiction interacts with a society's fears as it undergoes a profound transformation. This article aims to analyse the ways rituals were represented as allegorical figures of the anxieties and conflicts in the final years of Francisco Franco's dictatorship (1968–1975). On the one hand, we will examine the three main discourses that were instrumental to the founding of monstrous cults based on gender, class and nationalism. On the other hand, we will analyse the intermingling of political violence and modernisation through the performance of rituals. Satanic rituals served as visual metaphors for a reality constructed from the Manichaean vision of Catholicism and the exclusionary nationalism of Francoism imposed through political violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text deals with convergence and divergence in relation to the formation of images of inhumanity in Slovak Roma settlements. Slovak media, social networks, and television reports often contain negative images emphasizing the Roma's backwardness, irrationality, superstition, and cruelty, and aiming to highlight their inhumanity. This approach has become prevalent even among official state authorities such as the police of the Slovak Republic, shaping the perception of the Roma as monsters. It represents a mobilization strategy that connects and disconnects various disciplinary apparatuses, forming concrete images of monsters. By examining moments of convergence and divergence, which mainly focus on the killing and consumption of canines, the text clarifies the social and material ordering that contributes to the particular arrangement of significance used by the Slovak media and other officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]