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In this comment paper on von Fircks (2023a), I would like to focus on four issues and offer some reflections on them: first, what is happening in the process of a new I arising through mindfulness meditation practice? I would like to supplement the dialogue between Buber and Rogers in 1957 on the dynamism of I and Me, which is the basis of Mead's theory of self formation, in which I and Me separate, discover and meet a new self. The second, is that meditation, which at first glance appears to be an internal meditation practice and a personal activity, leads to a semiotic mediated social process. The Tao and early Buddhist ideas that form the background to the experiential process of mindfulness meditation will be reviewed, and the significance of people experiencing the interdependence of non-human nature and the environment through the practice will be discussed. Third, connecting this to the idea of Umwelt (Uexküll) and the semiosphere (Lotman), an attempt is made to extend the otherness as a collating body of self formation to Umwelt. Fourth, mindfulness meditation focuses attention on the breath. In relation to Mead's focus on the environment under the skin, i.e. corporeality, I will supplement the psychological meaning of cultivating the body's sense of interoception through the sensing of repetitive movements of tension and relaxation. Through the above, what kind of semiotic mediating function does mindfulness meditation have in relation to the construction of the new I, and how does it lead to the creation of social meaning? We would like to discuss these points. Clinical Trial Registration: The article does not contain any studies with clinical trial. This, clinical Trial registration is not applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this reply, I respond to Joshua C. Gellers’ commentary on my article “Not Relational Enough? Towards an Eco-Relational Approach in Robot Ethics” (Puzio, 2024a), in which I present a deeply relational, “eco-relational approach”. This approach asserts that it is necessary to consider the relationality with non-human entities such as animals and technology on a deeper level than has been done in robot ethics so far. This disrupts traditional ethical concepts. In his commentary “Not Ecological Enough: A Commentary on an Eco-Relational Approach in Robot Ethics” (2024), Gellers raises criticisms of my method and the consequences of the eco-relational approach. In this reply, I address these criticisms and focus especially on the ecological responsibility of the eco-relational approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political theory has long depended upon a clear boundary between life and non-life. Even work which emphasizes non-human beings (e.g., in animal rights, posthumanism or "new materialism") continues to reinforce the divide between the organic and the inorganic. This article undermines that division, highlighting marginal cases of life. The organicity of certain rocks and biochar, the growth of crystals, the machinic qualities of viruses: all point to an instability in the excluded middle between life and non-life. The article suggests alternative philosophical traditions to which political theory could turn—namely, panpsychism, hylozoism, and traditional animism—as conceptual and theoretical resources to examine these interstices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Materia Arquitectura is the property of Universidad San Sebastian 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.)

In this co-written article creative practice researchers Christine Rogers (CR) and Liz Burke (LB) explicate their reasons for, processes, and outcomes of filming animals. Christine filmed the wild foxes who inhabited her Belfast garden. She set up a wildlife camera, gaining an up-close encounter with these shy strangers, and hoping through this, to create a sense of belonging for herself, a stranger to Northern Ireland. Liz filmed her two whippets, Agnes and then Zelda, to uncover the mysterious connections in the deep relationships between herself and her dogs. Both understand the ethical dilemmas of such filming and seek to make sense of this. Both adhere to Donna Haraway's call to enter into a complex dance with the other. Christine cedes control of the shooting and with her decolonising ethos she explores the tricky idea of reciprocity. Liz chooses to cede control in the editing as she works with a complexity-generating programme Korsakow. For Christine, belonging is created, and it becomes clear that she must remain a stranger to the foxes, no matter her desire for an intimate connection. Her desire for reciprocity also remains unmet. For Liz, belonging is not so much created as revealed by the strength of the connection between herself and her dogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an alternative to a model of world literature complicit with global capitalism and its ecological destruction, critics have proposed the ‘planetary turn’ to name the emergence of a mode of thinking capable of accommodating both social and ecological diversity. Global relationality in this context is understood not only as connectivity between different cultures but also that between the human and the non-human, and emphasizes not only cultural differences and interactions but also our deep embeddedness in and reliance on the ecological environment. Planetary thinking champions the dynamic entanglement between manifold peoples and cultures at the same time as it insists on the connections between the human and the physical world. This article focuses on the ways in which francophone postcolonial North African poetry also betrays a peculiar attentiveness at once to cultural hybridization and to the riches of the ecological landscape. The Moroccan Abdellatif Laâbi and the Tunisian Tahar Bekri are contemporary writers whose poetry has combined, over the last forty years or so, a passion for multilingualism and cultural exchange with a fascination with the singular plant life they discover at home and abroad. Both use both French and Arabic, though most of their work is in French, and write against the forces of oppression left by the legacies of colonialism in part by celebrating transculturality. Both also evoke a form of intimate communion with the ecological environment, and portray it as a force with agency in order to condemn the history of ecological destruction. Their ‘ecocosmopolitan’ poetry in this way proposes a salutary communality that responds in far-reaching ways to human mastery and oppression as it acts both on cultural difference and on the delicate ecology of planet.

Dreams are sometimes used as a central narrative device in a number of literary works. In modern and contemporary science fiction as in ancient epics, dreams are useful in creating central mysteries that drive the plot forward. As far as the representation of dreams is concerned, the similarities between classical epics and modern science fiction go beyond the plot to the themes. The nature of dreams and their origins are almost the same in both genres. They are structured in a similar manner and are usually attributed to non-human entities that are either benevolent or malevolent. This article studies the relationship between dreams and the non-human in George R.R. Martin’s novella A Song for Lya (1975) and BioWare game series Mass Effect (2007-2017). In this article, I argue that in both works, dreams are portrayed as hostile non-human spaces that threaten the human mind. They subject the dreamers to intense emotional experiences caused by (evil) non-human entities that seek to dominate or destroy humanity. Although the protagonists are not the only special characters in their stories, they are the only ones who are capable of surviving the dehumanizing dreaming experience. Their ability to control and temper their emotional responses protects their humanness. This concept refers to a cultural and ideological category rather than a merely biological one. It privileges a hegemonic model of subjectivity and existence that regards emotions as dangerous and inhuman.

With robots increasingly integrated into various areas of life, the question of relationships with them is gaining prominence. Are friendship and partnership with robots possible? While there is already extensive research on relationships with robots, this article critically examines whether the relationship with non-human entities is sufficiently explored on a deeper level, especially in terms of ethical concepts such as autonomy, agency, and responsibility. In robot ethics, ethical concepts and considerations often presuppose properties such as consciousness, sentience, and intelligence, which are exclusively aligned with humans. I will challenge the understanding of these properties by anchoring them in contexts, bodies, and actions. This approach allows to consider the specific ways of being of various human and non-human entities and to identify these properties in non-human entities as well. My “eco-relational” approach posits that it is crucial to consider the relationality with non-human entities such as animals and technology in central ethical concepts from the beginning. This approach reflects the “eco”, the entire house in which we live including animals and robots. To support this, I examine two dominant approaches in robot ethics within the contemporary Western tradition: the “properties approach” and modestly relational approaches. I will develop an eco-relational approach as an alternative. Employing a phenomenological method, I will demonstrate through various examples that our properties and actions are inherently connected with non-human entities. I will show that robots play a central role in our properties and actions, leading to concepts such as hybrid actions and non-human agency. It becomes clear that technology and our relationships with it disrupt traditional ethical concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In design, stakeholders have been confined to humans and human organisations. Amid growing attention to post-anthropocentric design, there remains a lack of research on engaging non-humans in the design process. This study examines the legitimacy of non-humans as stakeholders and proposes assemblage-based stakeholder analysis, a new approach that views a stakeholder as an assemblage of human and non-human actors based on actor-network theory and object-oriented ontology. We apply this approach to an empirical study to reveal the non-human actors missing from conventional stakeholder analysis and discuss its implications for the design process. Our findings move forward the ongoing discussions on post-anthropocentric design and support the engagement of non-humans so that their voices are heard, and they become politically significant considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Francosphères is the property of Liverpool University Press / Journals 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.)

Human capacity to explore and shape outer space will increase substantially over the next 50 years. Yet, International Relations (IR) theory still treats outer space as an isolated, unique, or inconsequential realm of political life. This paper moves IR beyond its 'terrestrial trap' by theorising planetary politics as inherently embedded in relations with environments and actors that are located beyond Earth. To face the momentous and often alarming political developments taking place in outer space, from space militarisation to space colonisation, we challenge two of IR's terrestrial biases. First, we confront the assumption that developments in international relations take place only or primarily on Earth. We show how the historically constituted ideologies and political economies of colonisation and domination are extended to – but also transformed within – outer space exploration and settlement. Second, we challenge the notion that developments in outer space form a logical extension of politics as it has emerged on the habitable surface of our planet. We move beyond zones of human habitation and explore how the material conditions of space intersect with situated histories of political governance and control. By analysing politics beyond Earth, we retool IR theory to confront an extraterrestrial political future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-human metaphors, including animal metaphors, are widely used to evoke trans experiences, but the blooming flowers and hatching butterflies are often reduced to mere tropes or clichés. This article investigates what a narrative approach to these non-human metaphors can offer us to reconceptualize trans existence. I employ Benjamin Biebuyck and Gunther Martens’s concept of the ‘paranarrative,’ which allows us to look at metaphors as creating an additional narrative layer where aspects of the main narrative can be deepened, nuanced, or even contested. In two case studies, I unearth hidden sides of trans experience evoked through non-human metaphors on a paranarrative level. In Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s novel Mijn lieve gunsteling, animal metaphors ranging from otters to birds bring to the surface a view of transness not limited to gender, but one that entails feelings of isolation and even uncontrollable desires. The metaphors in the novel Wormmaan by Mariken Heitman likewise raise attention to the connectedness between human, plants, and matter that society has tried to contain in limiting categorizations, such as gender divisions. By broadening the scope of trans as an embodied experience across various boundaries, this article calls for an expansive approach to trans narratology that reaches beyond gender towards the variety of affects that trans is capable of exposing [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the non-human turn in justice theory remains in its infancy, several projects have emerged, including Earth system justice, multispecies justice, and planetary justice. Crucially, candidate theories must provide convincing responses to the who, what, and how of justice. The question of who can prove particularly challenging, as philosophers continue to debate the moral relevance of properties of entities or the relations between them. Scholars of environmental politics seeking to develop more-than-human justice theories must carefully attend to issues inherent in this debate, including conceptual inconsistencies. Recent work by Winter and Schlosberg advancing a materialist perspective on multispecies and planetary justice demonstrates the difficult task of participating in this conversation, as evidenced by their application of the term ‘subjects of justice.’ In this brief essay, I identify three flaws in their use of this phrase and explain why the treatment of subjects matters to justice theory in the Anthropocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geopolitical bordering practices affect not only migrants and refugees, but also non-human animals, environments, and Indigenous communities. But metaphorical borders also exist inside and are imposed on everyone. These include emotional, psychic, and cultural borders that limit freedoms. This article examines the potential solidarities for and multi-scalar politics of building an abolitionist praxis rooted in this expansive notion of borders and our collective struggles to cross or abolish them altogether. It examines US-based artist Patricia Vázquez Gómez’s art exhibition BorderXer, first exhibited in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. in 2019, to develop a geographical analysis of ‘borderXers’ (border crossers) that operates at scales from the flesh, to body, to community, to the transnational. The artist uses photographic, installation, textual, and video works to connect audiences’ own experiences of borders imposed on their bodies and psyches to the material geographies of the US/México borderlands. These borders limit both freedom of movement and freedom to be in relation and community with others. These works unsettle dominant and dominating notions of borders and reveal possibilities for the remaking of exclusionary border relationalities. I argue that the aesthetics of the exhibition develop an abolitionist perspective on borders that exceeds the artist’s explicit calls for ‘open borders’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues that in Peacock's novel Melincourt the copious pseudo-scholarly footnotes are integral to the characterization of the simian character of Sir Oran. In mutually reflective ways the ape and the annotations about him offer up a hierarchical ordering of relations—taxonomic and textual—only to call such ordering into question. By transgressing such species and textual boundaries the novel undermines satirically the evolving taxonomic and scholarly assumptions of its time, and the presumptive authority they inscribe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a disease of the heart muscle diagnosed by alterations resulting from ventricular systolic dysfunction with enlargement of the heart chambers, which is still underdiagnosed in non-human primates. This report is the first case of the DCM phenotype diagnosed by echocardiography and confirmed by necropsy in Callithrix penicillata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the literature on the critical geographies of precarity, as well as feminist readings of non- and more-than-human geographies and political ecologies, this review proposes a socio-ecological precarity framеwork to address gaps in discussions and examinations of nonhuman vulnerabilities, forms of resistance, and infrastructures of conviviality and care. Socio-ecological precarity is posited as relational, politically generative, and transformative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article centers its focus on the conceptual clash involving selected definitions of the human and the non-human within the field of sign theory, particularly examining two nearly paradigmatic perspectives: structuralist semiology and Peircean semiotics. The text’s argumentation critically departs from the conventional viewpoint put forth by Ernest Cassirer. This perspective, widely prevalent not only in the humanities but also in the social sciences (e.g., M. Weber, T. Parsons) and even the natural sciences (e.g., T. Deacon), frequently regards the “symbol” as the defining boundary between the human and the non-human. The discussion further delves into the context of structuralist anti-humanism, which endeavors to redefine subjectivity by drawing from structural linguistics. Offering an alternative perspective to both Cassirerian and structuralist views of representation, the article introduces the semiotics of C. S. Peirce. According to John Deely, who serves as the primary source of inspiration for this paper, Peirce’s semiotics opens the door to a distinct, inferentialist, and methodologically more comprehensive understanding of the sign and the symbol, reshaping the understanding of the relationship between humans and the world inhabited by entities that, while they do not possess language, are capable of making inferences and employing signs – whether they be animals or machines. These nonlinguistic, non-representational yet communicative entities largely remained inconspicuous within structuralist semiology. Asubjective structures, seemingly waiting to be infused with human meaning, to be fully represented within the concept of language, to become subjects in a supposedly universal science of signs. At this juncture, the text departs from structuralist premises and, aligning with Peirce’s perspective, follows Deely in proposing that what sets apart human comprehension of signs from other forms of sign-interpretating agencies is the capacity to understand the sign as a sign. In essence, this represents the unique ability of human animals, even if unconscious, to engage in semiotics.

This study explores the possibilities of an ecocritical reading of the work of the Czech poet Jiřina Hauková (1919-2005). Despite the position of Jiřina Hauková's poetry in the canon of modern Czech poetry, her poetry has not yet been analysed from this perspective. The starting point for the study is contemporary Anglo-American thinking on "ecopoetry" and "ecopoetics", which emphasizes the exploration and systematic revision of our intimate yet ambiguous relationship with the natural world and a complex grasp of the otherness of this world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals have always embodied the memory and trauma of troubled times in human history. The alienization of animals in terms of their non-human essence results in their gothification, resulting in irrational fears of animals that represent cultural anxieties and taboos. For instance, rats are the most culturally accepted symbol of the ravages of bubonic plague. Even though scientifically proven otherwise, the rat has become one of the indelible animal constructions of fear, Other-ness and the evil with-out, signifying the harbinger of the poison of untidiness and unsanitariness into an otherwise healthy society. This paper examines the sociopolitical conflicts in Albert Camus's The Plague through the human-rat relationship. It uses the lens of Jacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler's conception of the pharmakon, where the pest becomes the pharmakon (a malign/benign entity) as well as the pharmakos (scapegoat) in a society riddled with the pestilence of cleansing the invasive Otherness. We have argued, through key theories in critical animal studies and the theories of pharmacology in discursive psychopolitics, that the rat becomes the Gothic icon in the narrative, exposing human foibles and affects our perception of chaos and order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians of Islamic occult science and post-Mongol Persianate kingship in the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires have in recent years made clear just how central this body of knowledge was to the exercise of imperial power. Alongside, scholarship on tantra has pointed to its diffuse persistence in the early modern period. But what dynamics beyond courts and elite initiates did these investments in occult science and tantra unleash? Through a focus on the seventeenth-century Mughal court and the Rajput polity of Marwar in the eighteenth century, this article weaves together the history of animals with that of harmful magic by non-courtly actors. It demonstrates the blended histories of tantra , Islamicate occult sciences, and folk magic to argue that attributions of liminality encoded people, animals, and things with occult potential. For some, like the owl, this liminality could invite violence and death and for others, like expert male practitioners, it could generate authority. By the eighteenth century, the deployment of practical magic towards harmful or disruptive ends was a political tool wielded not only by kings and elite adepts for state or lineage formation but also by non-courtly subjects and "low"-caste specialists in local social life. States and sovereigns responded to the popular use of harmful magic harshly, aiming to cut off non-courtly access to this resource. If the early modern age was one of new ideologies of universal empire, the deployment of occult power outside the court was inconsistent with the ambitions of the kings of this time. [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.

The theory of ecofeminism is all about drawing comparisons and connections between old as well as new forms of oppressions against women and the environment and it fights against all forms of injustices to make earth a better place to live. Animal liberation theorists not only highlight animal abuse through hunting, caging, butchering, testing, and experimenting but they are of the opinion that animals are abused and derogated through the patriarchal language as well. In this regard, this paper attempts to explore the anthropocentric use of language in Barbara Kingsolver’s “Prodigal Summer” so as to discuss the way the author highlights animal devaluation and depreciation in terms of language. Kingsolver draws readers’ attention towards animal devaluation through various tropes (mostly similes) to highlight animal abuse in her ecofeminist text. The paper will examine the ways in which characters derogate each other through association with different animals and birds and show how the use of language plays a great role in the devaluation and derogation of nonhuman world.

Easterine Kire, a Naga writer from Northeast India, foregrounds a reconstituted community space where both the individual and the collective meet at a vantage point and non-human forms an integral part of human existence. Such strategic ways of representing the art of inhabiting in terms of valorising ‘cosubjectivity’ and blurring of the visible and invisible worlds continue to be a part of conceptualising and reclaiming ethnic boundaries as she integrates human and non-human in the space of the home. The representation of territoriality and community in her works challenges the conventional idea of the self and anthropomorphism as contextualised in her novel When the River Sleeps. What sets Kire apart is her deep engagement with the world of spirits and non-humans and her constant effort to widen and broaden the conceptualisation of ‘community’ to highlight the practices of collective identity in an inclusive space where mutual solidarity is constantly mediated, and ruptures and discontinuities are celebrated. The paper aims to address the complex nuances of Kire’s poetics of representation and contest the definitive conclusions about boundary formation and boundary spanning, thereby representing a fluid space of social and cultural encounter. As I proceed to argue, Kire’s representation of the idea and space of community is purely deconstructive in nature as she upholds an alternate spatial-cultural ethics, liminal to the core in When the River Sleeps.

We tested for Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) from at least 15 species of non-human primates. RVFV IgG/IgM antibodies were detected in 3.7% (2 out of 53) of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and in 1.4% (1 out of 72) of unidentified non-human primate species. This study was the first investigation of RVFV in monkeys in Cameroon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dolichocolon (redundant colon) is an underdiagnosed cause of severe constipation in humans. The clinical presentation reported here in a rhesus macaque closely resembles that of intestinal adenocarcinoma, the most common neoplasia in macaques. Dolichocolon should be considered in differential diagnosis of macaques with anorexia, weight loss, and constipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Art and the artistic space have taken a new meaning in relation to the ecological catastrophe. Public Art, starting with the notion of "Chthulucene", emphasizes the urgency of multi-species collaborations and care. The relevance of the article is to characterize art in public space as an ecology of performance. Theory and stories will be used to outline principles and parameters of this art space. Contemporary performance art will be used to resignify places abandoned by human. In this scenario, the figure of Nausicaa, a creature who can coexist with catastrophe, will emerge. Public space will be interpreted as a shared existential space.

Copyright of Enthymema is the property of Enthymema, International Journal of Literary Criticism, Literary Theory & Philosophy of Literature 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.)

The territory of the Wayuu indigenous people comprises a small, low mountain range surrounded by a large desert that extends from Colombia to Venezuela in the Guajira peninsula. In pre-Columbian times, Wayuu livelihoods relied mainly on fishing and hunting in the littoral zone. Following the Spanish conquest, in their fight to maintain their territorial integrity they turned to rearing cattle, goats, and sheep they captured from colonists. They maintained their struggle against colonisation post-independence. In Colombia they have only recently obtained political devolution through legal recognition of their indigenous territories. Their economy now relies on animal husbandry to combat food insecurity. Our ethnographic study of Wayuu pastoralism confirmed our hypothesis that rearing goats and sheep has become integral to maintaining their cultural traditions, and revealed that the role of both male and female herders has become instrumental in their rituals, and integral to maintaining their longstanding patterns of reciprocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differentiating cremated non-human bones from human ones in archaeological contexts is a challenging task. This analysis aims at proposing a rather solid criterion based on an osteoarchaeological sample. In this work, the main issues of taxonomic identification of cremated remains are analysed and a research methodology tested on an Italian protohistoric sample is proposed. The 314 subjects composing the sample come from 298 tombs of the Golasecca Civilization (1st millennium BC in north-eastern Italy). On a morphological basis, 246 bone fragments were selected from which as many thin sections were obtained for a histomorphological evaluation. From the analyses, we identified the presence of animals in burials, whereas a mere morphometric analysis was not able to recognize them. Furthermore, the taxonomic identification has allowed us to propose new hypotheses on the funerary rite of Golasecca linked to the zooarchaeological remains.

The article focuses on the fascinating life and work of Charles Tramont, highlighting the concept of "high strangeness" in paranormal cases, drawing parallels between spirit release practitioners and mediumship development, and proposing a "gothic psychology" to understand the complexity of consciousness. Topics discussed include the re-examination of the non-human element in extraordinary experiences, advocating for a shift in anomalous research perspectives.

The aim of the article is to conceptualise the self-definition type of “traditional other-than-human identities: mythological creatures” based on the material of elven identity. The research methodology within cultural studies is based on the principles of posthuman anthropology and studies of non-human identities in foreign humanities. Results. The transformation of perceptions about elves is considered and an analysis of elven identity among homo sapiens in the diachrony of culture is carried out. The features of its existence in premodern, modern, post-, and metamodern contexts are determined. The essence and reasons for the popularity of elven identity are revealed. The article’s hypothesis is confirmed, suggesting that other-than-human identities among biological people manifest themselves throughout human history. A comprehensive solution to these issues constitutes the scientific novelty of the work. Conclusions. The conceptualisation of the notion of “traditional other-than-human identities: mythological creatures” in a wide diachronic dimension of cultural dynamics made it possible to take a holistic view of the phenomenon of non-human identity among people. The author of the article argues that non-human identities are often transgressive in nature and belong to cultural universals of humanity. Mythological identities are represented in traditional representations of archaic and premodern. In the era of modernity, non-human identities are somewhat marginalised within the culture. Post- and metamodern actualises premodern beliefs. Mythological non-human identities among people, along with traditional interpretations, acquire new interpretations. In particular, they begin to be interpreted as parts of an individual’s psyche or as a result of a transhumanist transition to an alternative transhuman ideal.

The following paper offers a comparative study of Song Neo-Confucian and late Ming Jesuit arguments on the exceptionality of human beings and the role played by non-human others in the process of producing the discursive premises of the anthropological difference. It focuses on the arguments made by Zhu Xi (朱熹, 1130‒1200) and Matteo Ricci (1552‒1610) in favour of a claim that there is something particular about being human. Its historical premise is that the Jesuit missionary activity in China resulted in a peculiar encounter between the scholastic tradition, based on Aristotle’s philosophy, and Confucian teachings. In case of Chinese as well as Western philosophical discourse, the figure of the non-human other has played an important role in establishing the very meaning of being human.

Service-dominant logic (SDL) has become an important thinking, in which service fuels growth of the firm. However, existing evidence offers little explanation of how service emerges as dominant logic. This paper investigates how a firm evolves to become an SDL enterprise. Drawing on theoretical notions of SDL and actor engagement, a case study of Homekoo is performed. The findings show that "service mindset" is the key that drives a firm to embrace SDL, and that technology can act as a "boundary spanner" to coordinate value co-creation practices across different levels, which enhances existing knowledge of actor-to-actor (A2A) interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social dimension of artificial intelligence is a strategic line of research that has been barely addressed to date in relation to information and communication technology policy-making. Debates on new expert information systems have generally revolved around taxation, content moderation, security, privacy and transparency, in addition to new forms of assessment that artificial intelligence assumes in platform capitalism. The existing theoretical and regulatory gaps require, however, a comprehensive approach to the economic, political, philosophical, geopolitical and ecological aspects of communication in the relations between states, international bodies and global corporations. Accordingly, the aim here is to review the state of the art of policy-making on artificial intelligence in Latin America as well as to draw a number of parallels with the current situation in the European Union for the purpose of performing an exploratory analysis on the main regulatory challenges facing public policy-makers from a practical and theoretical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cosmopolitanism claims to be the most just and inclusive of mainstream approaches to the ethics and practice of world order, given its commitment to human interconnection, peace, equality, diversity, and rights, and its concern with the many globalised pathologies that entrench injustice and vulnerability across borders. Yet it has largely remained oblivious to the agency, power, and value of non-human life on a turbulent and active Earth. Without rejecting its commitments to justice for human beings, the article challenges its humanism as both morally and politically inadequate to the situation of the Anthropocene, exemplified by the simultaneous crises of climate change, mass extinction, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In answer, the article develops new grounds and principles for an interspecies cosmopolitanism, exploring how we can reimagine its ontological foundations by creating new grounding images of subjectivity, existential unity, institutional organisation, and ordering purpose. These, in turn, can support political and institutional projects to secure the rights of ecosystems and people to flourish and persist through an increasingly chaotic epoch of human dominance and multispecies vulnerability across the Anthropocene Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism industry can bring benefits to its stakeholders. However, some actors receive more benefits and/or disadvantages than others. This is related to marginalisation. As such, it is imperative to understand how the process of marginalisation occurs in tourism destinations. Previous studies have depicted cases of marginalisation in the tourism industry. Yet, there has been a dearth of analysis of the conceptualisation of the process of marginalisation within the industry. Consequently, this conceptual paper proposes a conceptual model of how marginalisation occurs in the tourism industry. The proposed model is situated in a tourism destination, and explains the marginalisation process among tourism actors that contribute to building tourist experiences. We argue that marginalisation is caused by power differentials in tourism destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the 2009 observational-ethnographic documentary film Sweetgrass by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash. Focusing on visual cues within the observational form (a film that documents the herding of sheep across the Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains for the last time), the article draws on ethnographic and autoethnographic strains to explore the relationship between the embodied spectator and on-screen animal. Sweetgrass, in addition to several moving image works, is explored as sensory ethnography that incorporates a form of spectator address based on the idea of symbiosis. The article situates 'the nonhuman stare' as fundamental to this, drawing on the film phenomenology of Vivian Sobchak to consolidate this view. Sweetgrass, the article maintains, aestheticizes the non-human for specific reasons. It adds an ethical purpose to the observational documentation of herding sheep across the mountains – a salvage operation of type – and a sensory experience of 'living with' associated with the farming culture represented on-screen. In addition to exploring the film as a sensory object in this way, the article devises a methodology bringing autoethnographic research concerning symbiotic human–non-human animal relationships, in line with explorations of the embodied film spectator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by what literary scholar Lisa Lowe calls “the past conditional temporality”—or the “what could have been”—this paper examines how the work of 20th-century Cuban American performance artist Ana Mendieta challenges modernist ontologies that separate the human from the non-human, simultaneously calling on older ways of being and demonstrating that they never disappeared. Many argue that the ecological crises of the Anthropocene are in large part due to the proliferation of modernist worldviews that set humans apart from the non-human world. The rise of European rationalist philosophies in the early modern period played a central role in the proliferation of instrumentalist relationships between humans and the non-human world. This paper explores how Mendieta’s Silueta and Rupestrian Sculptures series (from the 1970s and 1980s) resist the logic of European capitalism and colonialism, revealing that the relationships that rationalism sought to subdue have always existed, will continue to exist, and can proliferate. Symbolic communication is a key means of mediating and actualizing relationships between subjects, and so, if a non-instrumental relationship is possible between the human and non-human, visual art ought to be a possible means of enactment. Through Mendieta’s work, this paper considers the mechanisms by which this is possible. By considering meaning-making as a basis for life, the co-constitution of human/non-human subjectivities, and the inherent permeability of the category of the individual, this paper highlights counter-modernist visual art practices that are of special urgency in the age of the Anthropocene.

Abstract. The purpose of this study is to conduct a theological study of the urgency of understanding human and non-human partnerships as an effort to restore the ecological damage that occurs today. Severe ecological damage is a logical consequence of exploitative attitudes and human greed. That reality drives the need for efforts to reformulate the model of relations between creations. This theological study used a descriptive qualitative method by exploring a model of human and non-human partnership that can be used as a reference. This partnership places an emphasis on responsibility and respect for the intrinsic values of each creation. Intrinsic value emphasizes that all creation comes from and is in God. Therefore, one must have a firm belief in God's presence in the midst of His creation and the intrinsic value embodied in it. Abstrak. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah melakukan kajian teologis akan urgensi pemahaman kemitraan human dan non-human sebagai upaya pemulihan kerusakan ekologis yang terjadi dewasa ini. Kerusakan ekologis yang parah merupakan konsekuensi logis dari sikap eksploitatif dan keserakahan manusia. Realitas itu mendorong perlunya upaya merumuskan ulang model relasi antar-ciptaan. Kajian teologis ini menggunakan metode kualitatif deskriptif dengan mengeksplorasi model kemitraan human dan non-human yang dapat dijadikan sebagai acuan. Kemitraan ini memberikan penekanan pada tanggung jawab dan penghormatan terhadap nilai-nilai intrinsik setiap ciptaan. Nilai intrinsik menekankan bahwa segala ciptaan berasal dan berada di dalam Allah. Untuk itu, seseorang harus memiliki keyakinan yang kuat akan kehadiran Allah di tengah ciptaan-Nya dan nilai intrinsik yang terkandung di dalamnya.

Differentiating cremated non-human bones from human ones in archaeological contexts is a challenging task. This analysis aims at proposing a rather solid criterion based on an osteoarchaeological sample. In this work, the main issues of taxonomic identification of cremated remains are analysed and a research methodology tested on an Italian protohistoric sample is proposed. The 314 subjects composing the sample come from 298 tombs of the Golasecca Civilization (1st millennium BC in north-eastern Italy). On a morphological basis, 246 bone fragments were selected from which as many thin sections were obtained for a histomorphological evaluation. From the analyses, we identified the presence of animals in burials, whereas a mere morphometric analysis was not able to recognize them. Furthermore, the taxonomic identification has allowed us to propose new hypotheses on the funerary rite of Golasecca linked to the zooarchaeological remains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the bestiary used to represent the dynamics of attraction and seduction in the Song of Songs and the book of Proverbs. It examines mainly the predatory imagery, focusing on the lions and leopards the female lover associates with, in Song 4:8, as well as the "hunting ground" terminology used to characterize some of the strange women's behaviors in Prov. 6:26; 7:22–23. Following Arbel (2015) and Imray (2013), the article contends that the female lover of Song of Songs and the strange women are not so different. Through a close philological examination of the passages staging these women, it sets out to decompartmentalize our understanding of what is an appropriate—or threatening—display of feminine charms and seductive strategies in the Hebrew Bible. This exegetical inquiry also brings the super/non-human persona of these women into focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]