scholarly journals The Aliens in Our Midst: Managing Our Ecosystems

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Banu Subramaniam
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Invasion Biology ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Popular Literature ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Foreign Species

I begin with a central and profound insight of the feminist and cultural studies of science: that nature and culture, science and society, and biology and the social are not binary opposites. Rather, they are co-constituted and co-produced. We need to go beyond the idea of nature shaping culture and culture shaping nature and move toward an understanding where nature and culture are seen as inextricably interconnected and indeed as constitutive of each other. Instead of the binary formulation of nature and culture, we should begin thinking in terms of Donna Haraway’s (1999) memorable phrase naturecultures. There is no nature and culture, only naturecultures. I use the field of invasion biology as an illustrative case in point. It will come as no surprise to readers of this volume that we live in times of numerous environmental crises, in particular perceived crises of our ecosystems. While there are many sites and sources of the problems that have been identified, one prominent source in the biological and popular literature is that of invasive species. It is argued that some exotic and foreign species are entering the nation, growing and reproducing aggressively and in the process destroying native habitats and landscapes. The central problem is seen as a proliferation of exotic and foreign species, and the solution proposed is the eradication of these species in order to save native ecosystems. As Preston and Williams (2003) sum up: “Invasive alien species are emerging as one of the major threats to sustainable development, on a par with global warming and the destruction of life support systems.” Considered as biological “pollutants,” invasive species are seen as a major threat (Simberloff 2000) and a costly “catastrophe” for native biodiversity (McNeely 2001). They are seen by the National Wildlife Foundation as a “major threat” to biodiversity, second only to habitat loss and degradation, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has similarly described them as a “major cause” of biodiversity loss throughout the world. Politicians and environmental activists alike call for immediate action (Carlton 1999).

Alien invasive vertebrates in ecosystems: pattern, process and the social dimension

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piran C. L. White ◽  
Adriana E. S. Ford ◽  
Mick N. Clout ◽  
Richard M. Engeman ◽  
Sugoto Roy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Invasion Biology ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Alien Invasive Species ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

The rate of biological invasions has increased dramatically over recent centuries. Alien invasive vertebrates have significant adverse effects on biodiversity, and island fauna are especially susceptible. Human-induced environmental change is likely to exacerbate these negative impacts of alien invasive species. However, invasion biology has advanced considerably over the last two decades, with improvement in understanding of the processes of establishment and spread. New developments in spatial modelling have elucidated the way in which behavioural processes at the individual level can drive population-level patterns such as spread. Combined with new genetic insights into the process of invasion, these advances may assist in the development of novel, better-targeted management strategies that provide new options in how to deal with the threat posed by invasive species. Decisions about whether to and how we should intervene are questions for all sectors of society, but research on the social and cultural impacts of invasive species is largely lacking. There are many opportunities for enhancing the social dimensions of invasive species research, and integrated assessments of the social, economic and environmental impacts of species provide one potential avenue. As part of this, there is also a need to increase stakeholder participation in the decision-making process regarding alien invasive species. These more holistic approaches are essential if we are to reduce the impact of alien invasive species to within acceptable limits in the face of rapid environmental change.

Fröschen und Gurken

2018 ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
Julia Boog-Kaminski
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Young Adult Literature ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Sexual Liberation ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Children And Young Adults

Artikelbeginn:[English title and abstract below] Kaum eine Zeit steht so sehr für die sexuelle Befreiung und Sprengung familialer Strukturen wie die 1968er (vgl. Herzog 2005). Kaum ein Märchen steht in der psychoanalytischen Deutung so sehr für den sexuellen Reifungsprozess und das Unabhängigwerden eines Kindes wie Der Froschkönig. Der vorliegende Artikel greift diese Verbindung auf, da gerade während der 68er-Bewegung verschiedene Wasser- und Amphibienfiguren in der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (KJL) vorkommen, die stark an die Motive des Märchens erinnern. Frogs and CucumbersTransformed Men in Children’s and Young Adult Literature Since 1968 In psychoanalysis, the fairy tale The Frog Prince has attracted much interest as a narrative of sexual liberation. Placing this motif at the heart of Nöstlinger’s and Pressler’s ›antiauthoritarian classics,‹ this article puts forward a new reading of literature for children and young adults. Through the ambiguity of the frog figure – oscillating between nature and culture, consciousness and unconsciousness – these books chronicle, in their own manner, the social transformation associated with 1968. They portray the emancipation movement as a hurtful and paradoxical process instead of one that reproduces the myth of linear progress.

Social Networks, Their Basic Factors, as Well as Their Role in Society and the State in the Context of Digital Transformation

2020 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 26-35
Author(s):  
Rem V. Ryzhov ◽  
◽  
Vladimir A. Ryzhov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The State ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Organizational Models ◽  
Control Center ◽  
The Social ◽  
Single Strategy

Society is historically associated with the state, which plays the role of an institution of power and government. The main task of the state is life support, survival, development of society and the sovereignty of the country. The main mechanism that the state uses to implement these functions is natural social networks. They permeate every cell of society, all elements of the country and its territory. However, they can have a control center, or act on the principle of self-organization (network centrism). The web is a universal natural technology with a category status in science. The work describes five basic factors of any social network, in particular the state, as well as what distinguishes the social network from other organizational models of society. Social networks of the state rely on communication, transport and other networks of the country, being a mechanism for the implementation of a single strategy and plan. However, the emergence of other strong network centers of competition for state power inevitably leads to problems — social conflicts and even catastrophes in society due to the destruction of existing social institutions. The paper identifies the main pitfalls using alternative social networks that destroy the foundations of the state and other social institutions, which leads to the loss of sovereignty, and even to the complete collapse of the country.

scholarly journals P3: BURDEN OF PEDIATRIC BASAL CELL CARCINOMA NEVUS SYNDROME ON THE PATIENTS AND FAMILIES FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF PARENTS AND GUARDIANS

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 818.1-818
Author(s):  
FT Siddiqui ◽  
JA Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Basal Cell Carcinoma ◽  
Cell Carcinoma ◽  
Basal Cell ◽  
Burden Of Disease ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Medical Specialty ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
The Social ◽  
Age Of Diagnosis

Purpose of StudyLittle is known about the disease burden for children and families of children with Basal Cell Carcinoma Nevus Syndrome. Our study focused on bringing this burden to light.Methods UsedUsing an internet accessible survey, we asked parents and guardians about the ways in which BCCNS has affected their families. The survey was promoted through the Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome Life Support Network to its membership, as well as through social media. Forty-seven parent/guardians responded.Summary of ResultsIt was found that at least 75% of children were diagnosed with BCCNS by the age of ten or earlier, which suggests that the burden of disease starts much earlier than previously reported. Moreover, at least 19% of parents or guardians reported that their children had 50 or more BCCs by the age of diagnosis. Sixty-percent of patients must see five or more healthcare specialists within one calendar year, and 33% of children must go see a healthcare provider (of any specialty) 8–10 times within one calendar year.ConclusionsIt is our hope that these results will help clinicians be aware of the possible diagnosis of BCCNS at earlier ages in these children. An earlier diagnosis could provide the social and medical specialty-specific support services that may prevent the development of psychosocial and other medical consequences that arise from the burden of disease of BCCNS.

scholarly journals “Leviathan”, or an essay on the doctrine of the state by T. Hobbes

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
Vadym Nikolenko
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Life Support ◽  
The State ◽  
Psychological Traits ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Philosopher ◽  
Legitimate State

The study focuses on individual episodes of the biography, the most notable ideas and main socio-political views of the outstanding English scientist, social philosopher, theorist of the origin of the state – T. Hobbes. On the basis of the classic work “Leviathan”, his backbone thoughts on the processes of state building, the development of a balanced normative and legislative system and specific motives for striving for power are highlighted. In particular, attention is focused on the search by the researcher of the optimal balance between freedom and the duties of a citizen. The aspiration of the classic to a comprehensive study of the most effective mechanism, optimal forms of public administration, primarily for the establishment of stable social order and safety, is noted. The scientist emphasized that an authoritative, sovereign, legitimate state is able to effective cope with the tasks set. In which those in power are obliged to be guided by norms of morality and law. Characterized, according to the researcher, the socio-psychological traits of both average citizens and sovereigns for the full life support of the country.Highlighted his heuristic principles of anthropomorphism, which more metaphorically, expressively detail the likely destructive diseases of the state, among which he considered the lack of frugality and the processes of oligarchization of the socio-political system to be especially unsafe. Scientists emphasized the absolute rejection of corruption, lack of social justice, abuse of power. Thus, the advantages and disadvantages of various forms of government were highlighted, in particular, monarchical, aristocratic, democratic. The scientists himself was an active supporter of absolute monarchy and the unshakable authority of the state. At the same time, he focused not so much on the duties of citizens to the state, as on the duties of state representatives to their citizens, the implementation of which can state structure effective, authoritative and legitimate. At the same time, the contribution of T. Hobbes to the development of the philosophy of law is highlighted. In general, it was emphasized that the English scientist comprehensively substantiated his own thought about the immutability of human nature in the form of manifestations of selfishness, individualism, insatiable appetites, unrestrained passions, and the desire for social change. According to the philosopher, only a just, sovereign, authoritative state is capable of curbing the negative manifestations of human nature. In addition, attention focused on the state-forming nature of his philosophy and the scientist’s significant contribution to the development of the theory of the social contract or the contractual origin of the state is highlighted.

scholarly journals ‘What is infrastructure? What does it do?’: Anthropological perspectives on the workings of infrastructure(s)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lav Kanoi ◽  
Vanessa Koh ◽  
Al Lim ◽  
Shoko Yamada ◽  
Michael R. Dove
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Growing Body

Abstract Infrastructure is often thought of in big material terms: dams, buildings, roads, and so on. This study, instead, draws on literatures in anthropology and the social sciences to analyse infrastructures in relation to society and environment, and so cast current conceptions of infrastructure in a new light. Situating the analysis in context of President Biden’s recent infrastructure bill, the paper expands what is meant by and included in discussions of infrastructure. The study examines what it means for different kinds of material infrastructures to function (and for whom) or not, and also consider how the immaterial infrastructure of human relations are manifested in, for example, labour, as well as how infrastructures may create intended or unintended consequences in enabling or disabling social processes. Further, in this study, we examine concepts embedded in thinking about infrastructure such as often presumed distinctions between the technical and the social, nature and culture, the human and the non-human, and the urban and the rural, and how all of these are actually implicated in thinking about infrastructure. Our analysis, thus, draws from a growing body of work on infrastructure in anthropology and the social sciences, enriches it with ethnographic insights from our own field research, and so extends what it means to study ‘infrastructures’ in the 21st century.

scholarly journals New Zealand’s Assistance with Invasive Species Management in the Pacific

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Simon Lovatt
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
International Development ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Invasive Species Management ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Species Management ◽  
Critical Leadership

<p>Invasive species are one of the biggest threats to development and well-being in the Pacific. They have wide-ranging impacts on economies, the environment, and societies; in addition to causing USD $1.4 trillion of losses each year. Invasive species are also the primary cause of biodiversity loss on islands which could significantly affect the ecosystem services which Pacific Islanders depend on. Every year New Zealand spends NZD $500 million on biosecurity, and Australia has spent AUD $175 million on a single eradication project. In comparison, in the Pacific there are only six people working fulltime on invasive species issues at a regional level and there is limited funding available. This thesis assesses the role of four New Zealand agencies that assist with invasive species management in the Pacific: the International Development Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Biosecurity New Zealand division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Department of Conservation, and Landcare Research. Together these agencies provide funding, build capacity, offer technical advice, and occasionally implement projects. While there are important gains to New Zealand in assisting the Pacific with invasive species management, such as a reduced biosecurity threat and learning opportunities for staff, the desire to help the region for its own sake is a major driver. Suggestions for future improvement include having more information on the economic impacts of invasive species in the Pacific, increased coordination between donors, and including invasive species measures in regional trade agreements. It is hoped that New Zealand will continue to play its critical leadership role in invasive species management in the region.</p>

“A Chaos of Sin and Folly”: Art, Culture, and Carnival in Antebellum America

2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 515-535
Author(s):  
DAVID WALL
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Popular Literature ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
Antebellum America ◽  
Freak Show ◽  
Cultural Productions ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Grotesque ◽  
Grotesque Body

This essay looks at a variety of antebellum cultural productions and, utilizing Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of the grotesque body, identifies the ubiquitous use of the tropes of carnival as a principal discourse in the construction of bourgeois subjectivity and the staging of its “low Others.” The essay examines the visual arts, popular literature, minstrelsy, and the freak show, demonstrating that as the grotesque body of the social and racial low Other is rejected and excluded socially, it returns constantly and repeatedly in narrative form. Appearing as it does across the broad spread of antebellum cultural domains, the grotesque body emerges as an object not only of disgust but also of deep and profound desire.

From Sustainability to Flourishing

2017 ◽  
pp. 147-166
Author(s):  
James Miller
Keyword(s):  
Practical Experience ◽  
The Body ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Ecological Civilization ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
The World

An ecological civilization is one in which the social, cultural, and political order is rooted in the capacity of nature to promote the flourishing of the human species. The Daoist tradition offers four insights that can help promote this: (1) an aesthetics of flourishing founded on the practical experience of the world in the body; (2) an ethic of flourishing founded on the mutual porosity and vulnerability of the world and the body; (3) a politics of flourishing founded on a democracy of local contexts; (4) a spirituality of flourishing founded on religious themes of consumption, violence, death, and transcendence. Altogether this produces a vision of flourishing based on overcoming the modern dichotomies of self and world, matter and spirit, nature and culture.

The Social Mediation of Economic Discourse

2021 ◽  
pp. 42-74
Author(s):  
Keith Tribe
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Popular Literature ◽  
Academic Journals ◽  
Economic Discourse ◽  
Social Mediation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Creation

In the course of the nineteenth century, political economy shifted from a discourse printed in books and journals and directed primarily at ‘men of affairs’ to a stratified public discourse. Where argument had once appealed to ‘reason’, argument by authority now became more significant in the teaching and publications of academic economists. This chapter shows the media through which this transition was effected—clubs, societies, and associations, adult extension teaching, popular literature, the creation of examinations and professional qualifications, and, in some limited cases, certification for employment, plus the creation of specialised academic journals.

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