Contrary to frequent characterisations, exotic species should not be identified as damaging species, species introduced by humans, or species originating from some other geographical location. Exotics are best characterised ecologically as species that are foreign to an ecological assemblage in the sense that they have not significantly adapted with the biota constituting that assemblage or to the local abiotic conditions. Exotic species become natives when they have ecologically naturalised and when human influence over their presence in an assemblage (...) (if any) has washed away. Although the damaging nature and anthropogenic origin of many exotic species provide good reasons for a negative evaluation of such exotics, even naturally-dispersing, nondamaging exotics warrant opposition. Biological nativists' antagonism toward exotics need not be xenophobic and can be justified as a way of preserving the diversity of ecological assemblages from the homogenising forces of globalisation. Implications for Yellowstone National Park policy are explored. (shrink)

We give an almost explicit presentation of exotic functions corresponding to some exotic smooth structure on topologically trivial R4. The construction relies on the model-theoretic tools from the previous paper. We can formulate unexpected, yet direct connection between ‘‘localized’’ exotic small R4’s and some noncommutative spaces. The formalism of QM can be interpreted in terms of exotic smooth R4’s localized in spacetime. A new way of looking at the problem of decoherence is suggested. The 4-dimensional spacetime (...) itself has built-in means which may enforce a kind of decoherence. (shrink)

ArgumentThe nineteenth century witnessed the advent of the modern zoo. Nearly everyone who came to watch the exotic animals was a “lay person” in the sense that virtually none had formal training in zoology. This paper provides a typology of these observers: the zoo directors, assistants, keepers, animal painters, and the “common” visitor. What did they observe and what were their motivations? Did they pursue a certain agenda? What kind of knowledge, if any, did they produce? Soon the issue (...) of the reliability of these observations emerged. Lay observers insisted on the veracity of their intimate and personal knowledge of animals while academics complained that their claims could not be generalized and were tainted by anthropomorphism. Hence the focus on the observations of these laymen will reveal contemporary assumptions on what may count as “scientific.” This is closely linked to the question of how far the zoo may qualify as a site of scientific investigation in the first place. The constraints on doing research on animals in a public space such as the zoo were numerous. Yet despite these obstacles the zoological garden contributed to the rise of ecological thinking as well as to the formation of ethology as a scientific discipline. (shrink)

Proponents of ecological restoration view the practice as a means of both repairing damage done to ecosystems by humans and creating an avenue to re-establish respectful and cooperative human-environment relationships. One debate affecting ecological restoration focuses on the place of 'exotic' species in restored ecosystems. Though popular, campaigns against exotics have been criticized for their troubling rhetorical parallels with nativism aimed at human immigrants. I point to some of the reasons why this critique of nativism persists, despite protests that (...) no xenophobic intent is evident, emphasizing the intimacy between social metaphors and claims about exotic nature. Language is but one facet of an entanglement of nature and society that ecological restoration strives to take seriously; however, restoration practice remains ambivalent toward this dichotomy permitting a longing for lost community purity that is embraced in nativism. Regarding defenses of nativism, I point out limitations of attempts to reframe the issue from a reactionary rejection of the foreign Other toward an argument for protecting communities from a process akin to 'cultural imperialism'. (shrink)

In this pathbreaking study, Micaela di Leonardo reveals the face of power within the mask of cultural difference. From the 1893 World's Fair to Body Shop advertisements, di Leonardo focuses on the intimate and shifting relations between popular portrayals of exotic Others and the practice of anthropology. In so doing, she casts new light on gender, race, and the public sphere in America's past and present. "An impressive work of scholarship that is mordantly witty, passionately argued, and takes no (...) prisoners."--Lesley Gill, News Politics "[Micaela] di Leonardo eloquently argues for the importance of empirical, interdisciplinary social science in addressing the tragedy that is urban America at the end of the century."--Jonathan Spencer, Times Literary Supplement "In her quirky new contribution to the American culture brawl, feminist anthropologist Micaela di Leonardo explains how anthropologists, 'technicians of the sacred,' have distorted American popular debate and social life."--Rachel Mattson, Voice Literary Supplement "At the end of di Leonardo's analyses one is struck by her rare combination of rigor and passion. Simply, [she] is a marvelous iconoclast."--Matthew T. McGuire, Boston Book Review. (shrink)

A developmental theory of erotic/romantic attraction is presented that provides the same basic account for opposite-sex and same-sex desire in both men and women. It proposes that biological variables, such as genes, prenatal hormones, and brain neuroanatomy, do not code for sexual orientation per se but for childhood temperaments that influence a child's preferences for sex-typical or sex-atypical activities and peers. These preferences lead children to feel different from opposite-or same-sex peers — to perceive them as dissimilar, unfamiliar, and (...) class='Hi'>exotic. This, in turn, produces heightened nonspecific autonomic arousal that subsequently gets eroticized to that same class of dissimilar peers: Exotic becomes erotic. Specific mechanisms for effecting this transformation are proposed. The theory claims to accommodate both the empirical evidence of the biological essen-. (shrink)

George Loewenstein is one of the pioneers of the rapidly growing field of behavioral economics. For over twenty years he has been working at the intersection of economics and psychology and is one of the few people of whom it can be said that their work is equally respected and well known within both disciplines. This book brings together a selection of his papers focusing on what he calls "exotic preferences"-- the disparate motives that drive human behavior. Anoriginal introduction (...) outlines Loewenstein's general approach to research, and there are short introductions to each paper outlining briefly when, how and why they came to be written, providing a fascinating and vivid insight into the process of intellectual creativity. (shrink)

The goal is to show that various exotic prefix classes can be "tamed by large cardinals". I.e., every statement in the class is either provable or refutable using presently formulated large cardinals. Some of these exotic prefix classes consist entirely of explicitly P01 sentences.

Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei demonstrates that the exotic, as reflected in major works of German literature and in the philosophy and art that inspires it,..

Since its founding in the nineteenth century, social anthropology has been seen as the study of exotic peoples in faraway places. But today more and more anthropologists are dedicating themselves not just to observing but to understanding and helping solve social problems wherever they occur--in international aid organizations, British TV studios, American hospitals, or racist enclaves in Eastern Europe, for example. In Exotic No More , an initiative of the Royal Anthropological Institute, some of today's most respected anthropologists (...) demonstrate, in clear, unpretentious prose, the tremendous contributions that anthropology can make to contemporary society. They cover issues ranging from fundamentalism to forced migration, child labor to crack dealing, human rights to hunger, ethnicity to environmentalism, intellectual property rights to international capitalisms. But Exotic No More is more than a litany of gloom and doom the essays also explore topics usually associated with leisure or "high" culture, including the media, visual arts, tourism, and music. Each author uses specific examples from their fieldwork to illustrate their discussions, and 62 photographs enliven the text. Throughout the book, the contributors highlight anthropology's commitment to taking people seriously on their own terms, paying close attention to what they are saying and doing, and trying to understand how they see the world and why. Sometimes this bottom-up perspective makes the strange familiar, but it can also make the familiar strange, exposing the cultural basis of seemingly "natural" behaviors and challenging us to rethink some of our most cherished ideas--about gender, "free" markets, "race," and "refugees," among many others. Contributors: William O. Beeman Philippe Bourgois John Chernoff E. Valentine Daniel Alex de Waal Judith Ennew James Fairhead Sarah Franklin Michael Gilsenan Faye Ginsburg Alma Gottlieb Christopher Hann Faye V. Harrison Richard Jenkins Melissa Leach Margaret Lock Jeremy MacClancy Jonathan Mazower Ellen Messer A. David Napier Nancy Scheper-Hughes Jane Schneider Parker Shipton Christopher B. Steiner. (shrink)

This paper makes a contribution to nonhuman animal studies by discussing the tensions in practices, discourses, and narratives of hunting in a settler postcolonial society. It aims to present a discussion of how the imperialist construct of the “exotic” is applied to nonhuman animals. The focus of the paper is on the different roles the exotic animal status plays in the hunting experience in New Zealand, and how other agencies also play a part in the construction of the (...) hunting discourses and personal narratives in relation to the exotic animal. The paper concludes that the exotic concept is closely linked to a celebration of New Zealand’s distinctiveness from their colonizer. Always a process of “Othering,” the exotic status not only impinges on the relationship established with the nonhuman animal prey, but also leads to an inconsistent discourse that implies a speciesist position, one which is nonetheless consistent with a dominionist performance. (shrink)

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This paper is about intentional identity, the phenomenon of intentional attitudes having a common focus. I present an argument against an approach to explaining intentional identity, defended by Nathan Salmon, Terence Parsons and others, that involves positing exotic objects. For example, those who adopt this sort of view say that when two astronomers had beliefs about Vulcan, their attitudes had a common focus because there is an exotic object that both of their beliefs were about. I argue that (...) countenancing these exotic objects does not help us explain intentional identity. (shrink)

Environmentalists consider invasions by exotic species of plants and animals to be one of the most serious environmental problems we face today, as well as one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss. We argue that in order to develop and enact sensible policies, it is crucial to consider two philosophical questions: What exactly makes a species native or exotic, and What values are at stake? We focus on the first of these two questions, and offer some preliminary (...) suggestions with regard to the second. Through a series of case studies, we show that it is not always clear whether a species is native or exotic. We identify five possible criteria that could be used for distinguishing natives from exotics. Rather than identifying one of these criteria as the 'correct' one, we suggest that the concepts of 'native' and ' exotic ' function more like what some philosophers have called cluster concepts. That is, there are several characteristics that are typical of native species, and a corresponding set of characteristics that are typical of exotic species. None of these characteristics is either necessary or sufficient for identifying a species as either native or exotic. We then identify several of the values that are at stake in dealing with exotic species, and we suggest that policies need to avoid being overly simplistic. (shrink)

We present the first fully rigorous, finite, static cosmic-string geometry that pro- duces accessible, traversable closed timelike curves (CTCs) in the exterior region while requiring zero exotic matter and satisfying all classical energy condi- tions.

Both Emmanuel Levinas and Edouard Glissant explored the possibility of a form of relationality in which one opens oneself to the Other without being totally dissolved in the Other. But whereas Levinas located such a possibility in the ethical relation with the unique Other who disturbs my self-sufficiency, for Glissant it took place in what, particularly in his early work, he often identified as a primarily aesthetic relation with the exotic. In that early work Glissant drew heavily on Victor (...) Segalen’s account of the shock of the exotic as he attempted to explore the loss of diversity and difference, but in his later work, under the name creolization, he shifted his primary focus increasingly to the encounter between cultures, albeit while still drawing on some of the terms he had developed through his engagement with Segalen. In addition to demonstrating some of the parallels between Levinas and Glissant’s efforts to investigate a largely neglected form of relationality, this paper also explores the efforts both Segalen and Glissant made to free the the term “exotic” from some of its problematic connotations. (shrink)

This article is a postscript to Bem's (1996) theory of sexual orientation, which claims that an individual's sexual orientation is more directly the result of childhood experiences than of inborn biological factors. The possibility that the theory provides a successful strategy for preventing gender-nonconforming children from becoming homosexual adults is considered and rejected. So, too, is the thesis that biological explanations of homosexuality are more likely than experience-based explanations to promote gay-positive attitudes and practices.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Haiti has often been referred to as a “mystery,” and “striking similarities” between patterns of disease in Haiti and in sub-Saharan Africa are often underlined. The occurrence of AIDS in Haitians has also led to the postulation of a number of theories positing a Haitian origin for AIDS and linking the syndrome in Haitians to voodoo. A review of the epidemiological data gathered and published in the early years of the pandemic suggests that these “exotic” (...) theories are not necessary to explain the Haitian epidemic, which is clearly linked not to Africa but to the United States. Patterns of risk identified among many of the first Haitians with AIDS are similar to risk factors identified in North America and Europe (same-sex contact with an HIV-infected individual and blood transfusion). The Haitian epidemicsubsequently came to resemble patterns seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS is predominantly a heterosexually transmitted disease. Similarly shifting patterns are described for several other Caribbean nations, underlining the importance of a historical analysis of the Caribbean pandemic as well as the necessity to link analysis of local epidemiology of AIDS/HIV to larger considerations of political economy. (shrink)

(1) a. Die Suppe1 wird der Hans [VP t1 essen] und [VP sich hinlegen]. (Topicalization) the soup will the Hans eat and self down-lie (The soup, Hans will eat and lie down.).

This paper examines the relationship between Foucault's general concerns and his neglected work on non-Western societies. It does so by examining two related questions. Firstly, what role does exoticism play in his theoretical imaginary? Secondly, how does his work on Japan, Iran and the non-Western world contribute to a different understanding of his thinking? As such, four general themes will be followed in order to underline the interplay of cultural difference with Foucault's broader projects: the limits of Western reason, genealogical (...) schemes of history, power and resistance, and, finally, subjectification. Throughout, an attempt will be made to highlight the interdependence and mutual constitution of Foucault's thought and matters of cultural alterity. (shrink)

This brief paper distinguishes between two intuitive concepts of what an exotic culture is. The first concept applies when the customs and beliefs of others are very different. The second concept applies when there is a significant departure from a natural baseline.

Nearly twenty years after SubStance devoted a special issue to the contemporary French writer we know as Antoine Volodine, we are thoroughly pleased to be publishing in this issue the opening of Dondog, a novel that Ben Streeter has translated with inspired exactitude and brilliant tonal precision. In English or in French, entering Dondog is not unlike entering any other "post-exotic" text. One has to learn how to orient oneself to the ruination of Modernity, within the dysfunctional memories of (...) post-traumatic subjects, between dark humor and luminous despair, in the liminal space between life and death, between humanity and animality, and, in the odd beauty... (shrink)

This article introduces and explores the concept of emotional consumption through an analysis of an exotic dance club in the New England area. Through understanding how regular customers consume the services offered in an exotic dance club, I show how consuming service labor differs dramatically from consuming objects of exchange. Emotional consumption involves psychosocial dynamics, which emerge from the intersubjective relationships between the consumer and the dancer who is providing a service. In this exchange, the consumer engages in (...) an interaction where the boundary between pure economic exchange begins to merge with a sense of relationality. (shrink)

We analyze N. C. A. da Costa and F. A. Doria’s “exotic formalization” of the conjecture P = NP [3–7]. For any standard axiomatic PA extension T and any number-theoretic sentence ${\varphi }$ , we let ${\varphi ^{\star} := \varphi \vee \lnot \mathsf{Con}\left( \mathsf{T}\right)}$ and prove the following “exotic” inferences 1–3. 1. ${\mathsf{T}+\varphi ^{\star}}$ is consistent, if so is T, 2. ${\mathsf{T}+\varphi}$ is consistent, provided that ${\mathsf{T}+\varphi ^{\star}}$ is ω-consistent, 3. ${\mathsf{T}+\varphi}$ is consistent, provided that T is consistent (...) and has the same provably total recursive functions as ${\mathsf{T}+\left( \varphi \leftrightarrow \varphi ^{\star }\right) }$ . Furthermore we show that 1–3 continue to hold for ${\varphi ^{\star} := \varphi _{S} :=\varphi \vee \lnot S}$ , where ${S=\forall x\exists yR\left( x,y\right)}$ is any ${\Pi _{2}^{0}}$ sentence satisfying: 4. ${\left( \forall n\in \omega \right) \left( \mathsf{T}\vdash S_{x}\left[ \underline{n}\right] \right) }$ , 5. ${\mathsf{Con}\left( \mathsf{T}\right) \Rightarrow \mathsf{T}\nvdash S}$ . We observe that if ${\varphi :=\left[ \mathsf{P}=\mathsf{NP}\right] }$ and ${S:= \left[\digamma total\right] }$ , where ${\digamma=\digamma _{\mathsf{T}}}$ is da Costa-Doria “exotic” function with respect to T, then 4, 5 are satisfied for most familiar (presumably) consistent T in question, while ${\varphi _{S}}$ becomes equivalent to da Costa-Doria “exotic formalization” ${\left[ \mathsf{P}=\mathsf{NP}\right]^{\digamma}}$ . Moreover, the corresponding “exotic” inferences 1–3 generalize analogous da Costa-Doria results. Hence these “exotic” inferences are universal for all number-theoretic sentences and not characteristic to the conjecture P = NP. Nor do they infer relative consistency of P = NP (see Conclusion 15 in the text). (shrink)

We construct a closed timelike curve (CTC) spacetime sourced by a planar clothoid (Euler spiral) cosmic string with mass per unit length µ and angular momentum. The metric ds2 = −(dt+a(r) dϕ) 2+dr2+α(r) 2 r 2 dϕ2+dz2 generalizes the Jensen–Soleng spinning string [1] to rdependent parameters. The deficit function α(r) = 1−C/r2 (C = Gµa2 sc/π) is established in Ref. [2]. The frame-dragging function a(r) is derived here from the vacuum Einstein equation Gtϕ = 0 (Appendix A): the linearized vacuum (...) equation reduces to d/dr[a ′ /(rα)] = 0, giving a ′ (r) = Krα(r) with integration constant K of dimensions [m−1 ] fixed by the outer junction condition. For the clothoid this integrates to a(r) = K(r 2 /2 − C ln r) + a0. Two radii play distinct roles and must not be conflated. The deficit-closure locus rα = √ C where α = 0: here Γr ϕϕ = 0 and any orbit obeying a ′ = Krα is radially geodesic (verified; universal for this class), but the sectional curvature 2C/[r 2 (r 2 − C)] and Kretschmann scalar 16C 2 /[r 4 (r 2 − C) 2 ] both diverge there — rα is a genuine curvature singularity, not a coordinate artifact. The chronology horizon rc > rα where gϕϕ = 0: curvature is finite there, a CTC family γr0 (λ) = (t0, r0, λ, z0) exists for r0 ≤ rc, and a time-travelling observer undergoes a coordinate-time displacement ∆ttravel = −2∆tfall < 0, emerging in the causal past. Seven properties of the CTC family are proved rigorously: (i) closure; (ii) timelikeness; (iii) finite proper time; (iv) accessibility from infinity with no event horizon; (v) the orbit at rα is radially geodesic (exact identity, Γr ϕϕ|α=0 = 0), but this locus is singular — no regular force-free traversable CTC is obtained there; (vi) no exotic matter; (vii) Novikov–Brouwer self-consistency. The string is treated as a manufactured device assembled at finite time, producing a compactly generated chronology horizon to which the Kay–Radzikowski–Wald (KRW) theorem [7] formally applies. The geodesy argument for KRW suppression applies at rα but is moot there (singular background); at rc the orbit is not geodesic and KRW applies in full. The central open problems are: (a) whether α(r) can be capped by a matter core before reaching zero, yielding a regular geodesic CTC at rc; and (b) the renormalized ⟨Tµν⟩ren on any such regularized background. The geodesic identity and the singularity obstruction are both exact, verified results; together they constitute a sharp structural finding and a well-posed programme for future work. (shrink)

Bob Taylor of US based Taylor Guitars tells a story, on YouTube, of the felling of 10 endangered ebony trees in Cameroon to find one with jet-black ebony – the remaining nine were left to rot. The story continues: Bob Taylor decided to purchase all the ebony, even that regarded as b-grade ‘streaked-ebony’ and incorporate the wood in guitar fretboards. Taylor Guitars used social media to communicate the environmental rationale behind the incorporation of streaked-ebony in the fretboards, and in so (...) doing, consumers were able to view the guitars from the perspective of environmental sustainability, and the aesthetic appeal and sound of the streaked-ebony was appreciated and well received. The initiative created a competitive advantage for the guitar manufacturer and contributed significantly to the sustainability of this endangered wood species. (shrink)

Organizations are not only gendered; they are also classed—that is, they articulate ideas and presentations of gender that are mediated by class position. This article pursues the idea of organizations as gendered and classed by means of a comparative ethnographic analysis of the performance of sexuality in four exotic dance clubs in the Southwestern United States. Strip clubs construct sexuality to be consistent with client class norms and assumptions and with how the clubs and dancers think working-class or middle-class (...) sexuality should be expressed. Class differences are represented as sexual differences in very concrete ways: the appearance of dancers and other staff, dancing and performance styles, and interactions that take place between dancers and customers. (shrink)

In his 1681 Discours sur l’histoire universelle, Bossuet declared that Christianity provided the organizing thread of history, and anything that was not guided by it was irrelevant. Nine years later, in Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding, travel reports provided the primary source of information, above all in their demonstration of the extent of moral diversity. During the Enlightenment, reports of thoroughly “alien” worlds, notably the New World and China, began to be treated as offering wholly unprecedented perspectives on the world (...) and our place in it. The paper surveys how interpretation of the reports changed radically between their original appearance in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and when subjected to new templates of understanding in the Enlightenment. (shrink)

Deferred internalists accept that sometimes, agents can form genuine normative judgments without any accompanying motivation. However, they propose that these judgments can only exist when they are embedded within psychologies or communities in which judgment and motivation typically align. In this paper, I sketch a version of externalism that challenges the interpretation of key evidence claimed by deferred internalists. According to this account, there is a robust but contingent connection between judgment and motivation that is explained by the structure of (...) the neurocognitive apparatus we happen to employ in evaluative thought. This proposal allows that all of our judgments lacking accompanying motivation are contingently parasitic on judgments that are accompanied by motivation. It also suggests that it is not possible to create communities of _beings like us_ whose judgments and motivation radically come apart. These results undermine current strategies for supporting deferred internalism. Proponents will need to find support elsewhere. (shrink)

The Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA) is the UK's statutory regulator of licensed assisted conception treatments. The past 10 years have, inevitably, drawn it further and deeper into this area of legal, moral and political controversy. It is opportune to consider how it has fared in the new climate of public accountability and critical scrutiny, and whether reform or revision of its role, mandate or operation may be called for. Through a close analysis of its published Annual Reports, it (...) is possible to form a picture of a development of the HFEA which has not been consistent, coherent or comfortable. (shrink)

This article discusses how women’s travels in the early imperial period threatened the ‘natural’ socio-cultural hierarchy of the Roman upper-classes. In a first part, the main threads of the ideological discourse on female mobility will be mapped by means of an examination of a senatorial debate during the reign of Tiberius in Tacitus’ Annals, uncovering layers of meaning that have remained unnoticed. The second and third parts will be devoted to literary motifs that have shaped the characterizations of men and (...) women travellers to illustrate the extents to which Roman travel is gendered. Central to this examination is the Roman elite’s fear of the corrupting and disrupting power of the exotica of foreign nations and its effects on men’s and women’s Romanness. (shrink)