Anthropocene Research Articles

Māori ancestral knowledge of communication

Emerging from a need for culturally grounded speech-language therapy in Aotearoa (New Zealand), this study examined Māori (Indigenous people of New Zealand) values and perspectives on communication held within a data set of 2,669 pepeha (ancestral sayings). Analysis of literal translations, context, literary features, and philosophical meanings led to identification of 368 sayings relevant to communication. Thematic analysis of these sayings resulted in eight themes: (a) āhuatanga karere (message and messenger characteristics), (b) mana reo (power and influence of language), (c) reo ā-tinana (body language), (d) te whē (sound), (e) tohu (signs, instructions, marks, visions, omens), (f) whakarongo (listening, hearing, obeying), (g) whanaungatanga (relationships), and (h) whatumanawa (open expression of emotion). These themes identify a holistic view, beyond interpersonal interactions, emphasising the interconnectedness of the human, spiritual, and natural worlds in ancestral communication. Findings contribute a deeper understanding of traditional Māori communication and add to the foundations guiding culturally grounded therapeutic approaches.

Out of the Mouth of Babes … (Ps. 8:2)

Abstract The present paper investigates the role of children as mediators between the world of humans and the divine, as reflected in Zoroastrian Middle Persian texts. Taking the curious portrayal of the main protagonist of the Pahlavi “Story of Jōišt ī Friyān” as a starting point, it examines how the author of the tale accentuates his own educational message by attributing it to an underage boy. In this context the article attempts to contribute to the discussion on the place of visions in traditional Zoroastrian society and literature.

Eurasian back-migration: traces in mythology?

The author examines the world distribution of mythological motifs peculiar for Northeast Africa but absent in other parts of this continent. The corresponding narratives describe the events of the time of creation, objects and beings localized at the ultimate limits of the human world as well as episodes of the journeys of heroes to these limits. The motifs in question are absent in Central Asia and Siberia but found across Western, South and Southeast Asia, in Oceania and across the New World. Considering such distribution, these stories probably appeared at the early stages of the peopling of the oikumene (definitely before the peopling of the New World) and were brought to Africa by the populations engaged into the Eurasian back-migrations that were going since the Terminal Pleistocene and possibly earlier.

Human Rights System Guidelines on the Benefit from Scientific Progress in Access to Medicines

Abstract Health innovation and research has become an economic and profitable activity. Market practices have exposed inequalities, scarcities and inequities in access to treatments and have significantly reduced the decision-making power of governments in the field of public health. Documentary research on the human right (HR) to health (Art. 12) and its interrelationship with the right to benefit from scientific progress (Art. 15, b) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) on access to medicines in three bodies of the UN system - the ICESCR Monitoring Committee (CESCR), the Human Rights Council (HRC) and World Health Organisation - over the last 10 years. The documents address three main topics. Market: marketing restrictions, price controls and using flexibility in pharmaceutical patents to reduce costs and produce generics. Innovation: patent protection without barriers to access to medicines for people in need. Health system interventions: giving priority to economic efficiency and sustainability by institutionalising health technology assessment, selecting essential medicines, developing clinical guidelines and integrating and linking regulatory agencies. These normative guidelines minimise the ethical, political and legal dimensions of the human right to enjoy scientific progress in access to medicines as a priority value that should guide public and private action, and emphasise technocratic and financial measures that seek to reconcile the liberal and social logic of the ICESCR. Key messages • In order to maximise the guarantee of human rights in access to medicines, economic and financial considerations should play only a residual role in human rights. • To give countries greater decision-making power at the global health, the scope of the right to benefit from scientific progress and its applications in health care needs to be expanded.

Dekonstruksi Konsep Aset Berbasis Jalan Zuhud: Suatu Perlawanan Terhadap Materialisme

This research aims to deconstruct the concept of assets based on ascetic values. This type of research uses qualitative research. The paradigm used in this research is the postmodernism paradigm with a case study research design. The data source used is secondary, originating from literature studies and literature reviews related to the concept of assets and the concept of asceticism. This research found that the concept of assets based on asceticism is a complement and enjoyment of the world for humans in carrying out their lives as a trust obtained from human efforts and gifts from Allah SWT with the temporary owner of the assets being humans and the true owner namely Allah SWT who is always based on gratitude and fear. in every management. The theoretical implication of this article is to increase literacy regarding the meaning of the asset concept from a perspective that is different from the conventional perspective. The practical implications related to the results of this research can at least provide benefits to make accounting science useful for those who study it.

The Imagination of the Forest and the Fear of the Land: The Idea of Nature in Recent Hindi Fiction

This article examines the idea of nature in two Hindi novels set in central India: Dīvār Meṃ Ek Khiṛkī Rahtī Thī (A Window Lived in a Wall) by Vinod Kumar Shukla and Kāle Adhyāya (Black Chapters) by Manoj Rupara. Both novels feature an elephant as a symbol of the forest and its otherness from the human world. The article argues that the elephant reveals a complex and contradictory imagination of the forest in Central India, which troubles both the idyllic pastoral of Shukla’s small town and the story of the violent dispossession of the Gondi Adivasi community in Kāle Adhyāya. The article situates these novels in the context of Hindi literature’s engagement with nature, regionalism and the lower middle class. In so doing, the article contributes to the scholarship on regional literature in Hindi and the study of Hindi literature’s depiction of nature.

Storying Anthropocene Waters: Advocacy through Resacralization in Postcolonial River Narratives of the Indian Subcontinent

Against the background of contemporary debates about the Anthropocene and the attendant danger of global warming and climate change, which is causally linked to the unchecked exploitation of the earth by humans, narratives which embody an earth-centric scientia sacra become tools of advocacy for the ‘resacralization’ of the earth. This paper explores three South Asian river narratives that offer a blueprint for mindfully inhabiting the earth under the shadow of the Anthropocene. Calling for a participatory relationship with the holiness of water, they challenge the construction of water in a rapidly globalizing, uneven society shaped by a colonial hydrology in which the ecological relationship between land and water is out of balance. Drawing attention to the multiple ways in which the human and non-human world are enmeshed in the Anthropocene, these narratives engage with environmental justice concerns and challenge the hierarchy or perspectives and worldviews regarding accepted notions of subalternity. These texts construct a triptych suggesting an embedded ecotheology of the material and the spiritual, thereby sensitising the reader to the endangered waterscapes of the Anthropocene and also to the promise of the Symbiocene through an awareness of the fluid relational field that we share with the greater-than-human world.

Eco-consciousness in Andrew Marvell’s The Garden

This paper explores ecological and environmental issues in Andrew Marvell’s poem, “The Garden.” The purpose of this paper is to subvert the anthropocentric world view by juxtaposing the Eco-centric world which provides ultimate pleasure to human beings. This paper employs qualitative and interpretative method to analyze the poem. The researcher has examined the poem from the perspective of Eco-criticism. Distancing himself from the anthropocentric world-view, Marvell highlights the Eco-centric world in order to valorize the beauty and serenity of nature. Marvell glorifies nature and natural beauty by using metaphysical conceits. The poem displays superiority of nature over trivial human culture. In addition, it shows eternity of nature by contrasting it with the transitory nature of human world. The garden is a place for refreshment and nourishment; it stands for innocence, solitude and recreation. Mistaken by the temptation of the material world, the poet seeks peace and pleasure in the human company. However; he finds such blissful states in the lap of nature. Marvell’s critique of anthropocentric and glorification of bio centrism opens an avenue for the critiques who are interested in integrating literary texts with the Environmental Studies. Thus; the present reading of the poem unveils the Eco-conscious elements of the poem from the lens of Eco-criticism.

Демон или будда: настоятель Рё:гэн и его образ в поучительных рассказах «Бесед о делах старины»

In the paper biography of Ryōgen, a prominent Japanese monk of the 10th cen­tury and Tendai zasu, is considered, as well as his contribution in the develop­ment of Tendai school is briefly discussed. Also, the analysis of Ryōgen’s achievements and vices as the authors of setsuwa tales’ compilations saw them is presented, based mainly on the “Tales About Old Matters” (“Kojidan”, early 13th century) by Minamoto no Akikane. Akikane chose for the chapter about monks three stories in which Ryōgen plays a significant role. The author creates an image of zasu as a superhuman being, dragon, who was born in the human world and became the head of Tendai school for the benefit of others only. In the literature of Akikane’s and slightly latter time there were examples of completely opposite views on Ryōgen’s nature and his deeds too. Such differ­ence in understanding of the zasu image in Japanese culture is accounted for the facts of his biography. With the lack of advantage of being highborn or rich, he overcame many obstacles and climbed on the very top of monastic hierarchy, particularly due to his exceptional eloquence, knowledge of Buddhist texts and ability to make connections with lay aristocracy. He was criticized for the latter, but in fact he successfully took Tendai school out of stagnation and led it to prosperity. He played his role in formation of schism in the school because he re­garded with favour monks of his own linage, but he also was a talented adminis­trator, built temples, improved education in Enryakuji. He influenced on develop­ment of Amidaism, and his disciples became prominent religious figures. That may be the cause why Akikane condemns ambitious monks, but not Ryōgen

On Pushkin, Cultural Continuity and Linguistic Features of Modern Media Discourse

The article emphasizes the enormous infl uence of the work of Alexander Pushkin on the entire national culture, literature and language. It became the source of the most signifi cant socio-historical, philosophical, aesthetic ideas for all subsequent Russian literature. Personal reader observations related to the classical heritage and language of the modern media space, as well as practical experience in training journalistic personnel, prompted the author to turn to the problem of cultural continuity, which has become relevant in recent years to our society. Attention is drawn to the fact that high school graduates who have chosen the specialty of journalist and public relations specialist have in recent years come to university with a weak background of general cultural knowledge. “Digital” youth, brought up on exams, don`t always give preference to reading original literature.The purpose of the article is to understand the modern process of cultural continuity, cultural and linguistic meanings and features of modern media discourse. Society is based on communication, and communication is impossible without a common system of concepts and values. The author expresses the idea that in the context of the new challenges of our time, society has clearly formulated a request for the preservation of national roots, national culture, domestic classics, the need to preserve the intergenerational cultural code as an urgent task that determines the dynamics of the humanities in general and journalism in particular. Based on the method of theoretical analysis, as well as using the method of content analysis, the author analyzes the specifi c results of a study of the press of the big cities in the Privolzhskiy Federal District, the state of the modern media agenda and changes that have affected the language of modern media. The author concludes that these processes refl ect the transformation of both the press and society. Also, we express an opinion on the need for attention to the issues of the mission of modern media discourse, the infl uence of media on the formation of the spiritual world of modern humanity, its worldview and civic position, which was characteristic of the best traditions of Russian culture. Keywords: Alexander Pushkin, classics, cultural continuity, language of modern media, media discourse, training of journalists

Перспективы социальной философии в современных условиях глобализации

Globalization processes have occurred more than once in human history. Scientists have identified several waves of major integration processes that took place in various areas of human activity. However, modern globalization processes, largely due to the development of digital technologies, surpass in scale and signifi-cance all those occurring previously. What are the vectors of development of modern globalization and its consequences for all humanity? This is not an idle question concerning scientists and philosophers. In this re-gard, there are many different concepts that interpret the essence of the phenomenon of “globalization” and its prospects. However, there is no doubt that the human world has ceased to be flat and linear, society has transformed into humanity, and humanity has transformed into a world on a planetary scale. The social world is presented in a complex proliferation with a huge variety of super dynamic connections and relationships determined by civilizational achievements. With the processes of globalization, a new page begins in the his-tory not only of humanity, but also in the history of social philosophy, which cannot measure society in the same traditional ways. Socio-philosophical discourse requires new cognitive research paradigms in order to more accurately represent the picture of the globalizing world and the place of the singular person in it. The article attempts to substantiate one of these paradigms.

Prospects for social philosophy in modern conditions of globalization

Globalization processes have occurred more than once in human history. Scientists have identified several waves of major integration processes that took place in various areas of human activity. However, modern globalization processes, largely due to the development of digital technologies, surpass in scale and signifi-cance all those occurring previously. What are the vectors of development of modern globalization and its consequences for all humanity? This is not an idle question concerning scientists and philosophers. In this re-gard, there are many different concepts that interpret the essence of the phenomenon of “globalization” and its prospects. However, there is no doubt that the human world has ceased to be flat and linear, society has transformed into humanity, and humanity has transformed into a world on a planetary scale. The social world is presented in a complex proliferation with a huge variety of super dynamic connections and relationships determined by civilizational achievements. With the processes of globalization, a new page begins in the his-tory not only of humanity, but also in the history of social philosophy, which cannot measure society in the same traditional ways. Socio-philosophical discourse requires new cognitive research paradigms in order to more accurately represent the picture of the globalizing world and the place of the singular person in it. The article attempts to substantiate one of these paradigms.

“Can I become a tree?”: Plant Imagination in Contemporary Indian Poetry in English

Abstract Indian poetry in English has a deep engagement with plant imagination from its beginning. The discourse of plant imaginary, however, is never monolithic here. The early poems often use trees either as symbols or semantic entities. In other words, the representation of ontological identity of a tree is largely ignored in early Indian English poems barring a few remarkable exceptions. But contemporary Indian English poetry looks beyond the anthropomorphic vision of a tree and portrays plant subjectivity and plant agency. The depiction of a symbiotic relation between the human world and the arboreal world is also at the centre of this poetry. Some poems speak of plant personhood and even human aspiration for becoming a tree. The present paper critically reads the relevant poems of poets like Toru Dutt, Keki N. Daruwalla, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Gieve Patel, Dilip Chitre, Temsula Ao, Sumana Roy, Paresh Tiwari, Kiriti Sengupta among others, and explores all these issues from the perspectives of Critical Plant Studies. The paper also examines how Indian poetry in English is at times implicated in didacticism when it critiques the unprecedented botanical loss in the Anthropocene.

Da Exclusão à Expressão: Arte como Ferramenta de Inclusão e Empoderamento para Alunos com Necessidades Especiais

This study explores the profound relationship between art and inclusion in the education of students with special needs. Art transcends its role as a curricular discipline, becoming a powerful tool for the holistic development and empowerment of these students. By challenging stereotypes and promoting full participation, art offers a space for expression, communication, and learning for all, regardless of their needs. The research highlights the importance of adapting materials, activities, and environments, as well as the ongoing training of teachers, to make art accessible and meaningful for all students. Through flexibility, creativity, and sensitivity, teachers can create a welcoming and stimulating learning environment where every student feels valued and encouraged to explore their creative potential. Theories such as constructivism, the Social Model of Disability, and the Theory of Multiple Intelligences provide a solid theoretical foundation for the construction of inclusive pedagogical practices. The methodology adopted in this study is qualitative bibliographic research, which seeks to analyze and synthesize the knowledge produced on the relationship between art and inclusion in theeducation of students with special needs. The study concludes that art, when used intentionally and adapted, can be a powerful tool for promoting inclusion, holistic development, and empowerment of students with special needs. Art reveals itself as a path towards building a fairer, more equitable, and creative education, where every individual has the opportunity to flourish fully and contribute to the construction of a more humane and supportive world.

Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Civilization: the Fundamental Principle of Postgraduate Training of International Chinese Education

The important discussion of civilization exchange and mutual learning is not only an important way to build a community with a shared future for mankind, an important driving force to promote the common progress of human civilization and world peace and development, but also provides a theoretical basis for the construction of international Chinese education, and effectively solves the academic debate on the nature of international Chinese education. Build human destiny community, civilization exchange mutual learning and international Chinese education constitutes the complete system of the world, build human destiny community is civilization exchange mutual learning and the ultimate goal and fundamental task of international Chinese education, civilization exchange mutual learning and international Chinese education is the concept of building human destiny community guarantee and implementation path, civilization exchange mutual learning is the fundamental follow the international Chinese education, international Chinese education is an important support to promote communication between Chinese and foreign civilizations. Therefore, the international Chinese education should take the important discourse of civilization exchange and mutual learning as the fundamental adherence of the professional construction and the guiding ideology of the curriculum setting, and list it as an important professional course or an important content of the professional course

Tavern, Road, Moon: A Comparative Study of the Use of Imagery in the Novels of Lu Xun and Wang Zengqi

The imagery in the novels of Lu Xun and Wang Zengqi frequently overlaps. This paper selects the three common images of tavern, road, and moon for comparison, aiming to analyze the unique emotions and deeper meanings each image carries in the works of these two writers. Lu Xuns novel writing is bold in its innovation, breaking free from the constraints of traditional frameworks, with most of his imagery reflecting and bearing the significance of the times, together constructing a literary world that profoundly reflects social realities and human nature. Inspired by Lu Xun, Wang Zengqis novel writing follows a path that returns to the ordinary, pursuing the beauty of harmony. The imagery in Wang Zengqis novels embodies a love for life, fulfilling his creative ideal of bringing warmth to the human world and his persistent pursuit of expressing the beauty of human nature.

“They Too Will Be Gone and New”. Colonial Otherness in the Interplay between Humanity and Elfdom in Andrzej Sapkowski’s “The Edge of the World”

Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy narrative and novel saga, as exemplified by the “The Edge of the World” short story, borrows largely from J. R. R. Tolkien’s depiction of elves in defining most of their traits and the relationship between them and humans. Sapkowski, however, clearly transforms the image of the (predominantly) benevolent elf defined by Tolkien. The aim of this article is to explore the way in which Sapkowski portrays the elven race as sovereign in their exclusion from the world of humanity. Sapkowski’s story allows the group to maintain its unique motivations, resisting morally dualistic stereotyping at the same time. Moreover, because neither humanity nor elfdom may claim moral superiority in their conflict, the colonial experience of the elves is not simply appropriated by the author as an example of Indigenous victimhood. Rather, it serves the purpose of presenting readers with a multifaceted tapestry of colonial conflict contained within a fantasy world. The players of this world, though opposed and prone to othering their enemies, are nevertheless rhetorically equal.

The Interweaving of Humanity and Animality-Animal Narrative at Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry

Alan Dugan was a contemporary American poet. His last volume, entitled Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry, was published in 2001 and won Dugan a second National Book Award. This paper is based on Alan Dugan’s narration of animals in his new poems and Dugan’snarration of animals, which conveys his profound thinking and care about human beings and the life form of existence. “Human beings” are often closely related to animals. The animal narration in Dugan’s literary works expresses a hidden human world “behind his back.” Therefore, “animals” is one of the keys to interpreting Dugan’s complex, mysterious, and bizarre narrative world. The expression and writing of animals can be used as a breakthrough point of Dugan’s research so as to dig deeply into his spiritual world and artistic characteristics in order to achieve a new understanding and thinking of his literary creation.

From Learning Ecologies to a Social Ecosystem Model for Learning and Skills

The growing relevance of socio-ecological systems (SESs) thinking reflects both the challenges of an anthropogenic poly crisis and attempts to understand the complexities of societal development in an era of globalisation. The article begins by suggesting there are two related variants of SES thinking—relationships between the natural and human worlds (Variant 1) and whole social and human system analysis using metaphorical transfer and theorisation of natural ecological principles (Variant 2). This article elaborates Variant 2 through the development a social ecosystem model (SEM) applied to post-compulsory education and skills development. An exploration of the SEM is conducted through a review of the literatures on ‘Learning Ecologies’ to assess the strengths and limitations of this human ecological approach. Perceived limitations are addressed by the development of the SEM that adds a political economy dimension to the learning ecological model, which is then applied to the field of learning and skills in the English context in support of an inclusive and place-based approach to vocational education and training (VET). The article concludes by suggesting that the SEM can be further expanded by its application to transitioning to more sustainable futures, being developed by scholars of indigenous communities and populations of the Global South, that arguably brings Variant 2 of SESs thinking closer to Variant 1.

Choroba i środowisko – ekowidmontologiczna lektura Łakomych Małgorzaty Lebdy

This article is an ecohauntological reading of Małgorzata Lebda’s novel Łakome [The Greedy] (2023). Its main purpose is to track down the Derridean ‘spectres’ that make their appearance as a result of the traumatic relationship between the main character and a rural world in the grip of an environmental degradation and the extinction of wildlife. The article proposes a psychoanalytic reading of the novel based on Ashlee Cunsolo’s notion of ‘ecological grief’, triggered by inexorable loss that occurs before the eyes of the protagonists. The experience of terminal illness tests and erodes the ‘I’, but also opens it to the outside world and, in effect, reveals a precious complex of relations between the human and non-human worlds.