2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Theories and representations of "hybridity" in Western history of thought
| Project/Area Number |
20K00103
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Metropolitan University |
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Principal Investigator |
グロワザール ジョスラン 東京都立大学, 人文科学研究科, 准教授 (30781885)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | hybridity / mixture / diversity |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In FY 2020 I advanced this research project on the cultural history of "hybridity" by constituting a diverse corpus of works dealing in one way or another with "hybrids" (hybrid animals or hybrid objects) in the fields of philosophy, biology, literature, and history of art.
I also tried to analyse how hybridity can work as a "diversity model" by comparing it to another diversity mixture, namely mixture, from Antiquity to modern times. I was able to show that these two models had a contrasted history, as mixture was for a long time the dominant model, but has been superseded in more recent times by hybridity. I made some hypotheses on the reasons why one model has been supplanted by the other, and I made a theoretical proposal to use both of them as complementary diversity models to analyse mixed or hybrid objects in contemporary culture.
I also made preparatory research work for future case studies on hybrid animals in Ancient history and the Medieval bestiaries, hybrid monsters in the work of the 16th century physician Ambroise Pare and the early Modern Peripatetic philosopher Fortunio Liceti, as well as the gradual disappearance of hybrid monsters in the development of later teratological science, and the discussion of hybridity in Darwin's evolutionist biology.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Due to the coronavirus crisis I was unable to make the research trip to Europe I had planned in my research project in order to collect research material. I have been able to advance research with material available in Japan, but the difficulty of making research stays abroad, if going on for a long time, may have an impact of this research and delay slightly its advancement.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
According to the initial research plan, I will now focus on case studies about various aspects of hybridity in Western cultural history, such as hybrid animals in Ancient natural science, hybrid creatures and monsters in Ancient mythology and Medieval bestiaries, hybrid monsters in the development of modern teratology, the role of hybridity in evolutionist biology, and the proliferation of hybrid objects in contemporary philosophy and technology.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to the coronavirus crisis I had to cancel the research trip I had planned to Europe, so that I made no travel expenses in FY2020 and the actual expenditure for this year was lower than I had expected. I hope to be able to use the remaining amount in the coming year to make a research stay abroad as initially planned, if the health situation abroad and travel restrictions in Japan allow it.
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