Wiktionary
n. 1 (context pathology English) Normal tissue (or an organ) present at an abnormal part of the body 2 (context ecology English) The occurrence of an organism in a number of different habitats 3 (context philosophy English) A type of utopia that actually exists in a society
Wikipedia
Heterotopia may refer to:
- Heterotopia (medicine), the displacement of an organ from its normal position
- Heterotopia (space), a concept of "other spaces" created by the philosopher Michel Foucault
- Heterotopia, 2006 ballet by William Forsythe
In medicine, "heterotopia" refers to presence of a particular tissue type at a non-physiological site, but usually co-existing with original tissue in its correct anatomical location. In other words, it implies ectopic tissue, in addition to retention of the original tissue type. In neuropathology, for example, gray matter heterotopia, is the presence of gray matter within the cerebral white matter or ventricles. Heterotopia within the brain is often divided into three groups: subependymal heterotopia, focal cortical heterotopia and band heterotopia. Another example is a Meckel's diverticulum which may contain heterotopic gastric or pancreatic tissue.
In biology specifically, heterotopy refers to an altered location of trait expression. In her landmark book,Developmental Plasticity and Evolution Mary-Jane West Eberhard has a provocative cover art of the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo and comments on the back cover "Did it's long crest[head] feathers evolve by gradual modification of ancestral head feathers? Or are they descendants of wing feathers, developmentally transplanted onto the head" This idea sets the tone for the rest of her book which goes into depth about developmental novelties and their relation to evolution. Heterotopy is a somewhat obscure but well demonstrated example of how developmental change can lead to novel forms. The central concept is that a feature seen in one area of an organism has had its location changed in evolutionary lineages.
Heterotopia is a concept in human geography elaborated by philosopher Michel Foucault to describe places and spaces that function in non- hegemonic conditions. These are spaces of otherness, which are neither here nor there, that are simultaneously physical and mental, such as the space of a phone call or the moment when you see yourself in the mirror.
Usage examples of "heterotopia".
But it is also a heterotopia insofar as the mirror does exist in reality, where it exerts a sort of counteraction on the position that I occupy.
The mirror functions as a heterotopia in this respect: it makes this place that I occupy at the moment when I look at myself in the glass at once absolutely real, connected with the space that surrounds it, and absolutely unreal, since in order to be perceived it has to pass through this virtual point which is over there.
Foucault cites pirate ships and brothels as exemplary instances of heterotopia in modern Western culture: virtual spaces, as it were, for a time before computers.
Indeed, heterotopias express these relations and constraints even to excess: they are "capable of juxtaposing in a single real place several spaces, several sites that are in themselves incompatible.