Lady Gaga as (dis)simulacrum of monstrosity

Lady Gaga’s celebrity DNA revolves around the notion of monstrosity, an extensively researched concept in postmodern cultural studies. The analysis that is offered in this paper is largely informed by Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of monstrosity, as well as by their approach to the study of sign-systems that was deployed in A Thousand Plateaus. By drawing on biographical and archival visual data, with a focus on the relatively underexplored live show, an elucidation is afforded of what is really monstrous about Lady Gaga. The main argument put forward is that monstrosity as sign seeks to appropriate the horizon of unlimited semiosis as radical alterity and openness to signifying possibilities. In this context it is held that Gaga effectively delimits her unique semioscape; however, any claims to monstrosity are undercut by the inherent limits of a representationalist approach in sufficiently engulfing this concept. Gaga is monstrous for her community insofar as she demands of her fans to project their semiosic horizon onto her as a simulacrum of infinite semiosis. However, this simulacrum may only be evinced in a feigned manner as a (dis)simulacrum. The analysis of imagery from seminal live shows during 2011–2012 shows that Gaga’s presumed monstrosity is more akin to hyperdifferentiation as simultaneous employment of heterogeneous and potentially dissonant inter pares cultural representations. The article concludes with a problematisation of audience effects in the light of Gaga’s adoption of a schematic and post-representationalist strategy in the event of her strategy’s emulation by competitive artists

Phylogeography, Population Structure, and Species Delimitation in Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome and Eudyptes moseleyi)

Rockhopper penguins are delimited as 2 species, the northern rockhopper (Eudyptes moseleyi) and the southern rockhopper (Eudyptes chrysocome), with the latter comprising 2 subspecies, the western rockhopper (Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome) and the eastern rockhopper (Eudyptes chrysocome filholi). We conducted a phylogeographic study using multilocus data from 114 individuals sampled across 12 colonies from the entire range of the northern/southern rockhopper complex to assess potential population structure, gene flow, and species limits. Bayesian and likelihood methods with nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, including model testing and heuristic approaches, support E. moseleyi and E. chrysocome as distinct species lineages with a divergence time of 0.97 Ma. However, these analyses also indicated the presence of gene flow between these species. Among southern rockhopper subspecies, we found evidence of significant gene flow and heuristic approaches to species delimitation based on the genealogical diversity index failed to delimit them as species. The best-supported population models for the southern rockhoppers were those where E. c. chrysocome and E. c. filholi were combined into a single lineage or 2 lineages with bidirectional gene flow. Additionally, we found that E. c. filholi has the highest effective population size while E. c. chrysocome showed similar effective population size to that of the endangered E. moseleyi. We suggest that the current taxonomic definitions within rockhopper penguins be upheld and that E. chrysocome populations, all found south of the subtropical front, should be treated as a single taxon with distinct management units for E. c. chrysocome and E. c. filholi.Fil: Mays, Herman L.. Marshall University; Estados UnidosFil: Oehler, David A.. Wildlife Conservation Society; Estados UnidosFil: Morrison, Kyle W.. No especifíca;Fil: Morales, Ariadna E.. American Museum of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Lycans, Alyssa. Marshall University; Estados UnidosFil: Perdue, Justin. Marshall University; Estados UnidosFil: Battley, Phil F.. Marshall University; Estados UnidosFil: Cherel, Yves. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Chilvers, B. Louise. Massey University; Nueva ZelandaFil: Crofts, Sarah. No especifíca;Fil: Demongin, Laurent. No especifíca;Fil: Fry, W. Roger. No especifíca;Fil: Hiscock, Jo. No especifíca;Fil: Kusch, Alejandro. Wildlife Conservation Society,; Estados UnidosFil: Marin, Manuel. American Museum of Natural History; Estados UnidosFil: Poisbleau, Maud. University of Antwerp; BélgicaFil: Quillfeldt, Petra. Justus Liebig University Giessen; AlemaniaFil: Raya Rey, Andrea Nélida. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Steinfurth, Antje. University of Cape Town; SudáfricaFil: Thompson, David R.. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research; Nueva ZelandaFil: Weakley, Leonard A. No especifíca