When I started doing fieldwork in Slovakia in the summer of 2017, two years after the events usually referred to as ‘refugee crisis,’ refugees and asylum were still ubiquitous topics of conversation, causing emotional discussions wherever I went. Three days into my stay in Bratislava's eastern district of Ružinov, seemingly out of nowhere, my landlady Sára suddenly burst into a long, agitated monologue on the refugee situation. She was convinced that the recent ‘exodus’ was being controlled by someone with an agenda, maybe destabilizing Europe. She did not believe that all refugees were threatened by war, and even if they were, they should rather stay where they were and fight for their country. “A man who abandons his family is not a man in my eyes,” she declared resolutely. “When there was war in Slovakia, no one left, we all stayed here. Indeed, we had the Slovak National Uprising!” she added with pathos.

I was stumped by the raw animosity in her words. Sára was a skilled potter in her midsixties with Jewish roots. She had told me that when anti-communist protests started taking place in her hometown in 1989, she stood in the front row. I had got to know her as a passionate democrat and an astute observer of national and international politics. Yet she went into a downright tirade of derogatory and generalizing comments on how “the Muslims” were ungrateful and incompatible with “our” advanced and civilized European culture.

Reacting to my acute discomfort, she contained her rage. Almost apologetically, she explained that her fear and skepticism came from her life experience and her experience of Slovakia as a nation. Slovaks were hostile toward Muslims almost innately; this was because Ottoman rule in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries came with so much violence and deprivation for an innocent population.

Sára's argument against refugees, and my queasy reaction, shows the emotional capacity of the issue: it touches upon essential expressions of personhood—individual and national identity, and (collective) memory—and upon core values such as safety, continuity, and justice. It is very common in Slovakia to see one's stance on refugees, like Sára, not as a political opinion like any other but as a question of principle. Politics boosts this framing by tying the refugee issue tightly to essential needs such as national security and sovereignty.

Freud famously and very apocryphally cautioned against overdetermination – an exclusive focus that blinds people to difference and subtlety – by quipping that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, rather than an embodiment of female objectification or Europe's nineteen thirties waltz into the abyss. In discussing New Horizons as a matter of exploration, this book has suggested that the virtual world can be appreciated from a range of perspectives, in part a matter of the reader's (or player’s) interests and values. In that spirit, this chapter offers some concluding remarks, centred on pleasures, creativity and futures. It represents a sense of why people might write and read about New Horizons, and of course venture into that virtual world.

Playscapes

Animal Crossing is a matter of virtual space, a commercial ‘scape’ for play by adults and minors with varying degrees of expertise and creativity alongside a range of motivations and outcomes that extend from the consolation of routine to co-creation of a stage worthy of commendation for both its aesthetic excellence and facilitation of sociable performance by multiple gamers. It is not a social media platform such as Facebook that in the guise of supporting a global community commodifies the attention of its users by displaying advertisements and mining data about user locations, affiliations, preferences and other attributes for sale to unidentified third parties such as Cambridge Analytica. It is also not a platform that exists solely to facilitate real-world commercial transactions, for example, the digital stock exchanges. There are transactions in New Horizons but they are about pleasure, not about entities such as hedge funds and dark pools.

It is a scape for scholarly attention, both in itself and as one world – somewhat brighter and friendlier – than the expanding galaxy of aggressive computer games that attract our attention and our money. It can be understood as a manifestation of human needs: our desire to be entertained, delighted, occupied, friended and creative. It can also be understood as a commercial exercise: returns from inputs within a global legal framework that fosters the flow of capital and a shared experience based on digital networks and artificial intelligence.

[A65b, B288b, C265b, D209a, E240a, F259a, G234b, H251a, I268a, J256a]

(a) Tevārīḫ-i Mülūk-i āl-i cOsmān ve Ġazv-i Īşān bā-Küffar

• 1. Bu tevārīḫ çün eyledüm beyān

• Göñlüme bir nesne düşdi nāgehān

• 2. Daḫ1 sözler vesvese˘ol ilhāmdur

• Çāresi nedür anuñ itmāmdur

• [B289a, C266a]

• 3. Ol melikler ki˘anlar1 ẕikr eyledüm

• Ḥāletin ü sīretini söyledüm

• 4. Kimi kāfirdi kimi ehl-i sitem

• Ḳahrldl anlarda bīş u luṭf kem

• [H251b]

• 5. Ol Moġol sulṭānlarlnuñ cadlini

• Niceyidi işit imdi şerḥini

• 6. İtmediler an1 kim Cingīz Ḫān

• Ẓulmden ḫalḳa ider idi cayān

• 7. Ẓulm itdiler velī ḳānūn1la

• Ellerin boyamad1lar ḫūn1la7

• 8. Ẓulm kim ḳānūn ẓabṭ1la ola

• cAdl gibi ḫalḳa ol āsān gele

• [F259b]

• 9. Vardur ol sözlerde bize çok zelel

• İdelüm şimdi˘an1 ki˘anda yoḳ ḫalel

• [G235a]

• 10. Çün añ1ld1 ol ḳamu ehl-i sitem

• Zikre getürelüm ehl-i cadli hem

• [J256b]

• 11. Añalum ol begleri kim serteser

• Hem Müsülmān idiler hem dādger

• [E240b]

• 12. Ḳamus1nuñ işi kāfirle cidāl

• Geydügi vü yidügi māl1 ḥelāl

• [I268b]

• 13. Bu kitāba idelüm an1 ḫitām

• Ki˘anuñ1la ola bu nāme tamām

• [D209b]

• 14. Bir ġazāvetnāme düzeyim saña

• İşid illā ictirāż itme baña

• 15. Ġāziler ṣoñra nişe˘añ1ld1 dime

• Anlar aşaġa neçün geldi dime

(b) İstiẕār-1 Teḫīr-i Ḳażiyye-i Ġāziyān

[B289b]

• 16. Ṣoñra gelen öñ gelenden yig olur

• Fikri olan bun1 kim direm bilür

• [C266b]

• 17. Virdi Ḥaḳ insāna feyż itdükde cūd

• Ḳudret ü caḳl u ḥayāt u hem vücūd

• 18. cAḳl ol üçden yigrekdi bigümān

• Lācirem ṣoñra˘old1 añlardan cayān

• [H252a]

• 19. Ṣoñra geldi enbiyādan ol Resūl

• Ḫātim old1 vü ḳamudan eşref ol

• 20. Dört kitābuñ soñ1 Ḳurāndur gelen

• Faẓl1la˘oldur anlara nāsiḫ olan

• [F260a]

• 21. OEamudan çün ṣoñra geldi ādemī

• Faẓl1la old1 ḳamunuñ ḫātimi

• 22. Pāẕişeh aşaġa yuḳaru calem

• Ol calemden pāẓişeh olur m1 kem

• 23. Dürr-i meknūn baḥr ḳacr1nda olur

• Ḫār u ḫas ḫāşāk yuḳaru ḳalur

• [I269a, J257a]

• 24. Tebbet ile Ḳul huva’llāhu aḥad

• Bu söze ḥüccet ki yoḳdur aña red

(c) Āġāz-1 Dāsitān

[E241a, G235b]

• 25. Bir gün ol Sul†ān cAlāü’d-dīn sacīd

• Ṣoñra nolur ḥāl-i ġāzī vü şehīd

• [B290a]

• 26. Bildi an1 kim ġazā key iş olur

• Ġāzī˘olanuñ ḥaşr1 bīteşvīş olur

• 27. Ġāzī olan ḥaḳ dīnüñdür āleti

• Lācirem ḫoş olas1dur ḥāleti

• 28. Ġāzī olan Tangr1nuñ ferrāş1dur

• Ṣirk çirkinden bu yiri ar1dur

• [D210a]

• 29. Ġāzī olan Ḥaḳ ḳ1l1c1dur yaḳīn

• Ġāzī˘olur püşt ü penāh-1 ehl-i dīn

• 30. An1 ki˘ola Tangr1 yol1nda şehīd

• Öldi ṣanma kim diridür ol sacīd

• [C267a]

• 31. Ḥaḳ ḳat1nda r1zḳ içindedür olar

• Ölmediler belki zindedür olar

What does the concept of hybrid heroes mean to people and businesses, and how do the notions differ in various cultures? How can we apply the theory, and what are the pitfalls? As we all come from different backgrounds, we discussed our perspectives.

How should we define the concept of hybrid heroes?

What does the concept of the hybrid hero mean for your area of expertise?

In her lucid account of religion and evolution, Barbara King intends to tell the narrative of the origin of religion that she locates within the social realm in what she calls “belongingness.” She admits that her position on the social origins of religion is not new, and she shares an evolutionary perspective when she writes, “Over the course of prehistory, belongingness was transformed from a basic emotional relating between individuals to a deeper relating, one that had the potential to become transcendent, between people and supernatural beings or forces.” She continues by defining religion as a practice and emotional engagement with the sacred and not necessarily about beliefs dealing with supernatural beings, a position that puts her at odds with some researchers using findings from cognitive science. King does not adhere to the position that beliefs can serve as a means of cementing social unity and enhances a more permanent social body. Instead of such a role for beliefs, King refers to empathy. She explains, “All primates … exhibit empathy that is based on emotional linkage with others of their own kind.” What she is referring to at this point is cognitive empathy that she claims represented a turning point in the development of evolution's social and emotional patterns. Social patterns demonstrate humans communicating with each other by adjusting to the actions of each other. This pattern of behavior is part of a quest for the sacred, a search for meaning. Drawing a parallel between humans and primates, King calls attention to communicative actions of these respective groups that bear similarities with non-symbolic ritual. Because early religion is not intellectual or related to beliefs, it is not something subjective. It is instead emotional and social.

Although ritual has social features, not all scholars agree with King when she stresses its social origins. Robert Bellah thinks, for instance, that ritual and religion emerge from play. Play presupposes a shared intentionality, which suggests its social nature in the final analysis. The anthropologist Roy Rappaport claims that emotions are the source of ritual, and that religion comes from ritual.

Joseph Campbell and the Hero's Journey

Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) was one of the most influential and creative mythographers. His most important achievement is no doubt the modeling of a single great story, which he calls the hero's journey. The basic motif is to leave one state of being and find a way to transform the social world into a richer condition. In his foundational work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell (2008) regarded the monomyth as universal across time and cultural spaces. Therefore, he was less interested in cultural differences and contemporary fashions and trends but more in the discovery of the similarities and the common ground of myths as well as real or fictional stories. Although Campbell analyzed the elementary themes of myths and stories worldwide for common ground, he did point out that their expression is different in various sociocultural environments. Though myths resonate with local needs, they are revered by all people on earth, “appearing everywhere in new combinations, while remaining, like the elements of a kaleidoscope, only a few and always the same” (Campbell 2007, 15).

Campbell was deeply influenced by Jung's (1969) conceptualization of the archetype, Zimmer's (1992) mythological Indian studies, and in particular Rank's (1952) psychological approach to myths. His insights also parallel related developments in ritual theory offered by van Gennep (1960) and Turner (1969). Campbell's (1991) ideas were disseminated to a larger, non-academic audience by an interview series with Bill Moyers, which was broadcast one year after his death and published as The Power of Myth. Campbell's influence on popular culture is indisputable, and in fact, it was in the movies that he gained his greatest fame (Vogler 2007). His intellectual influence is readily apparent in the first Star Wars film trilogy (Campbell 1991, 2004). However, his multilayered work has not received enough acknowledgment from the academic community (Rensma 2009). As inspired by Campbell, heroism science emerged over the last decade as an interdisciplinary research field, and he is regarded as its founder (Allison and Goethals 2017).

This chapter will zoom in on the villain-hero dynamic in fictional narratives and its impact on career identity and conceptualizations of moral leadership in business contexts. Illustrated by empirical research, I will describe how hybrid heroes and their journeys can influence career identity via different pathways. Second, I will explore the influence of the hybrid hero on the field of leadership—presenting a more dynamic perspective on leaders in the context of situational and temporal change. A link between heroic leadership and hybrid heroes will be theorized. Can we be the saint-like heroes we often initially aspire to become? A more complex and holistic perception of heroism may broaden our understanding of moral leadership. Moreover, the hybrid hero spectrum could offer people a window into the morally ambiguous parts within themselves, stimulating conscious, critical reflection.

In my chapter, I consciously use the term “hero” to refer to all genders. This is partly because I am not keen on the word “heroine” to specifically refer to female heroes, and also because the traditional male connotation feels outdated. Everyone can be a hero.

Villain-Heroes in Fictional Narratives and Literature

Jeff Lindsay's books featuring Dexter Morgan tell the story of a man with a troubled childhood who grows up to be a hero and a villain at the same time. Early on, his adoptive father realizes that Dexter has psychopathic traits that fit early onset conduct disorder (formerly labeled “psychopathy”) with an insuppressible urge to kill. His father teaches him to at least follow a strict moral code when he kills, and he becomes a dark vigilante. During the day, Dexter works as a blood spatter analyst for the police, yet at night he kills rapists and murderers who are slipping through the cracks of the legal system. This makes him both villain and saint—a morally ambiguous hybrid hero (Amper 2010; Brophy 2010; Van Tourhout 2019).

I grew up in Orange, Connecticut—a fairly rural suburb in southern Connecticut that is home to about 14,000 people and encompasses about 17 square miles. Orange is about two hours north of New York City and about five miles inland from the Atlantic coast and the Long Island Sound. The Long Island Sound watershed includes many cities and towns along the New York and Connecticut coastlines. Countless rivers and streams flow through these small towns and eventually discharge into the Sound, making for scenic drives and rest stops along the way. But the Wepawaug River, Indian River, and Oyster River, all of which flow through the town, do far more than serve as scenic rest stops, property markers, and fishing spots for local residents and visitors. A look at the popular eBird app, for instance, reveals 118 songbird, seabird, and waterfowl sightings along the Oyster River alone, which runs through Orange and empties into Long Island Sound. Species including Ring-billed Gulls, Great Egrets, Piping Plovers, and Belted Kingfishers depend on these streams and rivers for sustenance and safe habitat.

The house I grew up in is just up the street from a section of the Indian River that still runs behind some of the homes in the neighborhood. In high school, I’d often walk down the street and hike into the wooded area along that small portion of the Indian River. There, I’d sometimes come across White-tailed Deer drinking from the river as they would pass through the neighborhood and box turtles who lived along the stream but who would, for some reason, often lay their eggs closer to the street. At the time, I did not have the language to describe the Indian River or the Long Island Sound as “ecologically significant areas.” Nor did I think of these local streams and rivers as “wildlife corridors,” per se; however, it is clear now that, as I watched those deer, turtles, and local foxes traverse the Indian River and make their way through portions of neighbors’ fencing to continue their travels through local green spaces and state forest areas, that they were creating their own corridors and paths of connectivity through now-developed areas that offer only partially contiguous landscapes.

This chapter explores some of the emerging theoretical perspectives that I suggest should inform and complement wildlife corridor projects. In it, I describe the ways that wildlife corridor projects may benefit from the inclusion of perspectives grounded in compassionate conservation, entangled empathy, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Subsequently, this chapter argues for an approach to connectivity and coexistence that rethinks more commonly perceived boundaries and hierarchies in human/nonhuman animal relationships, that works against anthropocentric and hierarchical thinking, and that does not necessarily privilege humans above other species, or privilege one kind of species over another. In short, we must design spaces that allow for people and wildlife to coexist in the Anthropocene.

Compassionate Conservation

Compassionate conservation is an interdisciplinary movement that has steadily gained international attention and momentum in recent years. A compassionate conservation approach, as the University of Technology Sydney's Centre for Compassionate Conservation describes it, “promotes the treatment of all wildlife with respect, justice, and compassion” and is based on the guiding principles of “first, do no harm, individuals matter, inclusivity, and peaceful coexistence.” Moreover, it “aims to find solutions for conservation practitioners that minimise harming wildlife.” When applied to the practice of wildlife corridors, compassionate conservation would advocate for an approach that takes into consideration the lives of all species that may utilize or migrate through specific habitats. It would recognize that wildlife may be affected by the actions of humans, whether intentional or unintentional, as well as by the natural processes affecting the ecosystems that wildlife inhabit. It would then seek to minimize any harm to wildlife to the extent possible, regardless of the purpose behind the action.

Marc Bekoff, a scholar of ecology, evolutionary biology, and animal behavior who initially conceptualized compassionate conservation, likewise advocates for such an approach. He reiterates that the initial step in enacting compassionate conservation is to do no harm, but he also emphasizes a necessary shift in perspective that recognizes animals as sentient, individual beings:

Just east of Salt Lake City, along Route I-80 in Parleys Canyon, Utah, is the recently completed Parleys Summit wildlife crossing. Completed in winter 2018, the crossing at Parleys Summit is the largest wildlife crossing in Utah. The interstate overpass is 50 feet wide and 320 feet long, spanning six lanes of I-80. Three miles of fencing along both sides of the highway create a pathway that guides species to the overpass. Along the overpass, video technology and camera traps record the sights and sounds of “migrating moose, elk, deer, and other animals” as they traverse the freeway that has fragmented their local ecosystem. The overpass has also been used by some unexpected species, such as “bobcats, cougars, coyotes and a yellow-bellied marmot,” and one Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) spokesperson notes: “It's great to see so many different animals using the overpass.”

While the site is still too new to provide any long-term data, the species’ initial responses to the crossing have been encouraging. Local media articles about Parleys Summit convey a range of perspectives on the project and are typically quick to note that the crossing was designed with the safety of both humans and animals in mind. The local organization Save People Save Wildlife had advocated for the crossing since 2016, largely out of concern that “the moose population was beginning to dwindle and drivers were at risk along I-80.” Similarly, a spokesperson for UDOT expresses: “It's exciting to have this done. […] This has been the most talked about UDOT project of the year, rightfully so. It is unique and it is really going to improve the safety of drivers in Parleys Canyon by cutting down on the wildlife and vehicle col-lisions. I think it is really going to make a big difference.” While UDOT also acknowledges the benefits to wildlife, they ultimately emphasize the benefits to humans: