heterotopia

Plural: heterotopias

Noun

• Normal tissue (or an organ) present at an abnormal part of the body
• The occurrence of an organism in a number of different habitats
• A space which is alien to what is normal within the society, variably presenting a utopian vision in physical form or serving to segregate subversive elements from the wider society.

Examples

• Michel Foucault gave the museum and the mental hospital as two different examples of heterotopias.

Synonyms

allotopia, dystopia, ectopia, ectopy, malposition

Related Words

heterotopic, heterotopology