The Tent in the Context of the Byzantine Power Symbolism in the 10th–12th Centuries

ntroduction. The tent (σκηνή, τέντα) was a simple and everyday object of Byzantine life. Diplomats, merchants, pilgrims, soldiers, travelers, and simply wanderers spent a considerable part of their lives in a tent. It was a natural element of the Byzantine landscape, and geographical mobility was an important part of the lifestyle of the Byzantine elite and its psychology. But this simple, everyday thing in a certain context took on an extremely important meaning and turned into an important religious and social symbol. A simple object could indicate complicated social and ideological constructions of the 10th–12th centuries. The task of the study is to reveal the implicit power context which in certain cases endowed simple everyday objects (like a tent) with an extremely important meaning. Methods. The article is written in the general context of structuralist methodologies. We regarded the tent as a simple sign indicating the complex representations that lie behind its content. Structuralist methods allow for a correct reconstruction of Byzantine everyday representations in different strata of society. Analysis and Results. The rich tent in Byzantine society of the 10th–12th centuries was not just a part of the daily military life of the aristocracy, but also an important element of power relations. Tents defined the social status of their owners, emphasized their power and importance. Aristocratic tents of that time were a space where power decisions were made and court life took place. The tent as a power symbol relied on a broad religious context. The Tabernacle of Moses, which was the model for every tent in the Byzantine Empire, was also created by the Lord’s will, with Moses himself acting as “royal scribe”. The folkloric tent of Charos in the Acritic songs turns out to be the center of the “lower” world in which Charos ruthlessly reigns. Behind each reading of the symbolic meaning of the tent lie different social practices of different groups of Byzantine society, but they are all filled with their own understanding of the essence of power.

Phanariot Tongues: The Mavrocordatos Family and the Power of the Turkish Language in the Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Empire

The Phanariots — Grecophone Christian elites who ruled the Danubian principalities in the eighteenth century — were the only non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire who claimed power by virtue of their command of the Turkish language. Why were they the rare exception and what does their story reveal about the ways in which power and language were intertwined in the early modern Ottoman Empire? The implicit power relations embedded in the Turkish language are rendered visible in a unique text written in 1731 in which Constantine Mavrocordatos, a Phanariot prince, attempted to school his younger brother in Turkish through a series of twelve, play-like dialogues. The dialogues did not aim to teach the formal grammar of Turkish but to demonstrate the power of speech by familiarizing the reader with the eloquent and witty repartee of Ottoman bureaucrats. Through an analysis of the text — which includes reestablishing its authorship and date of composition — the article examines the Phanariots’ liminal position in Ottoman governance, especially in the newly ascendant imperial bureaucracy, through the prism of language. In doing so, it also rewrites the place of the Mavrocordatos family in the story of the Enlightenment in the Ottoman Empire.

The ulna-to-fibula ratio as a marker of organizational hormone effects on the motivational brain: A high-powered preregistered replication

Objective: We aimed at replicating findings by Köllner and Bleck (2020) regarding their proposed new marker of pubertal organizational hormone effects (OHEs), the ulna-to-fibula ratio (UFR). We tested UFR’s sex-dimorphism, independence of body height, interrelationships with other markers, and relationships to the implicit power motive (nPower) and activity inhibition (AI).Method: Our pre-registered, cross-sectional, high-powered study (N = 250; 148 women; after exclusions) included the Picture-Story Exercise (nPower, AI) and anthropometry of ulna and fibula length, facial width and height, shoulder/waist/hip circumference, and 2D:4D digit ratio.Results: UFR was sex-dimorphic (d = 0.37; outliers excluded), independent of body height, and significantly associated with other possible markers of pubertal OHEs, including facial width-to-height ratio, waist-to-hip ratio, and shoulder-to-hip ratio. As predicted, a “sex-typical” (high for men, low for women) UFR was associated with the inhibited power motive (outliers excluded). Neither nPower’s sex-dimorphic relationship with UFR, nor the sex-dimorphic relationship of the inhibited power motive with UFR asymmetry (deemed unreliable and already omitted from the preregistration) reported by Köllner and Bleck (2020) were replicated. Conclusions: Our findings bolster UFR’s status as a marker of pubertal OHEs: It is sexually dimorphic, unrelated to body height, related to other markers, and shows sex-dimorphic associations with the inhibited power motive. In conjunction with findings by Schultheiss et al. (2019) for prenatal OHEs, there is also accumulating evidence for hormonal contributions to implicit motive development.

Models and numbers: Representing the world or imposing order?

We argue for a foundational epistemic claim and a hypothesis about the production and uses of mathematical epidemiological models, exploring the consequences for our political and socio-economic lives. First, in order to make the best use of scientific models, we need to understand why models are not truly representational of our world, but are already pitched towards various uses. Second, we need to understand the implicit power relations in numbers and models in public policy, and, thus, the implications for good governance if numbers and models are used as the exclusive drivers of decision making.

The Power of Money: Chinese Investments and Financialization in an Asian Hinterland

In February 2002, a Chinese State-Owned Enterprise (SOE), Sinotrans Xinjiang, partnered with a local Pakistani collective, the Silk Route Dry Port Trust, to finance and operate a dry port in mountainous north Pakistan. Given minimal overland trade between China and Pakistan, this was an unlikely place for investment by a subsidiary of one of China’s largest SOEs. Individuals who commanded extensive social networks and possessed local knowledge were instrumental in brokering the joint venture. Brokers both Chinese and Pakistani leveraged the implicit power of money to create a new institution, the dry port joint venture, that helped normalize the presence and operations of Chinese business leaders in north Pakistan. The joint venture also enabled Pakistani strongmen to exert their control over local land and draw funds from a public bank, activities that ultimately undermined the joint venture itself. This episode is more than just a cautionary tale of an unsuccessful joint venture between a Chinese SOE and local partners. The episode highlights how, in an epoch of transnational financialization, money empowered local leaders, public officials, and official organizations to engage in and indeed benefit from loss-making activities that combine both regular and irregular processes.

Discrepancies Between Explicit Feelings of Power and Implicit Power Motives Are Related to Anxiety in Women With Anorexia Nervosa

BackgroundSeveral studies identified low subjective feelings of power in women with anorexia nervosa (AN). However, little is known about implicit power motives and the discrepancy between explicit feelings of power and implicit power motives in AN.AimThe study investigated the discrepancy between explicit feelings of power and implicit power motives and its relationship to anxiety in patients with AN.MethodFifty-three outpatients and inpatients with AN and 48 participants without AN were compared regarding subjective feelings of power and anxiety. Explicit power [investigated with the Personal Sense of Power Scale (trait focus) and a visual analog scale (state focus)], implicit power motives [investigated with the Multi-Motive Grid (MMG)] and trait anxiety [measured with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)], were assessed.ResultsExplicit feelings of power (state and trait level) were lower in patients with AN compared to non-AN participants. No differences in implicit power motives were found when comparing the groups against each other. However, looking at the groups separately, women with AN had similar levels of implicit fear of losing power and hope for power, whereas woman without AN had significantly lower fear of losing power than hope for power. Focusing on discrepancies between powerful feelings and power motives, results were mixed, depending on the subscale of the MMG. Lastly, discrepancies between implicit power motives and explicit feelings of power were positively correlated with trait anxiety in AN patients.ConclusionThese findings underline that individuals with AN display significantly lower explicit feelings of power, however, they show similar implicit power motives compared to individuals without AN. The discrepancy between explicit feelings of power and implicit power motives is related to anxiety in AN and may represent a vulnerability factor to illness maintenance.