Faiva: Trials of Skill: the Song and Dance of Tongan Politics, 1773-1993

<p>The work embarks on a quest to discover the parameters of faiva, the dances, martial arts, aquatic and land-based sports which are exhibited on Tongan festival grounds as trials of skill. The work is organised as a succession of festivals (katoanga), shows, receptions, night concerts, funerals, and regattas spanning 200 years, from the 1770s to the 1970s. The work employs a strategy of Juxtaposing ethnographic and historical evidence. This technique enriches historical records with an ethnographic reading, and allows historical insight into the choreographic and aesthetic conventions of Tongan performances. It indicates which accounts to trust and what sense to impute to fragments. Contest on the festival ground, contest in twentieth century social status rivalry, and contest in eighteenth century political challenge, all follow the same codes. The work proposes a new paradigm for interpreting Tonga's political history. That paradigm is faiva. The work proposes a critical theory for reading Tongan records. Tongan accounts are not intended to recount historical origins, but to validate new configurations. In politics, history, and faiva, the eighteenth century objective was to harness the realm of the sacred. Part I is an ethnographic description of villagers rehearsing a dance in 1971, torn between reluctance to fulfill feudal obligations to the ruling aristocracy, and the appeal of retaining a reputation as the island's leading dancers. Of all tasks, presentation of a faiva was given priority. Part II is a historical reconstruction of the repertoire of the late eighteenth century. Here each faiva is seen exhibited in its lakanga : appropriate occasion. Martial arts and implement dances accompanied presentations between chiefs contesting for power. Mock battles followed presentations to the gods. Night dances were lit by torchlight. High-ranking women processed at the weddings of sacred chiefs. Appropriate settings enhanced the peculiar aesthetic of each faiva; political and religious agendas added force to performances. Part III describes the process of a new repertoire emerging, and the social fabrication of its legitimacy. The Appendix assembles an eighteenth century repertoire of choreographies and song texts, demonstrating that records exist for the scholarship of early Tongan music and dance.</p>

Faiva: Trials of Skill: the Song and Dance of Tongan Politics, 1773-1993

<p>The work embarks on a quest to discover the parameters of faiva, the dances, martial arts, aquatic and land-based sports which are exhibited on Tongan festival grounds as trials of skill. The work is organised as a succession of festivals (katoanga), shows, receptions, night concerts, funerals, and regattas spanning 200 years, from the 1770s to the 1970s. The work employs a strategy of Juxtaposing ethnographic and historical evidence. This technique enriches historical records with an ethnographic reading, and allows historical insight into the choreographic and aesthetic conventions of Tongan performances. It indicates which accounts to trust and what sense to impute to fragments. Contest on the festival ground, contest in twentieth century social status rivalry, and contest in eighteenth century political challenge, all follow the same codes. The work proposes a new paradigm for interpreting Tonga's political history. That paradigm is faiva. The work proposes a critical theory for reading Tongan records. Tongan accounts are not intended to recount historical origins, but to validate new configurations. In politics, history, and faiva, the eighteenth century objective was to harness the realm of the sacred. Part I is an ethnographic description of villagers rehearsing a dance in 1971, torn between reluctance to fulfill feudal obligations to the ruling aristocracy, and the appeal of retaining a reputation as the island's leading dancers. Of all tasks, presentation of a faiva was given priority. Part II is a historical reconstruction of the repertoire of the late eighteenth century. Here each faiva is seen exhibited in its lakanga : appropriate occasion. Martial arts and implement dances accompanied presentations between chiefs contesting for power. Mock battles followed presentations to the gods. Night dances were lit by torchlight. High-ranking women processed at the weddings of sacred chiefs. Appropriate settings enhanced the peculiar aesthetic of each faiva; political and religious agendas added force to performances. Part III describes the process of a new repertoire emerging, and the social fabrication of its legitimacy. The Appendix assembles an eighteenth century repertoire of choreographies and song texts, demonstrating that records exist for the scholarship of early Tongan music and dance.</p>

Blood, Land and Power: The Rise and Fall of the Spanish Nobility and Lineages in the Early Modern Period

The analysis of land management, lineage and family through the case study of early modern Spanish nobility from sixteenth to early nineteenth century is a major issue in recent historiography. It aims to shed light on how upper social classes arranged strategies to maintain their political and economic status. Rivalry and disputes between old factions and families were attached to the control and exercise of power. Blood, land management and honour were the main elements in these disputes. Honour, service to the Crown, participation in the conquest and ‘pure’ blood (Catholic affiliation) were the main features of Spanish nobility. This book analyses the origins of the entailed-estate (mayorazgo) from medieval times to early modern period, as the main element that enables us to understand the socio-economic behaviour of these families over generations. This longue durée chronology within the Braudelian methodology of the research aims to show how strategies and family networks changed over time, demonstrating a micro-history study of daily life.

Status, rivalry and admiration-seeking in narcissism and depression: A behavioral study

Humans seek admiration to boost their social rank and engage in rivalry to protect it when fearing defeat. Traits such as narcissism and affective states such as depression are thought to influence perception of rank and motivation for dominance in opposite ways, but evidence of the underlying behavioral mechanisms is scant. We investigated the effects of dimensionally-assessed narcissism and depression on behavioral responses to social defeat in a rigged video game tournament designed to elicit rivalry (stealing points from opponents) and admiration-seeking (paying for rank). We tested an undergraduate sample (N = 70, mean age = 21.5 years) and a clinical sample of predominantly depressed elderly (N = 85, mean age = 62.6 years). Both rivalry and admiration-seeking increased with time on task and were particularly enhanced in individuals high in narcissism. Participants engaged in more rivalry when pitted against high-ranked opponents, but depression partially mitigated this tendency. Our findings provide behavioral evidence that narcissism manifests in increased rivalry and admiration-seeking during social contests. Depression does not suppress general competitiveness but selectively inhibits upward-focused rivalry.

The Threat of Symbolic Incompatibility Looms Larger than the Threat of Status Rivalry: Symbolic Threat from Others Determines Feelings for Them More than Status Threat

Evidence from three studies shows that the perceived symbolic threat from a group, more so than the perceived status threat, determines how people feel about it (i.e., how much they like the group). Study 1 shows that Whites’ perception of symbolic threat from racial minorities, but not status threat, predicts Whites’ favorability toward racial minorities. Using a 2×2 experiment, Study 2 shows that hypothetical immigrants described as capable of posing a status threat to Americans (versus not) or capable of posing a symbolic threat to Americans (versus not) are evaluated based on their potential symbolic threat, but not their potential status threat. Finally, the results from Study 2 replicated in another 2×2 experiment where American participants evaluated a hypothetical foreign country. Thus, the perceived symbolic threat from a group, more so than the perceived status threat, determines people’s overall attitude toward them.

Status, rivalry and admiration-seeking in narcissism and depression: a behavioral study

Humans seek admiration to boost their social rank and engage in rivalry to protect it when fearing defeat. Traits such as narcissism and affective states such as depression are thought to influence perception of rank and motivation for dominance in opposite ways, but evidence of the underlying behavioral mechanisms is scant. We investigated the effects of trait dominance, dimensionally-assessed narcissism, and depression on behavioral responses to social defeat in a rigged video game tournament designed to elicit rivalry (stealing points from opponents) and admiration-seeking (paying for rank). We tested an undergraduate sample (N = 70, mean age = 21.5 years) and a clinical sample of predominantly depressed elderly (N = 85, mean age = 62.6 years). Both rivalry and admiration-seeking increased with time on task and were particularly enhanced in individuals high in trait dominance or narcissism. Participants engaged in more rivalry when pitted against high-ranked opponents, a tendency accentuated by trait dominance and partially mitigated by depression. Our findings provide behavioral evidence that social dominance and narcissism manifest in increased rivalry and admiration-seeking during social contests. Depression does not suppress general competitiveness but selectively inhibits upward-focused rivalry.

Status seeking in the friendly Nordic neighborhood

The article argues that the way status is pursued in social groups in world politics is contingent on the type of social relations that constitute interaction between the members. The Nordic region is a group of countries marked by friendship and trust. Here, the numerous societal linkages between the Nordic countries have made their region into a ‘friendly neighborhood’. This has changed the way that these countries pursue status. To explore this status dynamic, the article draws on a series of interviews with Nordic diplomats and argues that a strong friendship both enables collective status seeking, and constrains individual status seeking. Specifically, turning their social group into a friendly neighborhood allows the Nordic countries to posture as a collective polity and seek status on behalf of it. This grants them more status recognition in world politics. Moreover, friendship does not eliminate status rivalry, but it does turn it into a friendly kind of status competition. Indeed, while the intra-regional intensity of the competition endures, the article finds that the Nordic countries are unlikely to compete in ways that might harm their friendship or their neighborhood.