Paradoxical Features Research Articles

Respecting One’s Fellow: QBism’s Analysis of Wigner’s Friend

According to QBism, quantum states, unitary evolutions, and measurement operators are all understood as personal judgments of the agent using the formalism. Meanwhile, quantum measurement outcomes are understood as the personal experiences of the same agent. Wigner's conundrum of the friend, in which two agents ostensibly have different accounts of whether or not there is a measurement outcome, thus poses no paradox for QBism. Indeed the resolution of Wigner's original thought experiment was central to the development of QBist thinking. The focus of this paper concerns two very instructive modifications to Wigner's puzzle: One, a recent no-go theorem by Frauchiger and Renner, and the other a thought experiment by Baumann and Brukner. We show that the paradoxical features emphasized in these works disappear once both friend and Wigner are understood as agents on an equal footing with regard to their individual uses of quantum theory. Wigner's action on his friend then becomes, from the friend's perspective, an action the friend takes on Wigner. Our analysis rests on a kind of quantum Copernican principle: When two agents take actions on each other, each agent has a dual role as a physical system for the other agent. No user of quantum theory is more privileged than any other. In contrast to the sentiment of Wigner's original paper, neither agent should be considered as in "suspended animation." In this light, QBism brings an entirely new perspective to understanding Wigner's friend thought experiments.

El secreto del mundo

En este artículo se explora la repercusión de la historia global en la historiografía latinoamericana. A semejanza de lo que ha ocurrido en los países centrales, en los últimos años, el llamado giro global ha ganado gran prominencia en la región. Argumentaremos, sin embargo, que su adopción presenta un rasgo paradójico. Mientras las historias mundiales —el núcleo duro del campo en el ámbito académico anglosajón— han suscitado escaso interés, lo contrario ha ocurrido con enfoques relacionales como la historia transnacional, conectada o cruzada. Detrás de esta desigual acogida subyacen motivos historiográficos y geopolíticos de mucha significación. Se examina al respecto la relación de las tradiciones historiográficas globales latinoamericanas con las nuevas historias universales; se repasan las agendas de investigación conformadas en América Latina en torno a esa aproximación al pasado; y se cotejan sucintamente, en base a dos importantes libros sobre el tema, las implicancias de los modelos de análisis global en la reescritura de las historias nacionales de Chile y Estados Unidos.

Suppressing the scattering of WIMP dark matter and nucleons in supersymmetric theories

The continuously improving sensitivity of dark matter direct detection experiments has limited the interaction between dark matter and nucleons being increasingly feeble, while the dark matter relic density favors it to take part in weak interactions. After taking into account the constraints from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) search for Higgs bosons and sparticles, it is becoming difficult for the neutralino dark matter in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model to possess these two seemingly paradoxical features in their most natural parameter space for electroweak symmetry breaking due to the limited theoretical structure. In contrast, the seesaw extension of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, which was initially proposed to solve the neutrino mass problem, enables the lightest sneutrino to act as a viable dark matter candidate, readily has these features, and thus, it easily satisfies the constraints from dark matter and LHC experiments. Compared with the Type-I seesaw extension, the dark matter physics in the inverse seesaw extension is more flexible, allowing it to be consistent with the experimental results in broader parameter space. We conclude that weakly interacting massive particles (such as the sneutrino in this study) work well in supersymmetric theories as dark matter candidates.

The Global Political Economy of Right-wing Populism: Deconstructing the Paradox

ABSTRACT The rise of right-wing populism should be studied as a truly global phenomenon. Domestic and regional contexts are obviously crucial, yet a narrow focus on the domestic realm fails to capture some of the key constituents and paradoxical features of the rise and resilience of right-wing populist projects around the world. Therefore, right-wing populism and the way its contradictions are ‘managed’ ought to be understood within the context of mutual interactions between: 1) an economy-identity nexus and 2) a domestic-foreign policy nexus. A critical review of six controversial aspects of right-wing populism in the global North and global South is used to substantiate this main argument.

Endless and Infinite

Abstract It is often said that time must have a beginning because otherwise the series of past events would have the paradoxical features of an actual infinite. In the present paper, we show that, even given a dynamic theory of time, the cardinality of an endless series of events, each of which will occur, is the same as that of a beginningless series of events, each of which has occurred. Both are denumerably infinite. So if (as we believe) an endless series of events is possible, then the possibility of a beginningless series of past events should not be rejected merely on the ground that it would be an actual infinite. What would be required to rebut our argument is a symmetry breaker – something that motivates treating the past relevantly differently to the future. We consider several attempts to provide a symmetry breaker and show that none of them is successful.

The aphoristic character of Taras Melnychuk’s poetry: the stylistic and syntactic aspect

The article reveals the individual stylistic features of T. Melnychuk’s poetic language as represented in their semantic and syntactic organisation and stylistic functions. The task was to study the semantics of the aphorisms, their syntactic structure and stylistic means and to identify the compositional functions. According to the degree of the semantic dominant expression, the aphorisms of the analysed poetry are figurative and concentrate around the themes and motifs that have to do with Ukraine, its history, the destiny of the poet himself, with moral and ethical issues, with eternal values. The comprehensiveness of the aphoristic character of the analised poems is proved. T. Melnychuk’s aphoristic expressions are established to correlate with various syntactic constructions: from a simple sentence to overphrase unities. The registered poetic aphorisms are mostly equivalent to complex sentences of minimum structure with adverbial clauses of condition or cause as well as attributive clauses etc. The aphorisms are also represented by multicomponent complex sentences and coordinate constructions (the latter have mainly comparative-contrastive relations between the predicative parts) and, more seldom, by asyndetic sentences. Prevalence of the aphorisms equivalent to composite sentences and overphrase unities can be explained by their being not only sense-making but also compositional components of T. Melnychuk’s poems. There are whole strophes or poems of aphoristic character. T. Melnychuk’s aphoristics is characterised by folkloristic nature, by tending to maxims. The aphoristic character is based on paradoxical features and is created by various oppositions, repetitions, negation, chiasmus, is supported by rhyming.

Black to Ireland: Circum-Atlantic Double Exposure and Racialized Jump Cuts in The Emperor Jones

AbstractThe Emperor Jones (1933) was a film aimed at critiquing empire while also evoking the black diaspora. Yet the film was created by a team of Irish-American artists (playwright Eugene O’Neill, director Dudley Murphy, and actor Dudley Digges). Their work on The Emperor Jones came from a commitment to the idea that the colonization of Ireland was of a piece with the results of anti-black racism, colonialism and imperialism (although not similar), and as a way of negotiating their own contested relationship with legitimating structures in white, US culture. The film’s racial politics, which have been debated since its premiere, repeatedly interlink a range of global and circum-Atlantic legacies of white imperialism. The Emperor Jones abounds with contradictions: it both shattered racial constraints in American film while also articulating racial anxieties. We can see this manifested in two ways. First, the film’s anti-imperialist, antiracist ambitions are visible in the director’s attempt to overlay different cartographies, memories, and experiences of racial violation with a technique that I call “circum-Atlantic double exposure.” The second characteristic, which I call the “racialized jump cut,” is the mark of state censors and local projectionists who spliced out potentially inflammatory material from the film. Central to my argument is that double-exposure works together with racialized jump cuts in The Emperor Jones: the cut points to the doubling; the dissolve highlights the (w)hole. These two strikingly divergent and paradoxical features of the film—the director’s accretions and the state’s depletions—expose the problematics of representing imperial violence.

What’sAlterGot to Do with It? A Consideration of Network Content and the Social Ties That Provide It

The strength of weak ties is among the most important theories in the social sciences. One paradoxical element of the theory has been widely understood and valued—that weak ties connect disparate regions of social structure. Less appreciated, however, is the arguably more paradoxical implication that someone only weakly connected to another would provide value beyond that which is provided by the recipient’s (ego’s) strong ties. Once this paradoxical feature of the theory and associated empirical literatures is acknowledged, the interests of the resource provider (alter) demand consideration. To do so faithfully requires first, the concession that different types of content can be transmitted across ties (e.g., financial, informational, physical, social) and content varies in important ways that relate to alter’s interests and concerns. This article considers social network content and the strength of ties that provide different forms of it. The case of startups is used as a fruitful strategic research site because of the varied resources required at various stages of the startup process. Novel insights are proposed concerning what content flows across different types of social relationships in the context of “nascent” entrepreneurship. Examples from other contexts such as job search are also discussed to exemplify scope. Importantly, this article takes the perspective of the resource provider, alter, and considers her concerns about trust, misuse, and unauthorized transfer in dyadic exchange. In the process, a second paradoxical feature of the theory is identified and theorized, which usefully reveals the boundaries of exchange.

Falling toward charged black holes

The growth of the "size" of operators is an important diagnostic of quantum chaos. In arXiv:1802.01198 [hep-th] it was conjectured that the holographic dual of the size is proportional to the average radial component of the momentum of the particle created by the operator. Thus the growth of operators in the background of a black hole corresponds to the acceleration of the particle as it falls toward the horizon. In this note we will use the momentum-size correspondence as a tool to study scrambling in the field of a near-extremal charged black hole. The agreement with previous work provides a non-trivial test of the momentum-size relation, as well as an explanation of a paradoxical feature of scrambling previously discovered by Leichenauer [arXiv:1405.7365 [hep-th]]. Naively Leichenauer's result says that only the non-extremal entropy participates in scrambling. The same feature is also present in the SYK model. In this paper we find a quite different interpretation of Leichenauer's result which does not have to do with any decoupling of the extremal degrees of freedom. Instead it has to do with the buildup of momentum as a particle accelerates through the long throat of the Reissner-Nordstrom geometry.

Stars and steam engines: To what extent do thermodynamics and statistical mechanics apply to self-gravitating systems?

Foundational puzzles surround (Newtonian) gravitational thermal physics—a realm in which stars are treated as akin to molecules in a gas. Whether such an enterprise is successful and the domain of thermal physics extends beyond our terrestrial sphere is disputed. There are successes (such as the collisionless Boltzmann equation) and paradoxical features (such as the ‘gravothermal catastrophe’). Callender (Found Phys 41(6):960–981, 2011) advocates reconciling the two sides of the dispute by taking a broader view of thermodynamics. Here I argue for an alternative position: if we are careful in distinguishing statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, then no reconciliation is required. Both sides can live in harmony because whilst statistical mechanics applies, thermodynamics does not. This state of affairs—the applicability of statistical mechanics without the emergence of thermodynamic behaviour—can be explained in terms of an infamous infinite idealisation: the thermodynamic limit.

The γδTCR combines innate immunity with adaptive immunity by utilizing spatially distinct regions for agonist selection and antigen responsiveness.

T lymphocytes expressing γδ T cell antigen receptors (TCRs) comprise evolutionarily conserved cells with paradoxical features. On the one hand, clonally expanded γδ T cells with unique specificities typify adaptive immunity. Conversely, large compartments of γδTCR+ intraepithelial lymphocytes (γδ IELs) exhibit limited TCR diversity and effect rapid, innate-like tissue surveillance. The development of several γδ IEL compartments depends on epithelial expression of genes encoding butyrophilin-like (Btnl (mouse) or BTNL (human)) members of the B7 superfamily of T cell co-stimulators. Here we found that responsiveness to Btnl or BTNL proteins was mediated by germline-encoded motifs within the cognate TCR variable γ-chains (Vγ chains) of mouse and human γδ IELs. This was in contrast to diverse antigen recognition by clonally restricted complementarity-determining regions CDR1-CDR3 of the same γδTCRs. Hence, the γδTCR intrinsically combines innate immunity and adaptive immunity by using spatially distinct regions to discriminate non-clonal agonist-selecting elements from clone-specific ligands. The broader implications for antigen-receptor biology are considered.

Le tabou linguistique. Un paradoxe toujours actuel

Dans cet article, nous avons étendu la recherche dans le domaine du tabou linguistique et nous avons rendu plus clairs certains aspects liés à ce sujet, aspects identifiés et présentés, partiellement, dans l’une de nos études précédentes. Pour illustrer notre description théorique, nous avons choisi des exemples appartenant au discours politique et social de la langue roumaine de l’époque communiste, de la langue roumaine actuelle, mais aussi au vocabulaire international. Nous avons proposé deux critères théoriques de classification du tabou linguistique. L’un d’eux est de nature fonctionnelle et il reflète la relation entre la cause et l’effet impliqués dans la création du tabou. L’autre est un critère pragmatique et il repose sur le principe que le tabou linguistique pourrait être considéré comme un acte de discours qui exprime la relation entre son succès et son échec. Nous avons également identifié certaines caractéristiques paradoxales du tabou. En conséquence, nous avons remarqué qu’un langage d’interdiction (ne pas dire x) génère souvent, en contrepartie, des mots et des phrases chargés stylistiquement. D’un côté, là où il était censé être un manque, le vocabulaire s’enrichit de nouveaux mots ou de paraphrases. D’un autre côté, au niveau pragmatique, le succès total de l’acte d’interdiction implique le silence. Or, par excellence, le tabou linguistique se manifeste comme une forme lexicale.

The negative feedback dysregulation effect: losses of motor control in response to negative feedback

ABSTRACTNegative feedback has paradoxical features to it. This form of feedback can have informational value under some circumstances, but it can also threaten the ego, potentially upsetting behaviour as a result. To investigate possible consequences of the latter type, two experiments (total N = 159) presented positive or negative feedback within a sequence-prediction task that could not be solved. Following feedback, participants had to control their behaviours as effectively as possible in a motor control task. Relative to positive feedback, negative feedback undermined control in a manner suggesting emotional upset (Experiment 1). These reactions lasted for at least three seconds and were especially pronounced among people reporting that they typically lose control in the context of their negative emotions (Experiment 2). The findings document a novel form of behavioural dysregulation that occurs in response to negative feedback while also highlighting the utility of motor control perspectives on self-control.

ENPP1 Enzyme Replacement Prevents the Osteomalacia and Paradoxical Mineralization in the Enpp1asj/asj mouse model of Autosomal Recessive Hypophosphatemic Rickets Type‐2.

A paradoxical feature of several disorders of the skeleton involves deficits in bone mineral density yet progressive increases in vascular and/or soft tissue calcifications. ENPP1 loss of function (LOF) mutations represent this combination of defects, in that both life threatening vascular calcifications in Generalized Arterial Calcification of Infancy (GACI) and a severe rickets in Autosomal Recessive Hypophosphatemic Rickets Type-2 (ARHR2) are observed with this mutation. Disease in ARHR2 is severe and symptomatic, leading to repeated fractures of the long bones, rachitic deformities, and impaired growth and development. ENPP1 LOF mutations in mice induces paradoxical mineralization characterized by increased cardiovascular and periarticular calcifications and an osteopenic bone phenotype, reflecting important aspects of both GACI and ARHR2. Here, we report that the osteopenic phenotype in Enpp1asj/asj mice results from an osteomalacia, the histologic hallmark of rickets. The osteomalacia present in Enpp1asj/asj mice occurs in the presence of normal plasma [Pi] in mice fed a high phosphate diet. Treatment of Enpp1asj/asj mice with ENPP1 enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) eliminates the osteomalacia, increases bone mineral density, and markedly improves bone strength and ductility. Our work demonstrates that ENPP1 ERT addresses the pathologic etiology of ARHR2, but phosphate supplementation does not. Combined with our previous studies demonstrating the efficacy of ENPP1-Fc suppressing lethal vascular and connective tissue calcifications, this study establishes a role for ENPP1 in paradoxical mineralization disorders and suggests a therapeutic strategy for treating these diseases. Support or Funding Information The studies were financially supported by research grants from Inozyme Pharmaceuticals Inc., and The Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund (to DTB). Funding to the George M O'Brien Kidney Center at Yale, NIH grant P30DK079310, supported the evaluation of plasma analytes. Histology of the proximal tibias of 5-week old mice on the high phosphate diet are displayed from each experimental cohort to compare histologic changes. Deficiency in ENPP1 resulted in morphologically apparent reductions in trabecular bone and markedly thinner growth plates in the Enpp1asj/asj mice. Treating Enpp1asj/asj mice with mENPP1-Fc markedly increased trabecular bone volume and growth plate thickness. WT and Enpp1asj/asj mice treated with vehicle or ENPP1-Fc were loaded to failure in three-point bending. a. Stiffness – slope of the load vs. displacement curve; Max Load – highest load reached during the test.; Total Work – The energy needed to fracture the bone. b. Post-yield deflection of experimental cohorts – defined as the amount of deformation after the yield point. *p < 0.05, **p< 0.01, ***p<0.001, ANOVA. Histomorphometry, 5 week females, High Phosphate Diet, osteoid. Genotypes/Treatment WT/PBS N=6 asj-asj/PBS n=7 asj-asj/mENPP1 n=6 BV/TV 19.23 ± 3.42 24.61 ± 6.45 20.63 ± 4.58 OV/TV 1.38 ± 0.31 2.35 ± 0.57** 1.78 ± 0.50 OV/BV 6.99 ± 1.76 9.72 ± 1.57* 8.60 ± 1.45 OS/BS 27.89 ± 4.66 42.83 ± 4.52*** 33.68 ± 6.41 OTh 3.01 ± 0.29 3.53 ± 0.29** 3.30 ± 0.12 This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

What's Alter Got to Do with it? A Consideration of Network Content and the Social Ties that Provide it

The strength of weak ties is amongst the most important theories in the social sciences. One paradoxical element of the theory has been widely understood and valued—that weak ties connect disparate regions of social structure. Less appreciated, however, is the arguably more paradoxical implication that someone only weakly connected to another would provide value beyond that which is provided by the recipient’s (ego’s) strong ties. Once this paradoxical feature of the theory and associated empirical literatures is acknowledged, the interests of the resource provider (alter) demand consideration. To do so faithfully requires, first, the concession that different types of content can be transmitted across ties (e.g., financial, informational, physical, social), and content varies in important ways that relate to alter’s interests and concerns. This paper considers social network content and the strength of ties that provide different forms of it. The case of startups is used as a fruitful strategic research site because of the varied resources required at various stages of the startup process. Novel insights are proposed concerning what content flows across different types of social relationships in the context of nascent entrepreneurship. Examples from other contexts such as job search are also discussed to exemplify scope. Importantly, this paper takes the perspective of the resource provider, alter, and considers her concerns about trust, misuse, and unauthorized transfer in dyadic exchange. In the process, a second paradoxical feature of the theory is identified and theorized, which usefully reveals the boundaries of exchange.

An Information Theoretic Analysis of Random Number Generator based on Cellular Automaton

Realization of Randomness had always been a controversial concept with great importance both from theoretical and practical Perspectives. This realization has been revolutionized in the light of recent studies especially in the realms of Chaos Theory, Algorithmic Information Theory and Emergent behavior in complex systems. We briefly discuss different definitions of Randomness and also different methods for generating it. The connection between all these approaches and the notion of Normality as the necessary condition of being unpredictable would be discussed. Then a complex-system-based Random Number Generator would be introduced. We will analyze its paradoxical features (Conservative Nature and reversibility in spite of having considerable variation) by using information theoretic measures in connection with other measures. The evolution of this Random Generator is equivalent to the evolution of its probabilistic description in terms of probability distribution over blocks of different lengths. By getting the aid of simulations we will show the ability of this system to preserve normality during the process of coarse graining.

Phantom Sensations, Supernumerary Phantom Limbs and Apotemnophilia: Three Body Representation Disorders.

Body representation disorders continue to be mysterious and involve the anatomical substrate that underlies the mental representation of the body. These disorders sit on the boundaries of neurological and psychiatric diseases. We present the main characteristics of 3 examples of body representation disorders: phantom sensations, supernumerary phantom limb, and apotemnophilia. The dysfunction of anatomical circuits that regulate body representation can sometimes have paradoxical features. In the case of phantom sensations, the patient feels the painful subjective sensation of the existence of the lost part of the body after amputation, surgery or trauma. In case of apotemnophilia, now named body integrity identity disorder, the subject wishes for the disappearance of the existing and normal limb, which can occasionally lead to self-amputation. More rarely, a brain-damaged patient with 4 existing limbs can report the existence of a supernumerary phantom limb.

Joint space widening may be a paradoxical pathologic feature of early ankle arthritis

Category: Ankle, Ankle Arthritis Introduction/Purpose: Joint space narrowing and bony spur are typical pathologic feature of early ankle osteoarthritis. The meaning of joint space widening has never been discussed in previous literature. However, we found some osteoarthritic ankles which showed joint widening with diffuse spur change.(Fig.1) We hypothesized that joint space widening may be caused by malpositioning of the talus which may lead to degenerative arthritis. The purpose of this study were to investigate the radiological abnormalities in ankles with joint space widening. Methods: In order to define joint space widening and anterior subluxation of the talus, we included 72 ankles (66 people) with no abnormalities on plain radiographs into control group. We measured joint space and lateral talar station(LTS) on plain weight- bearing radiographs.(Fig.2) The 95% prediction interval of joint space (2.4 mm to 4.2 mm) and the LTS (-0.9 mm to 3.8 mm) in the control group were regarded as a normal range. The joint space widening was defined when the joint space was wider than 4.2 mm, and the anterior subluxation of talus was defined when the LTS was larger than 3.8 mm. Thirty-two ankles (29 people) with the joint space widening which underwent operation in our clinic between 2009 and 2014 were included in patient group. Ankle instability was determined on stress radiographs (Fig.2). In the patient group, we investigated the anterior subluxation of talus and the ankle instability, and the sites of spur in conventional CT. Results: The average age was 26 years (range:18 - 35) in the control group and 33 years (range:16 - 71) in the patient group. The mean joint space of the patient group was 4.7 mm (range: 4.3 mm to 6.0 mm). In the patient group, the LTS showed a mean of 6.4 mm (range 3.9 mm -10.7 mm). Because all the LTS in the patient group was over the 3.8 mm, the anterior subluxation of talus was showed in all ankles of the patient group. In the patient group, 31 ankles (97%) showed instability on anterior stress radiograph and 24 ankles (75%) showed instability on varus stress radiograph. All ankles in the patient group showed spurs on 4 sides of ankle, anterior, posterior, medial and lateral side. Conclusion: This study showed that paradoxical joint space widening may be a pathologic feature of early ankle arthritis which had diffuse spur change, anterior displacement of the talus and ankle instability.

Using the concept of hubots to understand the work entailed in using digital technologies in healthcare

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the human work entailed in the deployment of digital health care technology. It draws on imagined configurations of computers and machines in fiction and social science to think about the relationship between technology and people, and why this makes implementation of digital technology so difficult. The term hubots is employed as a metaphorical device to examine how machines and humans come together to do the work of healthcare.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses the fictional depiction of hubots to reconceptualise the deployment of a particular technology – a computer decision support system (CDSS) used in emergency and urgent care services. Data from two ethnographic studies are reanalysed to explore the deployment of digital technologies in health services. These studies used comparative mixed-methods case study approaches to examine the use of the CDSS in eight different English NHS settings. The data include approximately 900 hours of observation, with 64 semi-structured interviews, 47 focus groups, and surveys of some 700 staff in call centres and urgent care centres. The paper reanalyses these data, deductively, using the metaphor of the hubot as an analytical device.FindingsThis paper focuses on the interconnected but paradoxical features of both the fictional hubots and the CDSS. Health care call handling using a CDSS has created a new occupation, and enabled the substitution of some clinical labour. However, at the same time, the introduction of the technology has created additional work. There are more tasks, both physical and emotional, and more training activity is required. Thus, the labour has been intensified.Practical implicationsThis paper implies that if we want to realise the promise of digital health care technologies, we need to understand that these technologies substitute for and intensify labour.Originality/valueThis is a novel analysis using a metaphor drawn from fiction. This allows the authors to recognise the human effort required to implement digital technologies.

The post-Soviet “Orient” in stories by Vladimir Makanin and Liudmila Petrushevskaia

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes a paradoxical feature in post-Soviet Russian literature and film, where an anti-imperial message coexists with colonial tropes. It focuses on two short stories: “Slabye kosti” (“Weak Bones,” 1988) by Liudmila Petrushevskaia and “Kavkazskii plennyi” (“Prisoner of the Caucasus,” 1995) by Vladimir Makanin. Set respectively in Central Asia and the Caucasus, these stories reflect on the troubled Russian and Soviet relationship with these regions. Despite their artistic complexity and anti-imperial messages, these works are trapped by the literary tropes and cultural stereotypes of the past. These stories relate to a broader cultural trend characteristic of post-Soviet Russian culture. On the one hand, Russian culture has remained unreceptive to post-colonial discourses adopted by Western intellectuals. On the other hand, the resurgence of imperial preoccupations in contemporary Russia, as well as the anxiety surrounding Russia’s territorial integrity, preclude the development of Russia’s own discourses on ethnically distinct peripheries and identities. As a result of this discursive silence, even nuanced writers, such as Makanin and Petrushevskaia, rely on the traditional models of representing the Caucasus and Central Asia.