Original scientific paper
Paranormal Phenomena among the South Slavs: A Cultural Interpretation
Iveta Todorova-Pirgova
; Institute of Folklore BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria
Abstract
This article comments on the different concepts of the "other" reality, its images, and their secondary verbal interpretations. Having in mind the historical changes in content of the concepts of the "other" reality, I consider its peculiar adaptation in contemporary cultural processes. Comparing these concepts with those inherent in the traditional culture, I study the continuation of a certain semantic line in today's modeling of the meanings of the "other" reality. Regardless of whether we find a transformation of mythological images, historical events or works of art, the concept of the "other" world becomes a part of contemporary cultural ideology. Stories about contact with the "other" world connect the actualized old with newly-formed concepts and images in order to outline a full picture of the world and to unite its elements in a specific integral entity.
Keywords
paranormal phenomena; South Slavs; cultural interpretation; oral history
Hrčak ID:
59871
URI
Publication date:
25.3.1999.
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