Narrative Maps of Danger as a Means of Subjective Protection

Abstract

This article examines how mental danger maps are mediated in belief narratives. The focus, which is novel, is on narrative localisation phenomena in connection with mobile sources of danger. The author demonstrates the universality of the process of constructing danger maps, illustrating its similarities with older legends (e.g. plague legends) and with modern media-influenced narrations. In addition, the importance of such maps in the selective collecting and remembering of information is discussed, as well as the ways in which they trigger re-narration and actual behaviour. The author concludes that, in addition to pragmatic aims (as a tool for granting safety), such maps also support one’s subjective experience of coping with dangerous situations.