Властта на „тайното знание” в нейната културно-антропологична интерпретация
The Power of “Secret Knowledge” in Its Cultural-Anthropological Interpretation

Summary/Abstract: A special type of power relations – those emerging in communication provoked by a “secret” are treated in this article. In this case by “secret” the author understands secret knowledge, a part of the talents and “power” of certain people. Turning it into a tool of power is not always a conscious process, but a process premised by its very nature of a raising alienation means of interaction which is needed by all the participants in it. It is to be analyzed in terms of the opposition “initiation/uninitiation” and in the semantic shift it undergoes in the dynamics of socio-cultural space. The author illustrates her hypotheses with certain examples taken both from the practice of village sorceresses whose activity is associated with notions and concepts of the classic folklore culture, and from the practice of contemporary urban clairvoyants and mediums whose activity is connected with the conceptions of modern polyphonic culture. In the course of analysis it becomes perfectly clear that the concrete historical and cultural specificity of the phenomenon under study does not invalidate its universal nature. It is, however, the grounds for the flourishing of various forms, whose analysis is to be thoroughly developed further on.

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