Perception of Differences? One Cultural Phenomenon in Two Language Groups – Contribution to the Research of Symbolic Group Boundaries
Perception of Differences? One Cultural Phenomenon in Two Language Groups – Contribution to the Research of Symbolic Group Boundaries

Author(s): Gabriela Kiliánová
Subject(s): Anthropology, Sociology, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Identity of Collectives
Published by: Етнографски институт САНУ
Keywords: perception of difference; language group; Slovaks; Germans
Summary/Abstract: The paper will deal with the analysis of one cultural phenomenon which can show differences because of its existence in two language groups. Using empirical data from fieldwork among the Slovak and German inhabitants in one small town in Slovakia, the author will follow whether the cultural phenomenon is or is not perceived as different element among the members of the two groups. Further, she will ask whether the phenomenon has potential to create symbolic boundaries which would separate one group from the other. The author will present a case study which deals with the personification of the Death as public representation in the two groups. The personification of Death is connected in the traditional German oral narratives with the figure of a man while in the Slovak narratives with the figure of a woman. Using the results from the field work about the personification of Death among the local inhabitants she will show the ambivalence of the representation in the language mixed locality, she will describe the collective and individual representations, their similarities and differences among the members of the two language groups.

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