The book deals with manifestations and relics of magical thinking in narrative folklore of Cieszyn Silesia (Teschen Silesia, Tìšínské Slezsko). The author focuses on the cognitive dimension of socially shared narratives and demonstrates how they re-produce the magical picture of the world. He redefines the cognitivist concept of categorization.
The book deals with manifestations and relics of magical thinking in the narrative folklore of Cieszyn Silesia (Teschen Silesia, Těšín Silesia). The point of departure is a phenomenological and social constructivist approach to human cognition. The author follows the cognitive dimensions of pre-modern folklore and popular texts in general. They are conventional in the sense that they are repeated in many variants inside one communicative group. Habituation based on more or less accurate reproduction of stereotypes (and corresponding experiences), motives, action scenarios, rationalizations, and motivations, is the source of relatively stable world image. The key concept developed in the book is redefined categorization understood as the simplification and stabilization of too complex and changing reality through shared narratives.
Jan Pytalski
categorization cognitive anthropology folklore Kajfosz Magia Magic magical thinking myth Narracji Narratives Popular Potocznej Slaskiego Teschen Silesia Uniwersytetu