The segmentation of phenomenological space in Licheń as an example of double binds

The Licheń pilgrimage center, managed by the Marian order, is a phenomenon in Poland beyond classification and a subject of hot controversy. Media attention has indicated various issues that remain unclear behind the construction and management of the center (see, e.g., Kwiatkowska-England 2007; Dzienisiewicz 2002). Studies by ethnographers show how its legend is being made ad-hoc, often with the help of local artisans (e.g., Marciniak 1999). The opinions of artists show a unanimous abhorrence of the artistic aspects of the statues and paintings located there. Nevertheless, the center continues to grow, burgeoning at an unprecedented rate. It claims to attract (data from 2008) some 1.5 million of visitors a year. This paper offers a semiotic ethnography of Licheń's alternative microcosm. Having carried out an exploration of some of the ways in which boundary issues are manipulated in the precincts of the center, the author proposes that the creation of a surrogate reality there may be one of the factors for Lichen's success. Using ethnographic material gathered during fieldwork in 2010, the paper investigates divisions of the phenomenological space at the center. The divisions are proposed to be rooted in the Batesonian concept of the double bind (cf., e.g., Newman 2004, 2009) coupled with the TartuMoscow version of cultural semiotics

Epistemology · Linguistics · Phenomenological model · Phenomenology (philosophy) · Physics · Quantum mechanics · Segmentation · Space (punctuation) · Theoretical physics · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Language and Culture · Philosophy

• Crowning, rotating, and emanating hierophanies with elevatio aspect in wayside shrines

  Open Access•Małgorzata Haładewicz-Grzelak•Semiotica•2022

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