Functioning of Inclusive Strategies in the Mythological and Ritual Context of Traditional Culture
Lugovoy Kirill, Kuratchenko Marina
This article is devoted to the study of the problem of adaptation and social positioning of physically disabled people in the archaic society. These inclusive strategies are defined by common notions of space and time, ways of forming identity, character of determining boundaries between the norm and anti-norm. The notion of the need to maintain stability is the key element for the traditional culture, and any way out of the normal and familiar is seen as a risk to the whole community. It is worth drawing attention to the fact that here it is about the received, but not inborn deformities. Having been injured a person can not perform his function, he becomes marginalized, which is extremely undesirable for the traditional society. Consequently, there is a need for such a mechanism that allowed disabled people to find their unconditional place in society, which, as any stable position, must be accurately defined and have a clear and functional algorithm of theoretical and practical reproduction.
The study is based on the structural-semiotic approach, which is based on K. Levi-Strauss and V. Ya. Propp’s theoretical and practical constructions, which has been further developed in the works of number of national and international researchers. Also, comparative methodology, which allows to compare similar variants of traditional world perception with each other and its implementation in relevant texts, and thus to recreate the missing components of the world picture of this culture, plays a big role in this study.
The analysis of archaic plots leads to the conclusion that traditional culture offers a variety of strategies to solve problems of maintaining social stability, providing unique and paradoxical opportunities for the effective functioning. Besides, social positioning of physical impairment within traditional culture should prospectively be considered in terms of notions about the necessity of compensation of lost opportunities by other ones, acquired as a result of injury. Here there is the rhythm of losses and acquisitions, customary to archaic worldview, when the damage in one area is compensated by the advantage in another.