BETWEEN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND SAVING THE WORLD: PRACTICES AND NARRATIVES BY THE FALUN DAFA COMMUNITY IN BULGARIA

• Authors: Manova Aneliya
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper presents a research case study that explores in depth the question of the function of conspiracy theories and their uses among a religious community during a Global Pandemic. Falun Dafa is a new religious movement that emerged in China and was banned by the Chinese Communist Party. Growing into a global community, it has nowadays followers in many countries, including Bulgaria. The movement’s complex doctrine includes visions of the impending destruction of humanity. Today, they serve as a well-prepared coping mechanism to deal with the crisis, having set their apocalyptic expectations long before the advent of COVID-19. Based on years of observation of the community in Bulgaria, I explore how the conspiracy narratives, underlying this movement, help to reassure and restore psychological balance among followers and how the conspiratorial attitudes get stabilized in such situation of Global Crisis.

Keywords

EN

FALUN DAFA; RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS; CONSPIRACY THEORIES; APOCALYPTICISM; COVID-19; BULGARIA

• Publisher: Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenský národopis (Slovak Ethnology)
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 70
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 369 – 391

Contributors

author

Manova Aneliya

• Institute of Ethnology and Folklore, Studies with Ethnographic Museum (IEFSEM) Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Street, bl. 6, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

• https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0101-612X

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31577/SN.2022.3.30