FORUM FOR ANTHROPOLOGY AND CULTURE ANTROPOLOGICHESKIJ FORUMRUS | ENG
|
![]() |
![]() |
Antropologicheskij forum, 2021, no. 51
Olga Boitsova Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences Abstract: In the 1990s in Russia—as well as in other countries—there were rumors about the existence of Satanists; these sometimes lead to the so-called “Satanic Panics” described by researchers. The paper is devoted to the urban legend about Satanists that circulated in 1996–1997 in the Sverdlovsk and Moscow Regions of Russia. According to the rumors, some portraits of children taken by professional photographers included photographs of other people’s body parts, funerals, paraphernalia, and other foreign objects between the picture and its frame, which caused harm to the child depicted in the portrait. The paper is based on an analysis of the media (newspapers and a television program) and an interview taken in 2006 with a witness and participant of the events. Versions of the same urban legend published on the Internet in the 2000s–2010s are invoked for comparison. As a theoretical approach, the concept of moral panics is applied. The paper raises questions about the reasons for the explosive spread of the urban legend and the particular form of the moral panic. The paper shows that the idea of a portrait as a means of influence over the depicted person and of the possibility of damage through the image—which, in the 19th century, led to panics over the so-called “hell-depicting icons”—still exists in Russia and played its role in the moral panic of the 1990s. Keywords: moral panic, Satanic panic, urban legend, Satanists, magic spoiling, photographs, 1990s. To cite: Boitsova O., ‘Portrety-ubiytsy: gorodskaya legenda i moralnaya panika 1990-kh gg.’ [Killer Portraits: An Urban Legend and Moral Panic of the 1990s], Antropologicheskij forum, 2021, no. 51, pp. 11–38. doi: 10.31250/1815-8870-2021-17-51-11-38 URL: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/051/boitsova.pdf |
![]() |
About |
Editorial Board |
Editorial Staff |
Antropologicheskij forum - current issue |
Previous Russian issues |
Online issues |
Forum for Anthropology and Culture - current issue |
Previous English issues |
Next Forum |
Submissions and reviewing policy |
Ethical Standards |
Buy / Subscribe |
Contact Us |
English Summaries of Russian Version |
© 2010-2017. "Forum for Anthropology and Culture" All rights reserved |