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Cleansing and separating: From modern agriculture and genocide to post-separation era

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2021

Michal Bilewicz Open the ORCID record for Michal Bilewicz [Opens in a new window]  and
Aleksandra Bilewicz
Michal Bilewicz
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, 00-183, Warsaw, Poland bilewicz@psych.uw.edu.pl; http://cbu.psychologia.pl/pl/zespol/bilewicz
Aleksandra Bilewicz
Affiliation:
Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-330, Warsaw, Poland. abilewicz@irwirpan.waw.pl; http://www.irwirpan.waw.pl/12/zespol/pracownicy/2/zespol/pracownicy/2/wpis/75
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Abstract

We propose that the metaphor of cleansing was a by-product of modernization processes. Based on cultural and historical evidence, we claim that the activation of cleansing metaphor triggered positive associations in times when separation was a positively regarded element of human culture and agriculture, but it should not exert the same effect in times when separation became culturally anachronistic.

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Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e2
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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