{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97623"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97623","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Occult Communism: culture, science and spirituality in late socialist Bulgaria","abstract":"\"“Occult Communism” explores the unlikely infusion of state-sponsored spiritualism into the materialist ideology of Bulgarian late communism. In the 1970s, Minister of Culture Lyudmila Zhivkova initiated grandiose state programs to inject the “occult” into Bulgaria’s national culture, art, science and even political philosophy. Inspired by her Eastern religious beliefs, she sought to ‘breed’ a nation of “all-round and harmoniously developed individuals,” devoted to spiritual self-perfection, who would ultimately “work, live and create according to the laws of beauty.” My project focuses on how Zhivkova translated her religio-philosophical worldview into state policies. I examine three realms of what I have termed “occult communism:” Zhivkova’s domestic and international cultural initiatives; occult religiosity and the mystical movement known as the White Brotherhood; and occult science as embodied by the Scientific Institute of Suggestology. I contend that as quixotic as Zhivkova’s vision was, her policies contributed to the liberalization of art and culture in a period that has long been associated exclusively with stagnation and decay. In so doing, my work questions the failure of utopianism in late socialism and demonstrates that impulses to attach \"\"a human face” to the communist project endured even after the Prague Spring of 1968. Occult Communism” demonstrates that late communism was far less monolithic and dull than typically imagined while challenging our understanding of the relationship between communism, spirituality, and science in the global 1970s and 1980s.\"","abstract_html":""“Occult Communism” explores the unlikely infusion of state-sponsored spiritualism into the materialist ideology of Bulgarian late communism. In the 1970s, Minister of Culture Lyudmila Zhivkova initiated grandiose state programs to inject the “occult” into Bulgaria’s national culture, art, science and even political philosophy. Inspired by her Eastern religious beliefs, she sought to ‘breed’ a nation of “all-round and harmoniously developed individuals,” devoted to spiritual self-perfection, who would ultimately “work, live and create according to the laws of beauty.” My project focuses on how Zhivkova translated her religio-philosophical worldview into state policies. I examine three realms of what I have termed “occult communism:” Zhivkova’s domestic and international cultural initiatives; occult religiosity and the mystical movement known as the White Brotherhood; and occult science as embodied by the Scientific Institute of Suggestology. I contend that as quixotic as Zhivkova’s vision was, her policies contributed to the liberalization of art and culture in a period that has long been associated exclusively with stagnation and decay. In so doing, my work questions the failure of utopianism in late socialism and demonstrates that impulses to attach ""a human face” to the communist project endured even after the Prague Spring of 1968. Occult Communism” demonstrates that late communism was far less monolithic and dull than typically imagined while challenging our understanding of the relationship between communism, spirituality, and science in the global 1970s and 1980s."","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ivanova, Veneta Todorova"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Todorova, Maria N.","Ghamari-Tabrizi, Behrooz","Koenker, Diane P.","Fritzsche, Peter","Gille, Zsuzsa"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-08-10T19:52:21Z","date_published":"2017-08-10T19:52:21Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:34Z","subjects":["Communism","Eastern Europe","Late Socialism","Occultism","Cultural policy","Cultural history","State Socialism","Religion","Eastern European history","Religion and Communism","Bulgaria"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2017 Veneta Ivanova"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97623","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Todorova, Maria N.","Ghamari-Tabrizi, Behrooz","Koenker, Diane P.","Fritzsche, Peter","Gille, Zsuzsa"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ivanova, Veneta Todorova"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2017-08-10T19:52:21Z","2019-08-11T09:15:24Z","2017-04-25","2017-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Communism","Eastern Europe","Late Socialism","Occultism","Cultural policy","Cultural history","State Socialism","Religion","Eastern European history","Religion and Communism","Bulgaria"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2017 Veneta Ivanova"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97623"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["\"“Occult Communism” explores the unlikely infusion of state-sponsored spiritualism into the materialist ideology of Bulgarian late communism. In the 1970s, Minister of Culture Lyudmila Zhivkova initiated grandiose state programs to inject the “occult” into Bulgaria’s national culture, art, science and even political philosophy. Inspired by her Eastern religious beliefs, she sought to ‘breed’ a nation of “all-round and harmoniously developed individuals,” devoted to spiritual self-perfection, who would ultimately “work, live and create according to the laws of beauty.” My project focuses on how Zhivkova translated her religio-philosophical worldview into state policies. I examine three realms of what I have termed “occult communism:” Zhivkova’s domestic and international cultural initiatives; occult religiosity and the mystical movement known as the White Brotherhood; and occult science as embodied by the Scientific Institute of Suggestology. I contend that as quixotic as Zhivkova’s vision was, her policies contributed to the liberalization of art and culture in a period that has long been associated exclusively with stagnation and decay. In so doing, my work questions the failure of utopianism in late socialism and demonstrates that impulses to attach \"\"a human face” to the communist project endured even after the Prague Spring of 1968. Occult Communism” demonstrates that late communism was far less monolithic and dull than typically imagined while challenging our understanding of the relationship between communism, spirituality, and science in the global 1970s and 1980s.\"","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2019-05-01","The student, Veneta Ivanova, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-21 at 15:12.","The student, Veneta Ivanova, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2017-04-21 at 15:29.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2017-04-25 at 14:03.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #10989 on 2017-08-10 at 14:32:30","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:52:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 IVANOVA-DISSERTATION-2017.pdf: 974007 bytes, checksum: ebbdef07e229da0bd05fdcf9dd4c07f2 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4211 bytes, checksum: f558c0f8ee48800e1caefbd4f7669198 (MD5) PROQUEST_LICENSE.txt: 4557 bytes, checksum: 9db27c91f17c7c49d9e2344505e60d09 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-25","Embargo set by: Colleen Fallaw for item 102676 Lift date: 2019-08-10T21:25:30Z Reason: Author requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Limited Restriction Lifted for Item 102676 on 2019-08-11T09:15:24Z."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Occult Communism: culture, science and spirituality in late socialist Bulgaria"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Todorova, Maria N.","Ghamari-Tabrizi, Behrooz","Koenker, Diane P.","Fritzsche, Peter","Gille, Zsuzsa"],"dc:creator":["Ivanova, Veneta Todorova"],"dc:date":["2017-08-10T19:52:21Z","2019-08-11T09:15:24Z","2017-04-25","2017-05"],"dc:description":["\"“Occult Communism” explores the unlikely infusion of state-sponsored spiritualism into the materialist ideology of Bulgarian late communism. In the 1970s, Minister of Culture Lyudmila Zhivkova initiated grandiose state programs to inject the “occult” into Bulgaria’s national culture, art, science and even political philosophy. Inspired by her Eastern religious beliefs, she sought to ‘breed’ a nation of “all-round and harmoniously developed individuals,” devoted to spiritual self-perfection, who would ultimately “work, live and create according to the laws of beauty.” My project focuses on how Zhivkova translated her religio-philosophical worldview into state policies. I examine three realms of what I have termed “occult communism:” Zhivkova’s domestic and international cultural initiatives; occult religiosity and the mystical movement known as the White Brotherhood; and occult science as embodied by the Scientific Institute of Suggestology. I contend that as quixotic as Zhivkova’s vision was, her policies contributed to the liberalization of art and culture in a period that has long been associated exclusively with stagnation and decay. In so doing, my work questions the failure of utopianism in late socialism and demonstrates that impulses to attach \"\"a human face” to the communist project endured even after the Prague Spring of 1968. Occult Communism” demonstrates that late communism was far less monolithic and dull than typically imagined while challenging our understanding of the relationship between communism, spirituality, and science in the global 1970s and 1980s.\"","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2019-05-01","The student, Veneta Ivanova, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-21 at 15:12.","The student, Veneta Ivanova, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2017-04-21 at 15:29.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2017-04-25 at 14:03.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #10989 on 2017-08-10 at 14:32:30","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:52:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 IVANOVA-DISSERTATION-2017.pdf: 974007 bytes, checksum: ebbdef07e229da0bd05fdcf9dd4c07f2 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4211 bytes, checksum: f558c0f8ee48800e1caefbd4f7669198 (MD5) PROQUEST_LICENSE.txt: 4557 bytes, checksum: 9db27c91f17c7c49d9e2344505e60d09 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-25","Embargo set by: Colleen Fallaw for item 102676 Lift date: 2019-08-10T21:25:30Z Reason: Author requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Limited Restriction Lifted for Item 102676 on 2019-08-11T09:15:24Z."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97623"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2017 Veneta Ivanova"],"dc:subject":["Communism","Eastern Europe","Late Socialism","Occultism","Cultural policy","Cultural history","State Socialism","Religion","Eastern European history","Religion and Communism","Bulgaria"],"dc:title":["Occult Communism: culture, science and spirituality in late socialist Bulgaria"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:34Z"}