本論文以高雄市彌陀區的私人宮壇為例，欲探討民間信仰中的公共性的多元化以及鄉村私人宮壇興起之緣由。本研究強調私人宮壇的興起有其共通的內在條件及特質，而私人宮壇所發展出的公共性模式是多元的。一開始研究者先以一間私人宮壇的主事者在經營上遇到的狀況及衝突為例，試著說明私人宮壇內部有那些因素與其之所以能發展出公共性的條件有關。接著，研究者以彌陀地區的六間私人宮壇為例，藉由主事者的觀點及田野觀察歸類出私人宮壇成立及其發展的條件，最後再以私人宮壇間的成立及其發展背景為基礎，嘗試整理出影響私人宮壇的六個公共性變項，說明民間信仰中公廟／私人宮壇間並非二元對立。本文的結論是(1)私人宮壇的公共性呈現有多元化特質；(2)透過主事者、信徒的觀點本文勾勒出私人宮壇興起的幾個重要原因。 This study aims at examining the pluralism of publicity and the reason of the growth of private altars in Taiwanese popular belief. MiTuo District of Kaohsiung county, a rural area, is chosen as my research field. This study emphasizes that there are inherent common characteristics among rising private altars, and the private altars are developing diverse publicity. This research starts with a case study by analyzing difficulties and environment, which the private altar is facing with for explaining what factors have influences on the construction of publicity of the private altar. Then, the researcher takes six private altars in MiTuo District as examples for studying their developing conditions based on the point of view of their managers. Finally, six publicity variables that may affect the construction and management of private altars are proposed for demonstrating that the publicity of private altars is diverse. This also shows that the publicity of belief community in the field of popular belief cannot be conceptualized under the dualistic scheme. The results of this study can be summarized as (1) the pluralism of publicity is emerging among private altars; (2) this thesis outlines some essential reasons for the growth of private altars.
