Burning incense for a focus group discussion: Acquiring a spirituality of liminality for doing liturgical research in an African context from an emic perspective

Abstract

In this article the author critically reflects on his experiences while conducting qualitative liturgical research in local communities in South Africa. After a brief sketch of the context and introducing his approach, three types of examples are presented and reflected upon critically. In conclusion, an argument is presented for a specific kind of spirituality that is needed in order to undertake ethnographic-style participatory observation for liturgical research on African soil, namely a spirituality of liminality. For a researcher who is not a member of the tradition and culture in which the research is being conducted, this spirituality of liminality is necessary in order to develop an emic perspective without defining the people whose worshipping tradition is being researched as ‘other’. This spirituality of liminality is an important characteristic for a researcher who engages in qualitative ethnographic-style liturgical research in a postcolonial context.