Arnold Van Gennep Research Articles

The Poetic Image and its Role in the Visitor/Poet Shawqī’s Interaction with the Historical Monuments: An Analysis Study

The relationship between archaeology and language is one of the main subjects of both fields since most remains are related to humans and society. Linguists examine aspects and types of human language, such as the poetic language used in the context of recovering the past, its memories, and the referential meaning of its places. Based on the interrelation between Archaeological anthropology, language, and poetry, this study analyzes the neo-classical poet Aḥmad Shawqī's (1932) Sīnīya "Journey to Andalusia" in the light of the works of the linguist and anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep's (1957) "rites of passage" and the religious language scholar Theodore Gaster's (1992) "seasonal pattern," as employed by the critic Suzanne Stetkevych in reading the rituals of the journey in classic poetry. The study uses the descriptive method to uncover the poet's interactions with Islamic antiquities during his travels to Spain. It also shows the poet's movement, through his poetic language and images, from nostalgia to evocating the lost past Islamic remains, ending with blame to strengthening his Egyptian community's present and enlightening their future.

Deconstructing Stereotypes in the Liminal Phases: A Postcolonial Feminist Analysis of An Educated Woman in Prostitution

Postcolonial Indians’ psyche has been colonised by the long effects of colonial and patriarchal stereotypes. Stereotypes work as a master’s tool in hindering the freedom of postcolonial Indian women. Due to the impact of this two-fold domination (colonial and patriarchal stereotypes) in the lives of postcolonial Indian women, they are forced to endure their sufferings and are oppressed to remain passive. Postcolonial feminism theory uncovers the unknown struggles endured by various voiceless categories and unrecognised social divisions of third world women. The memoir, An Educated Woman in Prostitution, was chosen for the study as it documents the traumatic life transition of a young girl choosing sex work as her identity in the Indian context. The effects of socio-political principles and dogmatic patriarchal stereotypes constructed around sex workers are transparently discussed in the text. The article employs Arnold van Gennep’s anthropological concepts, the three phases of liminality (preliminal, liminal and postliminal) from The Rites of Passage, to closely observe the life transitions and decisions made by the protagonist. The study utilises these phases of liminality to trace the survival strategies employed by the protagonist and other female characters in dismantling stereotypes and gaining freedom of choice. Conclusively, the study employs a qualitative analysis of Manada Devi’s memoir, drawing upon the theoretical exploration of liminal phases and stereotypes from a postcolonial feminist standpoint. The study identifies the transitional phase during which the protagonist breaks stereotypes and reintegrates into society with a new identity.

Crossing the Threshold by/around Water: A Critical Reading of the Liminal Experiences of Adolescents and Young Adults in Feeding the Moonfish and Our Place

AbstractThis study seeks to examine water as a liminal symbol that reflects and symbolizes the liminal identities of adolescents and young adults in two selected plays for young adults: Feeding the Moonfish (2011) by Barbara Wiechmann and Our Place (2015) by Terry Gabbard. Feeding the Moonfish deals with the young adults Martin and Eden who suffer from traumatic experiences. They go to the dock by the lake to rediscover themselves, and, eventually, heal by the water. In a similar setting, Our Place comprises five stories that revolve around adolescents and young adults’ feelings of loss, fragmentation, frustration, love, and death. In both plays, the characters go through the three stages of liminality defined by Arnold van Gennep: the pre-liminal, the liminal, and the post-liminal and, finally, emerge as reborn/healed. Water is a complex liminal symbol that reflects the experiences of adolescence and young adults, and combines contradictory meanings which are essential, expressive, and, most importantly, complementary for the development of the characters and for their eventual recovery. Using the concept of liminality and adolescent psychology to read scenes in which liminal experiences (confusion, indecisiveness, and disorientation) are present, this study argues that the depiction of liminal experiences near water in these plays for young adults offers complex symbols for the study of young adulthood and for encountering and responding to traumas experienced in adolescence.

Liminality, Niche Television Programming, and the Adventure Drama Series

This article focuses on how expatriate adventure drama series on early 1960s American television served as harbingers of change in network television’s content. Through examination of the context leading to those series and an in-depth analysis of two series, Adventures in Paradise and Hong Kong, it demonstrates how American expatriates served as liminal and transitional figures in geographic settings that themselves were also liminal. As such the series fit into a niche unique to the time of the late turn of the 1960s, when broader social attitudes were also in transition. Drawing upon Victor Turner’s work and Bjørn Thomassen, who has brought a reevaluation of Turner and the concept of the rites of passage as developed by Arnold van Gennep, the article documents how turn of the 1960s adventure dramas already contained disruptive storylines undercutting existing social attitudes even while continuing to reinforce systemic racism and fixed sexual identities.

NEW LIMINALITIES: BEAT FURRER AT 70

‘Liminal’, from the Latin limen, denotes both thresholds and, curiously, the home. Since its original use by the anthropologist Arnold van Gennep in 1909 to label the central stage in a transformational rite of passage, the term has been used in very many contexts: from writings concerning sociology within both local and global contexts to an internet aesthetic of eerie empty spaces, a sort of loose understanding of modern spiritualities and plenty of art gallery labels.

Problems with Identity: Navigating Transcultural Memory in Adivasi Societies of India

Memory and culture share an intricate relationship, where the existence of culture is inconceivable without memory. Both concepts, however, are inherently fluid, constantly evolving. Prevailing discourse in memory studies, linking memory exclusively to specific cultures, faces challenges from the emerging concept of transcultural memory. Advocates of transcultural memory question the stability of cultures, emphasizing the movement of memory across cultural boundaries and exploring the convergence and in-betweenness of memory. Arnold Van Gennep's concept of "Liminal Space," depicting an individual in a state of ambiguity between two worlds, serves as a crucial framework for understanding this intermediary stage of memory. As memory studies evolve, this abstract seeks to expand upon Van Gennep's concept by analyzing the culture, space, and memory of Adivasi societies as represented in the novel Havan by Mallikaarjun Hirermath. The novel discusses the Lambada Adivasis and their settlement amidst changing currents of modernization as their village is struck with the transformation into a city. By examining the unique aspects of Adivasi communities, this study challenges the notion of a uniform transcultural memory experience at the convergence of mainstream culture when it comes to Adivasi experience

Fieldnotes from ethnographic research in rural areas of the Polish Jurassic Highland as a record of the process of becoming an anthropologist

This article is based on research conducted in rural areas of the Polish Jurassic Highland by first-year ethnology and cultural anthropology students as part of their first field exercises. One of their tasks was to keep fieldnotes, which provided an insight into the young anthropologists’ experiences. Based on an analysis of these notes, I decided to inscribe the process of becoming an anthropologist into the pattern of the rite of passage according to the model proposed by Arnold van Gennep. The purpose of the article is to analyze and interpret the students’ notes and present the point of view of a young researcher – including myself, the author of this article, who participated in this research – on the Polish countryside and the role of the field in the “anthropological initiation.” Making fieldnotes is not only a technique or method of producing anthropological knowledge, but also a source of information about the researcher’s inner experiences during their professional initiation. The article investigates how the specificity of the rural areas of the Polish Jurassic Highland (as the first research field) influenced the process of the symbolic transformation of a student into an anthropologist.

RITUAL OF CHRISTMAS EVE SUPPER IN THE OPOCZNO REGION. TRADITION AND THE PRESENT DAY

This article presents the customs, rituals and beliefs of the Christmas Eve supper in the Opoczno subregion, both those practiced at the beginning of the 20th century and those that have survived to the present day. To address the problem at hand, the author has used his own factual material, collected during ethnographic field research conducted in Opoczno in 1990–1993, as well as the literature on the subject. The author’s intention is not only to present the preparations for the Christmas Eve feast and its course but also to show the customs and rituals of this day and supper as rites of passage according to the theories of Arnold van Gennep. These rituals assume three phases: preliminal, liminal and postliminal. In the first phase, a break is made with the previous reality and everyday life in order to enter a state of suspension, i.e. a transitional state, and after performing the rituals specified by tradition, to reach a new reality. The realization of rites of passage can be seen in the inner experiences of the participants at the Christmas Eve feast, which has a religious character.

Crossing home – school border as rites de passage

We can analyse home – school discourse in accordance to Arnold van Gennep’s theory of the rites de passage (Van Gennep, 1986). Its essential three components (rites) might be perceived in the process of children’s and parents’ home – school transitions. Assuming that children and their parents transit from one to another social status quo we can see the basis for ritual forms of transition that are typical in such processes.We can also indicate binary oppositions that describe these statuses, e.g.: child vs. student, parent vs. parent of student. Thus, after van Gennep, we are able to name the following rites: rite of exclusion, rite de marge (marginalisation), and rite of inclusion in the home - school transition.The paper presents selected landscapes of school life, in which ritual pattern of transition (rittes de passage) are indicated and analysed in the context of potential opportunities of changes in the ways of parental involvement and democratisation of social life in Poland.

A Study of Cultural Hybridity and Liminality in the Works of Hala Alyan

The concept of Liminality emerged from the anthropological works of Arnold Van Gennep and Victor Turner. Liminality refers to the "threshold". The liminal stage is a transitional or in-between phase of different characters and situations. In the era of postcolonialism, liminality has been applied in the context of culture. Concept of hybridity was at first used in the field of science and later in postcolonial scenario, it got associated with the mixing of cultures. Liminality theory has put a significant impact on postcolonial studies because it provides a framework for understanding the complex experiences of people who have been displaced and dislocated. In the postcolonial context, liminality and cultural hybridity are often experienced by people who have migrated from one place to another. The migrants face the challenge of adapting to a new culture while also maintaining their own cultural identity. They may also find themselves caught in a liminal state, in between two cultures, feeling like they don't fully belong to either one. On the other hand, they may feel that they belong to both cultures in equal measure and form a new hybrid culture which is mixture of the culture of their homeland and native state. The Palestinian American writer Hala Alyan’s novels and poems are full of such characters and situations which explore the themes of liminality and cultural hybridity.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA, LIMINALITY, AND RESILIENCE IN PARAPLEGIC INDIVIDUALS: EXPLORING A SHIFTING IDENTITY CLINICAL AND PROJECTIVE STUDY

The study focuses on the psychodynamic approach to the psychological consequences of acquired motor disabilities in paraplegic individuals following a traffic accident. Emphasizing the identity issues faced by paraplegic individuals,the author, through clinical and projective research, delvedinto the manifestations of liminality experienced by a young woman transitioning to her new reality and its implications on identity concerns. Liminality, a concept borrowed from the French anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep in the context of cultural rituals and social transitions, refers in a broader sense to the process of transitioning and adapting to life changes, including those that may arise when an individual acquires a motor disability. It refers to a transitional state where a person finds themselves between two states or positions, often characterized by uncertainty, confusion, and exploration. It's a period of breaking away from previous identity and life, and an exploration of new ways of being and positioning oneself in the world. The author discusses adaptive strategies and resilience mechanisms used to overcome these identity challenges and reconcile with a new sense of self, a new post-traumatic identity

Imagine There is no Death…

The idea of human mortality and the funerary practices that derive from it seems to be one of the most enduring aspects of culture. What if we stated that death means nothing but pure organic decomposing, leaving nothing behind but the chemical constituents? What if such an approach became the basis of an active reformatory policy of a state? Soviet practices of death and attitudes toward dead bodies can be mentioned among the most significant changes that have taken place in Russian society over the past 150 years. While Soviet leaders have been given lavish state funerals, the death of an ‘average’ person has become less and less visible. Although the state made considerable efforts to reform the funeral sphere, this did not lead to the development and enhancement of brand-new funeral rituals. Rather this policy gradually diminished the social value of funerals and facilitated a transition to DIY funerals. Following Robert Hertz and Arnold van Gennep, I consider funerary practices as a social phenomenon and a social mechanism that allows society and its members to adapt to mortality, experience loss, and restore their integrity. In my talk, I will show how a new understanding of human nature and human mortality transformed the social fabric of Soviet society. Will the lecture be based on my recently published book ‘A New Death for a New Man? Funeral Culture of Early USSR’.

The Renunciation of Wealth as a Rite of ‘the poor' and ‘perfect’: Bede and his Successors

The renunciation and abandonment of wealth are rarely described as Christian rites of passage. Yet, for many medieval commentators on Scripture, such as the Venerable Bede and his successors, they were necessary rites, preliminaries to entry into the kingdom of heaven and into the class of ‘the perfect’. This article explores Arnold van Gennep's description of rites of passage in conjunction with the discussion of poverty in the Western exegetical tradition, centred in particular on Jesus's statements about poverty in Luke. It focuses on Bede's models of renunciation and abandonment of wealth which influenced Latin theology at least until the Reformation. The renunciation and abandonment of wealth provide an excellent test case for exploring van Gennep's ritual framework and its utility within the discipline of ecclesiastical history.

Autobiography as Self-Ethnography in Italo Calvino’s ‘La poubelle agréée’

ABSTRACT The relevance of Calvino’s anthropological readings, often overlooked by scholars, is particularly evident in his autobiographical project Passaggi obbligati. The structure of the book, consisting of a selection of crucial turning points in the author’s life, is modelled on the theories presented by Arnold Van Gennep in Les Rites de passage. Considering ‘La poubelle agréée’ as a case study, I will highlight Calvino’s shaping of his autobiography according to Van Gennep’s ritual frame, which can be described as a hybrid form of autobiography and ethnography, and which I define as ‘self-ethnography’. The influence of Mary Douglas’ reflection on impurity and garbage in her book Purity and Danger will then be considered as a further crucial theoretical reference for Calvino’s construction of his self-ethnographic narrative.

A Review of Neurocognitive Interpretations of Australian Literature: Criticism in the Age of Neuroawareness

A Review of <i>Neurocognitive Interpretations of Australian Literature: Criticism in the Age of Neuroawareness</i>

Реализация сюжета перехода в рассказе Н. Тэффи «И времени не стало»

The article puts forward a new line of interpretation of the short story by Teffi “And the time was no more”. Based on the analysis of ways of overcoming the linear narrative by the author, a hypothesis is put forward about the implementation of the transition plot in the story. This type of plot is interpreted as the hero crossing the border between life and death, experiencing the experience of dying. This version is supported by biblical, mythological and literary allusions related to the near-death / post-mortem state of the hero. The work is considered in the context of the global myth about the posthumous wanderings of the soul, which contains certain ideas about the obligatory participants, attributes and symbols of the funeral rite, and the topography of the realm of the dead. The plot of the passage, by analogy with the stages of the rite of passage, described by Arnold van Gennep, is divided into three obligatory episodes – separation, transitional stage and inclusion. The separation – the removal of the deceased from the house, that is, the transfer through the threshold, is marked in Teffi’s text as an exit from the “house”. The transitional (liminal) stage is the beginning of the wanderings of the soul. The subject thus acquires the features of duality. In Teffi text, this phase is marked by a reciprocating movement from the conditional present to the past and back. The heroine (or her soul) is “neither here nor there.” The stage of inclusion – the final introduction of the heroine to the world of the dead – is indicated in the plot by the disappearance of the Hunter, who has fulfilled his function as a psychopomp, together with peaceful state of the heroine’s soul. These stages correlate not only with the composition, but also with the semantics of the episodes of the story. So, first of all, in our opinion, this is evidenced by the very title of the work “And there was no time”, which speaks of some kind of timeless existence. In addition, transitivity motifs are introduced into the work due to a number of details that, due to their archetypal nature, are symbolic. These are, for example, the predominance of white colour, the chthonic nature of the characters (the old woman and the Hunter) and animals, the connection of the objects of the material world of the work with the funeral rite. In addition to considering the mythologeme about the path of the soul to the afterlife, the article presents the traces of the solar myth found in the text, understood as an endless life cycle, the alternation of dying and rebirth.

The Bath of the Deities: Considerations on the Sacred in a Hare Krishna Ritual

Starting from a reflection on the concept of the sacred, in this article I intend to address how a spiritual practice of Indian origin, the so-called bath of the Deities, can contribute to this debate. For this purpose, an ethnographic description of the event in question will be taken as an object, in order to provoke a debate with authors such as Emile Durkheim, Arnold Van Gennep and others who focus more specifically on Hinduism, such as Gavin Flood and Lúcio Valera.

Icon Painting as Visual Component of Ritual Entertainment in the Context of Socio-Cultural Life of Kyivan Rus

The purpose of the article is to consider icon painting as one of the elements of the visual component of ceremonial and ritual "entertainment" in the context of the socio-cultural life of Kyivan Rus.The methodology of the research consists in the application of the analytical method to study the theoretical material about the types of «entertainment», special attention is focused on the ceremonial-ritual type. The formalisation method is used to clarify the term «Entertainment» within the subject field of art history. The hermeneutic historical-cultural methodsenable the study of icon painting as a visual component of the «Entertainment» ceremonial-ritual phenomenon in the context of the socio-cultural life of Kyivan Rus. It is undeniable that the research also uses theoretical material regarding icon painting schools and traditions of icon painting during the times of Kyivan Rus.The scientific novelty of the work is that for the first time icon painting is considered as a visual component of "entertainment" ritual in the context of the socio-cultural life of Kyivan Rus.Conclusions. The hermeneutic method of interpretation of the «entertainment» concept nakes it possible not to narrow its meaning to the term entertainment, in the linguistic and art-historical aspect. Thus, this term is interpreted as a spectacle, and in relation to this interpretation, it has several types, the main of which are ceremonial-ritual, artistic, agonal, and fair. The article focuses on the ceremonial-ritual format of «entertainment» and its visual component during the socio-cultural life of Kyivan Rus. The ceremonial and ritual format of the spectacle is extremely important, combining elements of ceremony and ritual, and the religious aspect plays an important role in the socio-cultural life of each historical era. The interpretation of rite and ritual in the works of Arnold van Gennep, I. Fursin, N. Zakovych, V. Horovyi, and E. Durkheim is considered. It has been determined that it is the symbolic nature of the ceremonial-ritual format of the spectacle that distinguishes it from entertaining, artistic, agony, and farce formats. It is noted that the church rite, as one of the forms of spectacle, also has the right to exist, as an external manifestation of faith in God and the possibility of worshiping him. Thus, icons, which had their own sign and symbolic language, acted as one of the visual components of the ceremonial-ritual spectacle in Kyivan Rus, for example, a church rite. The traditions of the Kyiv icon-painting school of the times of Kyivan Rus, the peculiarities of style, and the main icons of that period are considered, which makes it possible to determine that icon-painting is one of the visual components of the "Entertainment" ritual in the socio-cultural life of Kyivan Rus. Key words: еntertainment, church rite, Kyivan Rus, Kyiv icon painting school, rite, ritual.

Washed to the Edges: Renewing the Practice of Footwashing

The footwashing ritual on Maundy Thursday is often greeted with a mixture of emotions by congregations of all kinds. Neither ordinance nor sacrament, it is one of the more puzzling practices of the church. Its unique appearance in the Gospel of John sets up Jesus’ glorification on the cross—and calls Christians to the same. This paper—in four sections—examines the footwashing as a rite of passage, drawing on the ritual theory of Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner. The first section offers a study of the theological implications of John 13:1–20. In the second section, these implications are examined in the context of the ritual's liturgical history. The third section introduces certain ritual theories and uses the Johannine passage to exemplify them. Finally, the fourth section discusses this analysis in relation to the church's liturgical practice, specifically its connection to baptism. The relationship between baptism and footwashing offers insights into ways of making the ritual into a transformative, liminal encounter with God, rather than just a performance.

COVID-19 and British Jazz Musicians

Jazz is a genre that relies heavily on live performance. It is therefore understandable that the COVID-19 related lockdown greatly affected jazz musicians. In this article, I reflect on London-based jazz musicians’ stories by using the idea of “liminal state”, as conceptualized by Arnold van Gennep (1960) and Victor Turner (1982), examining how they described the lockdown, in particular the financial and emotional impacts it had on them. Between spring 2020 and spring 2021, ten structured theme interviews with jazz musicians were conducted. The article commences by overviewing the data gathered and the ethical procedures adopted, after which I examine the overall emotional and psychological effects that COVID-19 had on jazz musicians who participate in live music. After reflecting on the support that the musicians have received during the pandemic, the article proceeds to outline the new skills that the musicians learned during lockdown.