Concept Of Liminality Research Articles

Sviluppo Infrastrutturale e Politica Regionale nel Caucaso Meridionale. Azerbaigian e Georgia tra liminalità e rinnovata attorialità

This article examines the renewed strategic prominence of Azerbaijan and Georgia in the regional landscape reshaped by the Russia–Ukraine conflict and the reconfiguration of Eurasian infrastructural corridors. Drawing on the concept of liminality—understood in both geographic and ontological terms—the study explores how these two states have leveraged their “in-between” condition as a strategic asset. Through infrastructure diplomacy, they have sought to enhance their agency and reassert their sovereignty. The cases of the Port of Alat (Azerbaijan) and the Port of Anaklia (Georgia) illustrate the broader ambition of both countries to reposition themselves at the center of emerging connectivity networks and to negotiate political space among competing powers. Liminality is thus reinterpreted not as a source of vulnerability, but as an operative platform for the creative agency and for the development of new models of regional sovereignty.

In the Dimension of Liminality: Bucha and the Unfinished Story of Liubov Panchenko

The deep connection between the city, the fate and works of the talented artist Liubov Panchenko (1938–2022) is described in the article through the liminal dimension of the Bucha tragedy, caused by Russian aggression. Her undervalued artistic voice from previous times, in the context of loss and uncertainty, sounds particularly sharp. The artist’s heritage is reinterpreted as a symbol of the resilience of Ukrainian culture. The methodology based on the concepts of liminality by Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner, including Turner’s notion of “social drama” is used in the study. The anthropological analysis of collected materials (results of the authors’ own fieldwork in Bucha (2024), individual published works, museum exhibitions in Kyiv and abroad devoted to the artist’s works) contributes to understanding the complex socio-cultural and symbolic processes in a time of crisis. The city of Bucha, marked by the bloody events of the Russian occupation in the spring of 2022, arises as an embodiment of the liminal state – a borderline space between destruction and revival, past and future, where customary social norms have been destroyed, and individual stories of loss are intertwined into collective trauma. In this context, the personal tragedy of Liubov Panchenko, her death from exhaustion under occupation, symbolizes the extreme vulnerability of the individual at the epicenter of liminal chaos. Bucha is considered in the article as a dual liminal space – simultaneously a suburb with an ambivalent identity and a territory of collective trauma seeking ways of recovery. The dynamics of verbal definitions of the city (“city-martyr”, “hero-city”, “city-memory”), reflecting the evolution of collective perception of the tragedy and the formation of a new identity, is analyzed. Particular attention in the article is paid to the study of Liubov Panchenko’s life and works in the context of her native village of Yablunka, which has become an integral part of Bucha in the 1990s. The influence of the local environment on her unique artistic style is considered. The paradox of the posthumous recognition of Panchenko’s talent is emphasized, and the reasons for the underestimation of her work during the Soviet period because of the ideological pressure on manifestations of national identity are revealed. Also the graphic and figurative language of Panchenko’s works is considered in the article through an anthropological lens. The features of Liubov Panchenko’s decorative compositions as a synthesis of folk traditions and individual vision, her masterful use of line and color planes, as well as the presence of traditional Ukrainian ornamental symbols and images, are analyzed. The public initiatives to commemorate Liubov Panchenko are analyzed in the final part and recommendations for the development of conceptual foundations and a visual identity of the urban environment based on her ornamental and decorative work are formulated. The prospects for integrating the artist’s creative heritage into the educational space of the city as a significant factor in the restoration of Bucha’s cultural heritage and a symbolic resource for community revitalization are substantiated.

Seed Saving and Seed Sharing: Occupying a Liminal Legal Space

This article explores seed-saving and sharing as acts of resistance within a legally liminal space, challenging an exclusionary legal framework shaped by anthropocentric and capitalocenic perspectives. The Corporate Seed Regime has displaced long-standing local seed systems, prioritizing individual ownership over commons, peasant rights, and indigenous ontologies. Drawing on Victor Turner's concept of liminality, we examine this space as one of critique, and with potential of reform and new sociopolitical system. Through desk research and fieldwork in the UK and Colombia, we compare resistance tactics of local seed organizations. Our findings highlight a growing global movement, led by the Global South, that promotes alternative seed discourses and everyday sharing practices, now influencing the Global North. This movement underscores the polarization between informal, community-driven seed exchange and formalized legal systems, illustrating ongoing struggles for seed sovereignty and posthuman legal recognition.

Myths about the Church of St. John of Nepomuk in Vrchní Orlice: (Dis)continuity of a Place without Inheritors

The article investigates the contemporary narratives surrounding the Church of St. John of Nepomuk in Vrchní Orlice (Hohen Erlitz), a site marked by displacement, destruction, fragile local memory, and precarious identity since the end of World War II. Drawing primarily on interviews conducted between 2022 and 2024, this qualitative study focuses on the “myths” that emerged, often incidentally but repeatedly, during explorations of the site’s atmosphere, memory, and potential new functions for the church. The concept of “myth” is employed to capture the processes of balancing personal and collective experiences, addressing gaps in memory, and negotiating identities and belonging. Following the participants’ reflections and a comparison of the field data with the existing literature, we propose the concepts of liminality, haunted landscapes, and adopted heritage as key tools for interpretation.

Liminal phases and electronic waste: Interrogating temporality in international law

Abstract This article examines the regulatory tensions that emerge from the temporal organisation of jurisdiction in international law, through the lens of transnational flows of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE). Transnational trade in WEEE is regulated by international environmental law, whereby the Basel Convention restricts transboundary trade in WEEE. However, the coexistence of this regime with international trade law, specifically World Trade Organization rules promoting free trade in electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) and used EEE (UEEE), has generated substantial complexity in controlling transboundary movements of WEEE. This article argues that the persistent issue of electronic waste being illegally shipped from developed to developing countries under the guise of being used equipment is closely linked to the temporal organisation of jurisdiction in international law. This article draws on legal harmonisation and the concept of liminality to interrogate temporality in international law.

Consciousness Not Without Danger: Theorising Violence Faced by Dalit Converts

The present article views Dalit conversion as a gradual process or bottom-up reassessment strategy for a democratic environment assumed to provide a space to challenge the social structure of the Hindu caste system. To theorise this, the article deploys Victor Turner’s concept of liminality and studies religious conversion as a transition, liminal process, or threshold that promises to bring change and alternation in the existing rigid structure. It aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how religious conversion functions as a space of both rupture and renewal in Dalit identity formation. The epigram of this article spells out the objectives to show when, why, and how they follow the path of conversion. It argues that due to their peculiar position in the Hindu caste hierarchy and exclusion from the Varna category, Dalits are open to change their religion from Hinduism to another religion. The willingness to change their Hindu religion either in the form of protest and assertion, or compulsion to escape from the practice of untouchability, explains the capacity of Dalits to break the caste structure and possibly become an entirely new self. Furthermore, the article argues that this process of becoming a new self is surrounded by danger; Dalits, as transgressors, who challenge the social stratification of the Hindu caste system by converting to other religions, are often drawn to violence. The prevalence of the concept of conversion as a consciously chosen path by Dalits strikes controversy among caste Hindus, and the flexibility with which Dalits approach religion becomes one of the main causes of violence. Finally, it argues that when Dalit consciousness manifests itself through conversion, it invites danger, threat, or violence, and this threat and violence may not necessarily appear in physical and overt form but in covert forms such as violations of certain constitutional rights.

ПЕРЕХІДНІ ФОРМИ МІСЬКОГО ПРОСТОРУ ЯК СЕРЕДОВИЩЕ ФУНКЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ НЕВИЗНАЧЕНОСТІ ТА НОВИХ МОЖЛИВОСТЕЙ

The article examines the phenomenon of liminality as an analytical framework for understanding urban transformations in the context of post-industrial development. The study focuses on socio-cultural, morphological, and ecological dimensions of change. The research problem arises from the increasing number of urbanized areas that have lost their original functional roles and no longer align with traditional zoning principles or typological classifications. In this context, the article foregrounds the need for both theoretical and practical rethinking of urban spaces that exist in a state of in-betweenness – so-called liminal spaces. The article emphasizes that liminal spaces, such as temporarily abandoned, transitional, or peripheral zones, are acquiring new meanings and potentials that transcend functional rationalism. In this context, particular attention is given to two large-scale case studies: HafenCity in Hamburg (Germany) and King’s Cross in London (United Kingdom), which exemplify sustainable models of reimagining post-industrial territories by integrating cultural, commercial, residential, and public functions. Additionally, the article examines green urban spaces, specifically Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord and the High Line Park, as examples that demonstrate the significance of an ecological design approach aimed at revitalizing the urban landscape. The aim of the article is to justify the relevance of applying the concept of liminality as an analytical approach to interpreting urban transformations, using the example of post-industrial and green urban spaces. The conclusions emphasize that liminal spaces are not only indicators of urban dysfunction or decline but also markers of areas with significant transformational potential, requiring interdisciplinary reflection and flexible strategies for reconstruction and modernization.

The Crisis of Border in The Bell Jar: A Study of Psychological and Social Thresholds

This paper explores the theme of the border crisis in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, examining how the protagonist, Esther Greenwood, experiences psychological fragmentation and social dislocation. Using Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection and the concept of liminality, the paper investigates how Esther’s identity is constantly destabilized by boundaries—between sanity and insanity, self and other, body and society. These border crises illustrate the entrapment and rebellion of a female consciousness within a patriarchal framework, exposing the fissures in both personal identity and cultural expectations.

Echoes of liminality: Hidden transcripts and subtle resistance in Bhojpuri-speaking women’s Kajari folksongs

In North India, Kajari is both a festival and a folksong, offering a starting point to explore the subversive practices of Mallah caste Bhojpuri-speaking women in ritualised and performative contexts. The study uses ethnographic data, such as rituals and folksong as source material collected between 2021 and 2023. With James Scott’s idea of hidden transcripts, Victor Turner’s concept of liminality and liminoid provides theoretical lenses to examine rural women’s rituals, folksongs, and dramatic performances to subtly challenge patriarchal norms and transgress social and linguistic boundaries offstage. Through the liminal phase of the Kajari festival, women create a space for bold self-expression, humour, and critique, emerging as revitalised social actors. This exploration reveals how liminal spaces, performative acts and hidden transcripts allow for the ritualised subversion of gender roles, transforming women’s roles within and sometimes beyond the ritual setting and fostering alternative voices and expressions.

Sacred Places, Ritual and Identity: Shaping the Liminal Landscape of Banda Neira, Maluku Islands

In the context of globalization and rapid societal changes, preserving sacred landscapes is vital for cultural identity and resilience. This study investigates the concept of liminality within the cultural landscape of Neira Island, emphasizing the significance of the Buka Kampung ritual and keramat (sacred objects) as integral components of Neira landscape identity. Through qualitative analysis and case studies, the study explores how these rituals serve as liminal practices that mediate between continuity and transformation. The findings highlight that the act of making offerings at keramat during the Buka Kampung ritual fosters social cohesion and reinforces collective identity. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the interplay between sacredness, rituals, and identity, demonstrating how these elements shape place attachment, collective memory, and the lived experiences of local communities. It highlights the importance of sacred landscapes in fostering community resilience and cultural continuity, offering insights into the role of ritual practices in heritage preservation.

Forced, Reversed and Sustained: Governance and the Mobilities of Migrant Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in India

The article explores the multi-faceted phenomenon of forced migration, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered large-scale reverse migration among marginalised workers. Focusing on migrant workers from Odisha, the study applies the concept of liminality and employs a qualitative approach to examine the dialectics of social mobility. It highlights the ruptured experiences of these workers and the paradoxes of mobility during the crisis. The analysis reveals how the pandemic reshaped work structures, governance, family relations, gendered morality and community participation, redefining social mobility not simply as upward or downward movement, but as a process marked by ambivalence and transformation.

Post-Soviet transition beyond liminality in an Estonian town: Opportunities for social work

Summary This article explores the experiences of older residents in Sillamäe—a former “closed town” in Estonia established during the early Soviet era. Focusing on the profound societal changes of the 1990s following the collapse of the USSR, we seek to address the knowledge gap about the social changes and personal challenges during this period and understand how these experiences continue to shape the lives of residents today. Using a social constructionist life course perspective and the concept of liminality, we try to understand the adaptation experiences and connect this topic to broader societal processes. The study includes ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with 17 local residents aged 61–91. For the data analysis, we employed an open thematic analysis. Findings The analysis showed that the USSR's collapse profoundly impacted the interviewees’ lives, causing ruptures in their social networks and connections and in their sense of identity and belonging, as well as creating economic hardship. Individuals and entire communities found themselves marginalized and struggling to fit into a new society. At the same time, the resources to support local residents during this transition were limited. Sillamäe became a key resource for making sense of circumstances in a new society, offering a liminal space between place and society. Applications Escaping liminality demands cultural scaffolding, psychological support, and social and economic assistance to navigate challenges and make new meanings individually and collectively. Social workers can influence how individuals and communities experience transitions, creating opportunities for transformation and renewal.

Magombok: Reimagining traditional performance (ritual-theater) for heritage sustainability

The Magombok ritual, a traditional healing practice of the Bajau Laut community in Semporna, Sabah, stands at a critical juncture. Modernization's relentless march has eroded traditional beliefs and lifestyles, placing this cultural heritage on the brink of extinction. The community finds itself torn between the ancient pagan beliefs of their ancestors and the tenets of Islam, the dominant religion, creating a complex challenge for the ritual's survival. Simultaneously, Sabah's traditional theatres grapple with their own set of problems, often confined to conceptual stages or limited to social dramas, hindering their full potential. This research delves into the possibility of transforming the Magombok ritual into a vibrant traditional theatre performance, drawing upon the concepts of liminal and liminality. Inspired by Richard Schechner's performance theory and Victor Turner's ritual theory, the study seeks to bridge the gap between ritual and theatre. By combining the four universal characteristics of performance with the four perspectives of ritual, the research aims to establish a pathway for the ritual's successful transformation into a theatrical form. This transformation is envisioned as a means of empowering the local ethnic identity, providing a platform for cultural expression and preservation. The research further proposes practical methods and processes for transforming ritual performances into theatrical productions. This integrated approach offers an alternative strategy for safeguarding and sustaining the ethnic traditional cultural heritage. Beyond mere preservation, the transformation process has the potential to shape the future of traditional Sabah theatre performances, enriching the state's artistic landscape. The theatrical adaptation of Magombok holds immense promise as a cultural tourism product, attracting visitors to experience the unique traditions of Semporna. This, in turn, can bolster the socio-economic well-being of the local ethnic group, fostering a sense of pride and cultural ownership. The transformation of Magombok into a captivating theatre performance offers a multifaceted solution, ensuring the survival of a cherished tradition while enriching the cultural and economic fabric of Sabah. Keywords: Magombok Rituals; Heritage Preservation; Liminal; Sabah Traditional Theater

Between Placelessness and Place-Giving: Migration as a Social Space of Gap and the Threshold Politics of Identity

This study examines the phenomenon of migration and refugeedom within the context of Turkey, not solely through the lens of migrants' integration processes, but also by critically focusing on how the host society actively constructs and conditions these processes. In the current literature, migration is often conceptualized through one-dimensional frameworks that position the migrant as a passive subject expected to adapt. However, contemporary migration dynamics entail not merely individual adaptation, but multilayered processes of cultural, political, and symbolic negotiation and mutual transformation. In this regard, the study introduces the concept of the "Societal Void Zone" (SVZ) to describe the uncertain, negotiated, and often resistant space that emerges between migrants and host communities. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded in social identity theory, acculturation models, and the concept of liminality. The newly developed notions of displacement and place-giving are employed to conceptualize the two poles of this relational field. Displacement denotes the migrant's struggle to reconstruct spatial and identity-based belonging; place-giving refers to the host society's conditional and regulated forms of inclusion. The threshold space that arises between these poles embodies neither full exclusion nor full acceptance, and constitutes a critical terrain for rethinking migration sociology. The study is based on a mixed-method survey conducted with both migrant individuals and host community members. Data were collected using quantitative (Likert scale) and qualitative (open-ended) instruments and analyzed through the lenses of social exclusion, identity tension, and symbolic boundary production. Findings indicate that integration is not merely a matter of individual effort or institutional policy, but a complex and symbolic process of negotiation, recognition, and spatialized belonging. Taking the case of Turkey as a focal point, this article aims to offer a new conceptual vocabulary for migration studies, challenge linear discourses of integration, and reconceptualize migration as a site of encounter, friction, and transformation rather than as mere movement from one place to another.

Transformation During Transitions: Intentionality in Simulation-Based Education for Professional Identity Development.

There is growing evidence that simulation-based education can contribute to professional identity development. This commentary discusses the potential theoretical underpinning of this process and considers the role of simulation debriefing to support significant periods of transition in professional identity. Transformative learning theory has been described as a theoretical basis for professional identity development in the context of simulation-based education, but the concepts of liminality, identity work, and narrative reflection are less well explored. These additional concepts offer more nuanced ways of understanding professional identity development during transitions and provide further theoretical underpinning for supportive interventions. This commentary provides simulation-based education strategies to support professional identity development during transitions that could be used as fruitful springboards for educational interventions and further research.

Lived Experience of Victims of Human Trafficking for Sex Work in India: Liminality Within Rehabilitation Process

The paper focuses on the lived experience of female victims of human trafficking in the sex industry in India, analysing the phenomenon through the lens of liminality. The research combines the obtained data together with the theoretical concepts of liminality through which the daily reality of survivors living in Rehabilitation centre with focus on their transformative period and liminality is depicted. The study is based on field research conducted in 2022 and 2023 in Mumbai and Delhi in selected NGOs and its rehabilitation centres and adjacent RLAs. The submitted contribution is based on research for a dissertation within the framework of doctoral studies.

Liminal Nakedness and Transformation in the story of Susanna

This article analyses the story of Susanna and the Elders from the Book of Daniel, as a transformational and liminal process. My focus is the role of nakedness in Susanna’s transition through distinct social and moral stages, within both the biblical narrative as well as in visual art through history. Using Victor Turner’s concept of liminality, I analyze nakedness as a liminal threshold and discuss how her initial state of innocence is transformed into one of shame and ultimately to glorified exoneration. The main question is what Susanna’s nakedness means in art and text, I explore how nakedness functions on different narrative levels, contributing to her journey from innocence to shame and eventually, vindication. By applying Turner’s theory to the narrative structure and its shifts, and by approaching Susanna’s nakedness as liminal, more complex layers of meanings and symbols emerge.

‘It is ambiguous, but I know what I am doing’: undergraduates’ experiences and agency in an interdisciplinary programme

ABSTRACT Responding to the increasing need to develop graduates with capabilities for solving complex problems, interdisciplinary degree programmes are growing in numbers. However, few studies have investigated undergraduate students’ learning experiences in these programmes despite acknowledging such experiences can be challenging and confusing. Moreover, the current understanding of experiences in interdisciplinary programmes is also limited by the lack of studies that fully recognise the liminality in students’ experience and their agency. We drew on the concepts of liminality and agency to analyse student learning experiences in one interdisciplinary programme integrating arts, science, and social sciences. Data were collected from 29 semi-structured interviews conducted by four student co-researchers. Our main findings are that students exercised their agency in different forms, for example, finding their anchors and pursuing a second major, in response to the liminality of the learning environment. Some individuals creatively anchor their experiences with their own aspirations, allowing them to find directions to move forward in interdisciplinary learning. The implications are to avoid presenting a single way of navigating interdisciplinarity and to support students’ agency by helping them find their aspirations and anchors.

Language learning in liminal spaces: low literate migrants’ narratives of formal requirements for legal integration

In the last decades, the field of applied linguistics has called for an expanded knowledge on language learning in different learner groups and contexts, including forced migrants and low-literate learners. This article focuses on an under-studied learner group in an under-studied context: low literate adult refugees (LESLLA) subjected to language requirements to ensure their legal status in their host country. We combine the concepts of liminality and emotion to analyze the migrants’ narrated experiences of second language learning and linguistic integration. The study draws on interviews with 14 low literate refugees in Norway. The analyses reveal how the learners position themselves towards, and are being positioned by, language learning, education for integration, and formal migration requirements. We argue that within liminal spaces arising in the process towards legal integration, learners are placed in a prolonged state of unsafety and liminality that hamper the conditions and motivation for second language learning.

Exploring the Liminal Characteristics of Muslim Converts

When considering questions of integration, assimilation, and adjustment in the formative centuries of Islam it is vital to think about the individuals who converted to Islam. The gradual nature of conversion and the enduring ties of Muslim converts to their former coreligionists kept them in a liminal position. My analysis will evolve around three spheres of inquiry: linguistic, social, and practical. Linguistically, I show how ecclesiastical Syriac and rabbinic Hebrew terms that refer to apostates speak of individuals who did not burn all bridges but retained some level of contact with their former coreligionists. With respect to society, I discuss the place of converts to Islam as treated by the law of their former religions, and, finally, I dwell upon the persistence of former religious practices among converts to Islam. By viewing converts as liminal figures and unpacking the concept of liminality in its historical context I hope to contribute to the theoretical discussion regarding the process of conversion to Islam in the early and late formative Islamic periods and to argue against its presentation in linear terms.