Concept Of Liminality Research Articles

LIMINALITY AND HYBRIDITY: CONSEQUENCES OF LIVING BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

In this paper, I analyze the concept of liminality and the negative collateral consequences it might bring to the liminal and hybrid character. The definition of liminality is goingto be analyzed as the most characteristic trait of Pauline Puyat’s personality, a mixed- blood character in Louise Erdrich’s Tracks. As a half-breed female, Pauline belongs to both and to none of the two traits that make up her identity. This duality causes in her many contradictory sentiments of isolation, loneliness and jealousy that will gradually disturb her mind and, eventually, she will act in an incoherent manner. By having two identities, Pauline is expected to enjoy her multicultural frame. Contrarily, Pauline Puyat’s liminality and hybridity affects her own self and, at some points, others’.

DECONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL NARRATIVES: TRAGICOMEDY AND TRAGIFARCE (DRAMATURGY BY L. TYMOSHENKO, LENA LYAGUSHONKOVA, V. CHENSKY)

The article examines tragicomedy and tragifarce as dramatic genres actualized in modern drama, and characterizes their specifics. The concept of liminality is an effective strategy in literary studies, which made it possible to study the peculiarities of modern Ukrainian drama in the context of the implementation of the genre matrix of the ritual of transition in the genres of tragicomedy and tragifarce. Modern Ukrainian playwrights transform the genre varieties of «domestic comedy», resort to tragicomedy, which is able to demonstrate the inseparable unity of the tragic and the comic as a typical liminal state, and choose the tragic farce, which through comic pathos highlights the problematic points of the social structure, which does not meet the current requirements and destroys the individual . Tragicomedy and tragicfarce genres are studied on the example of the plays of modern Ukrainian playwrights L. Tymoshenko, V. Chensky, Lena Lyagushonkova, and others. The combination of the comic and the tragic is an integral component of the works of all modern playwrights: the «comic» becomes dominant, the basis from which the «tragic» grows, which is transferred to the level of the reader’s consciousness, forming receptive liminality as a state of searches, variability of interpretations, perception of works of complex form. Playwrights embody the characters of the works in an atmosphere of joy, laughter, grotesque comedy, while the tragic pathos is formed by the images of the plays, which create an atmosphere of impending disaster that the characters do not feel. The authors turn traditional images and plots into kitsch, make them a means of critical camp: they deconstruct them in the genre matrix of rituals of transition. The contrast between the comic and the tragic is a feature of the playwrights’ artistic style, which forms the basis of the tragicomic: the authors implement a comic plot that can end in a tragic ending, or turn the tragic into an optimistic one.

Double Liminality and Double Marginality in Muslim Women’s Narrative: An Investigation of Uzma Aslam Khan’s the Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali

Liminality and marginality are among the striking postcolonial issues. The concept of liminality, particularly in the postcolonial context, has been theorized by Homi K. Bhabha and he takes it as a third space where a character is neither connected to the old place nor the new one. The study investigates Uzma Aslam Khan’s The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali the dwelling of the titular protagonist female character who faces dual liminality and dual marginality. The novel, set in the picturesque Andaman Islands circa 1936-42, has been analyzed using postcolonialism as a general framework whereas the two striking issues such as liminality and marginality with double intensity have been explored. The objectives of the study are the evaluation and depiction of doubly colonized subjects located in said islands. The findings highlight the hardships faced by the subcontinental prisoners, especially women who were brought to the far-off islands during the British colonial period. The control over the Andaman Islands has shifted from British to Japanese and then from Japanese to British. Thus, the residents of the islands and the prisoners have been facing the same hardships and troubles. Nomi Ali, the daughter of Haider Ali belongs to a non-prisoner family but has to face double liminality and double marginality. The study is significant because it highlights the female narrative voice from the part of history less spoken/written of.

Hryhorii Skovoroda as a Liminal Hero of Ukrainian Culture

The article is devoted to the analysis of the cultural and socio-political situation in Ukraine in the 18th century. At that time the administrative and social transformations took place, and the ethos of the old Ukrainian Cossack’s culture was replaced by the imperial order. That cultural borderline allows us to understand the philosophical and life extraordinariness of Hryhorii Skovoroda. Instead of choosing one of these socio-cultural poles, he remained “on the edge,” in a state of transition or liminality, which made his position vulnerable but at the same time free from social stereotypes. In cultural anthropology, the concept of liminality indicates a transitional position of man in the social system. A person could be in a liminal position only for a short period of time. This experience of individualization and being apart from the social system was so rare for the ordinary everyday life of collectivist cultures that made an unforgettable impression on a person. The wandering philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda completely falls under the characteristics of a liminal hero, but at his own request, he remained in a borderline position refusing to return to an orderly social system. Therefore, considering the features of his vital liminality helps to understand deeper the phenomenon of philosophical Skovorodianism.

Liminality as wage penalty for India's women community health workers

AbstractIn this paper, I analyze the experiences of the world's largest all‐women community health workforce through the lens of liminality. Originally used to describe transition from one state to the other, the concept of liminality in the study of work and organizations can frame workers' experiences of being in‐between established structures and roles in varying degrees, times, and/or places. India's ASHAs, or Accredited Social Health Activists, are community women at the frontlines of the state's health care provisioning. But the state does not categorize them as workers or employees. ASHAs are considered volunteers. Instead of salaries, they are paid task‐based incentives. Based on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork, including 80 interviews, I find that ASHAs' liminal occupational status as ‘paid volunteers’ produces conditions of chronic underpayment and control for them, further lowering their already low wages. This has implications for how we understand the gender wage gap. I argue that we need to consider not just how much women are paid, but how the payment is structured, and how that places marginalized women workers in relation to others in the workplace. Moving beyond whether liminality is a negative or positive experience, future research should delineate the conditions under which liminality is negative or positive.

Aquatic Mythologies: Divine, liminal and fantastic creatures in the Indian tradition

This article offers an overview of some of the most peculiar mythological creatures of the Hindu pantheon related to the watery element. Starting from the analysis of the concept of liminality, which is fundamental to Monster Theory, the symbolism and functions of water in ritualism, folklore and the traditions of South Asia will be explored. Indeed, destruction, metamorphosis, transition, purification and rebirth are all concepts that in Indian traditions are frequently sublimated into the dynamics of the circulation of waters. The monsoon phenomenon, the rushing rivers flowing down from the Himalayas and the depths of the Indian Ocean abysses therefore rise here to metaphysical and existential metaphors. Their hidden meaning has been represented in an allegorical key over the centuries by monstrous, bizarre and emblematic figures that have animated art, iconography and literature and popular legends. This essay tries to explore the issue through a religious and anthropological investigative approach, but with particular reference to Sanskrit literature and the sacred texts of Hinduism.

Running through the in-between: Distance runners in a state of liminality

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the way novice marathon runners experience and respond to a change – becoming marathoners. It utilises Victor Turner’s concepts of liminality and communitas to illustrate the complexity and challenges experienced by novice runners. The scope of sociological research regarding distance runners over the last two decades has expanded, nevertheless, very little has been written in reference to the process of the liminal phase per se. Therefore, the contribution of this paper is to address this lacuna of research and focus on the link between the process of ‘becoming’ and concepts such as solidarity, hierarchies, and standing norms, which play significant roles and constitute key components in the process of liminality. An ethnographic research design of three years was implemented in two running groups, using participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The data presented suggest that embarking on a marathoner identity requires a phase of betwixt and between wherein the ‘traditional’ borders of liminality and communitas are not fixed and often negotiable. Moreover, the relatively advanced age, similar socioeconomic status and military background among the running members serve as loopholes in liminality for novice runners towards ‘interested solidarity’ with veteran runners in achieving their new status as marathoners.

The Concept of Liminality as a Theoretical Tool in Literary Memory Studies: Liminal Aspects of Memory in Salman Rushdie’sMidnight’s Children

The Concept of Liminality as a Theoretical Tool in Literary Memory Studies<b>: Liminal Aspects of Memory in Salman Rushdie’s</b><b><i>Midnight’s Children</i></b>

Virtual sociodrama

In this article of the Journal of Psychodrama and Sociometry we address the question of whether the online delivery modality of sociodrama, enforced by external conditions, lends itself to a discussion of Moreno’s methodology in the context of liminality.The concepts of liminality, creativity, collective creativity (CC) and creative resilience (CR) are discussed in relation to the value of sociodrama in mining spontaneous and devised liminal spaces within the greater liminal experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.Key Morenean concepts (somatisation, concretisation) are presented as spontaneous enhancers of group collaboration with references to their validation by neuroscientific research.The authors briefly introduce the concepts of ‘g’ factor and ‘UC-ego’ which are induced by the video communications services with references to their impact on collective creativity.The case study of the sociodrama network iSCAN with its capacity for collective creative resilience (CCR) demonstrates how sociodrama emerges as the strategic collective and creative response to external changes.

Dual Liminars: Teenagers and Young People with a Family Member in Prison

Abstract Young people’s voices are rarely heard within research or policy discourse, including in respect of familial imprisonment. This article centralizes their voices and specific experiences of parental and/or sibling imprisonment by drawing on in-depth interviews with 17 young people aged 17–25 at the time of interview, though also reflecting back on when they were younger. Drawing on the concept of liminality, and specifically dual liminality, it argues that in order to fully recognize and understand these experiences, we must consider the interactions between the multiple forms of liminality they are subject to – in places, as people with a family member in prison and as adolescents – in order to understand their experiences as the family member of a prisoner and as young people.

Women Entrepreneurs Negotiating Identities in Liminal Digital Spaces

Our article conceptualizes the experiences of women entrepreneurs through exploring how they negotiate an entrepreneurial identity in liminal digital spaces. Providing empirically textured narrative portraits of women’s experience of transitioning from employment to a digital entrepreneurial career, this article counters the ascendant rhetoric celebrating the democratizing promise of digital technologies. We present a more critical analysis of the experience of self-doubt and existential precarity including the ways in which gender norms permeate the intimate structures of women entrepreneurs’ everyday lives and selves. We also develop the concept of liminality by illustrating how women digital entrepreneurs cope with liminality through identity play and identity work.

Navigating the neo-academy: Experiences of liminality and identity construction among early career researchers at one Australian regional university

Across the world, many university-based early career researchers (ECRs) are experiencing an unprecedented intensification of research expectations on transition from doctoral research to academic life. Countries such as Australia have put into place national frameworks of research excellence to remain globally competitive. Pressure on universities to elevate global research rankings has soared, with many regional universities and disciplines such as education responding with a rapid escalation of research performance expectations for academics. Consequently, concerns have been raised for ECRs embroiled in intensified research agendas in these contexts. Framed by concepts of liminality and identity construction, we argue that intensified expectations do not take account of liminality experienced by ECRs during times of transition, compromising perceived academic progress. We report on the identity journeys of ECRs in a School of Education at one regional Australian university. Data was collected from nine ECRs using online focus groups and analysed using a hybrid thematic approach. Key findings indicate that ECRs transition into the Academy post-doctorate with varying experiences of identity liminality that impact their capacity to manage research expectations. ECRs experiencing shorter periods of liminality are best positioned to manage the intensified expectations of academic life while ECRs experiencing persistent liminality and identity ‘struggle’ are more likely to perceive a diminished sense of achievement and support. These findings have significant implications for university leadership and research supervisors, in Australia and globally, regarding the ways they support ECRs to productively navigate the hyper-invigilated audit cultures of what we have termed the neo-academy.

No Ground: Disorientation as Prerequisite for Transformation

A central concern that TL theory approaches but does not fully address is the process whereby an individual generates a more adequate meaning perspective after shedding an outmoded one. This article complements TL theory’s account with a phenomenological description of the dangers and opportunities encountered on that quest. It employs the concept of liminality to articulate the transitional process that occurs when one has lost the familiar reference points that enabled one to feel at home. It begins to map the journey from disorientation to integration. Between those endpoints lies the liminal zone. Because there is little if any structure in that realm—hence the experience of groundlessness—agency is relatively unfettered in its search for new meaning perspectives. Originary thought that transcends the conventional ways of operating becomes possible. This is culturally significant as our current frameworks lack the potency to respond to the multiple challenges we are facing.

Co-creation of experiences at dark tourism festivals

This work-in-progress paper presents a novel area of thanatourism research, dark tourism festivals. These alternative festivals are located at the lighter end of the thanatourism spectrum, focusing on fun, culture and entertainment. This paper focuses in particular on the co-creation of festival experience at dark tourism festivals. Preliminary findings are presented, predominantly based on data gathered at the Whitby Goth Weekend, which will later be supplemented by research at other dark tourism festivals. Preliminary findings indicate that aspects such as emotional involvement, authenticity, performance and embodiment are important elements during the co-creation process. Embodied performances during which participants engage in creative practices, such as dressing up in elaborate costumes whilst having their photographs taken, enable them to escape from the routines of their day-to-day lives. Initial findings also indicate links between the festival experience and the concept of liminality. Also, participants engage in meaningful social bonds and essentially take ownership of the festival experience. Whilst engaging in these activities, participants become part of the co-creation of a performance. Festival spaces are specifically managed to enable co-creation, whereby festival participants form part of a sharing economy and actively co-create the festival experience together with the organisers, who enable this process by providing a safe and inclusive festival space.

Enabling Spaces; Rethinking Materiality and the Invitational Character of Institutional Environments.

This article explores how physical surroundings may be integrated as a supportive measure in social work efforts. Drawing on ecological psychology and the concept of liminality, the article presents a case study of Kofoed’s School (KS), a social institution in Copenhagen, Denmark. In recent years, KS has undergone a major renovation, opening up previously sheltered workshops to the public. By creating liminal spaces of possibility, where students can take up “both/and” positions allowing for a multitude of ways to participate, students are experiencing increased support and inclusion, which contributes to a growing feeling of citizenship and well-being. Drawing on participant observations and interviews with students, staff members, as well as customers at the school’s shops, we explore how the architectural layout may facilitate students’ flexible and fluid movements between more or less sheltered positions and further discuss how this flexibility may become supportive for their personal development and well-being. We propose to think of such spaces of possibility as enabling spaces, where inclusive architecture contributes to the creation of new possibilities for participation for people in marginalized life positions. This, we suggest, holds a great potential for social work efforts for people experiencing complex social vulnerability.

Creativity and the Trauma of COVID‐19: How do Foundation Level Art and Design Students Navigate a Liminal Journey during a Pandemic?

This article explores the impact of COVID‐19 on the physical learning spaces of art and design students to consider how this has informed and influenced the creative process, emotional resilience and engagement with learning during this difficult year of restrictions. More specifically, it draws on the experiences of students in a Foundation Art and Design programme in a Further Education college in the North of England as a case study. As a transitional year between Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE), this programme is designed to be transformative in terms of theoretical knowledge, practical skills and shaping student identities through ‘becoming’ creative practitioners. Concepts of liminality and liminal spaces provide a lens through which to offer an account of the nature and scope of these transformative experiences over the past year. As an accidental ethnography (Levitan et al. 2017), aspects discussed suggest that whilst COVID‐19 had a significant negative impact on the experiences and progression of this cohort of students, there have also been many positive outcomes suggesting that this particular programme has maintained its transformative ambitions.

‘The Birth of the Virtual Choir’: Exploring the multimodal realisation of the Covid-19 liminal space in a YouTube virtual choir performance

As countries around the world went into lockdown in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, people looked for virtual ways of reducing social isolation. Amongst these online interactions, a relatively new phenomenon – the virtual choir – grew in popularity. As part of a wider study on virtual choirs, this study analyses the multimodal performance of, and textual audience responses to, ‘The Birth of the Virtual Choir’, posted on YouTube in June 2020. The study uses a combination of Mediated Discourse Analysis (Norris and Jones, 2005) and the theoretical concept of liminality (Turner, 1974; van Gennep, 1960) as a means of understanding how one performance in this new genre was used to reflect personal crises during the pandemic and enforced lockdowns. It argues that the song mirrors a process of separation, transition and reaggregation in both time and space, consistent with rites of passages and liminal experiences, whereby social actors are isolated, use creative ways to find order to the chaos, then reintegrate into society as changed subjects. It also demonstrates how online creativity and illusion highlighted one choir’s experience on life and lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, many of which appeared to ring true for their wider audience and other virtual choirs being born into the Covid era.

Response-A Commentary on Miles Little et al. 1998. Liminality: A major category of the experience of cancer illness. Social Science & Medicine 47(10): 1485-1494.

This paper by Miles Little and colleagues identified the state they described as "liminal" within the trajectory of cancer survivorship. Since that time the concept of liminality has provided a powerful model to explore some of the difficulties experienced by people with severe and chronic illness. In this commentary I consider the expanding application of liminality not just to a widening range of medical conditions but to the consequences of therapeutic interventions as well and how this expansion has enriched and challenged its use as a conceptual tool.

Liminality, Lim, Mobility and Memory. Disrupting the Nature of Things, Beings and Becomings

Abstract Engaging with four geopolitical timespaces, and the concepts of liminality, lim/lines/ borders/boundaries, mobility and memory, against the backdrop of pre-, anti-, post- and de-colonial ideas, this study illustrates how tenets of what we call a “Second Wave of Southern Perspectives” (SWaSP) can illuminate the myths and imaginations that continue to give credibility to the idea of bounded language, identity and nation-states, including the role of languaging as constitutive dimension of these processes. The study presented in this paper has two aims. First, it explicates a SWaSP framing wherein the role of languaging is both a key dimension of the (multi-scalar) organization of everyday life inside and outside institutional physical-digital spaces, and of the remembering of lim i.e., lines or boundaries as dimensions of belonging. Second, by juxtaposing ideas about belonging and (shifting) boundaries across time and spaces, it highlights the mechanisms involved in contemporary re-enforcements of archaic conceptualizations of language, identity and nation-spaces across global settings. We argue that these mechanisms constitute a similar endeavor across the global-North/South, not least given recent discussions related to mobility and digitalization more generally wherein issues regarding democracy and equity are increasingly confronted with rising right-wing agendas and a racial renaissance. We attempt to show how identity tensions of “individuals/communities” and “an-other” are co-construed and argue that such processes contribute to the re-enforcing naturalization of archaic conceptualizations pertaining to not only language, identity, nation-spaces, but also nationalism.

Experiencing liminality: At the crossroads of neoliberal and gendered experiences

AbstractWomen entrepreneurship literature has unveiled the gendered assumptions of entrepreneurship. More recently, critical woman entrepreneurship literature is increasingly focusing on the neoliberal discourses in women entrepreneurship. What remains relatively under‐explored is how women entrepreneurs experience the tensions amidst neoliberal and gendered experiences especially in the context of the Global South. Based on the narratives of middle to upper‐middle‐class women entrepreneurs in India, I find that being middle to upper‐middle‐class, women entrepreneurs shared a sense of attaining a neoliberal agency through entrepreneurship, so much so that they ignored, denied, or naturalized the gendered constraints in entrepreneurship. However, soon their accounts reflected an underlying tension as they admitted facing gendered constraints while previously denying them. I contribute to the literature of women entrepreneurship by theorizing the conflicting narratives of women entrepreneurs using the concept of liminality. In doing so, I extend the concept of liminality as an in‐between position of neoliberal and gendered experiences.