Liminality: the state of being 'betwixt and between' is one of anthropology's most influential concepts. This volume reconsiders Victor Turner's innovative extension of Arnold Van Gennep's concept of liminality from within the Manchester tradition of Social Anthropology established by Max Gluckman. Turner's work was grounded in ethnography and engaged with philosophical perspectives in varied socio-historical contexts, extending well-beyond the confines of the anthropology that initially inspired much of his work. Liminality has therefore become a concept with broad interdisciplinary reach. Engaging with topical issues across the globe - from neuroscience to open access publishing and refugee experiences in Europe - this volume launches Turner's fundamental work into the future.

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Liminality: Structure/Anti-Structure and Egalitarian Dynamics
Bruce Kapferer

Part I: Liminality and Ethnography

Chapter 1. The Pivoting of the Sacred: Arnold Van Gennep's Patio-Temporality of the Liminal
Bjorn Thomassen

Chapter 2. The Parable of the Foot Bridge: Creativity and Change in the In-Between
Paul Stoller

Chapter 3. Searching for My Brother: Liminality and Blood Brotherhood in Rwanda
Christopher C. Taylor

Chapter 4. The Rigours of the Liminal: Effecting the Real in Theatrical Labour
Daniel Scherer and Martin Holbraad

Chapter 5. Sacrifice, Sovereignty and the Dynamics of Structure and Anti-Structure
Rohan Bastin

Part II: Multiple Meanings of Communitas

Chapter 6. Communitas and Practice in the Baltimore Rhythm Festival
Rory Turner

Chapter 7. Insight Meditation: Liminality Without Excitement
Ward Keeler

Chapter 8. The Unbearable Weight of Music: The Intermezzo
Steven M. Friedson

Part III: Liminoid Spaces and the Politics of Liminality

Chapter 9. Mahishi's Rage: Communitas and Protest at Sabarimala, Kerala
Dinesan Vadakkiniyil

Chapter 10. Weaving Value in the Liminal Space of the Istanbul Bazaar
Patricia Scalco

Chapter 11. Vicissitudes of Liminality in Complex Performance Systems
John MacAloon

Chapter 12. France and its Purgatory
Andre Iteanu

Chapter 13. Liminality and Communitas: The Making of Refugees in Switzerland
Marina Gold

Chapter 14. Open Access and the Subjunctive Mood in Scholarly Publishing
Kirsten Bell

Chapter 15. How Book Haram's 'Liminal' Child Witches and Child Soldiers Challenge the Capitalist State
Caroline Ifeka

Chapter 16. Immanence and Process: Between 1984 and Brave New World, The Trump Transmutation
Bruce Kapferer and Roland Kapferer

Part IV: Extensions

Chapter 17. Finding Likeness: Neural Plasticity and Ritual Experience
Robert Turner

Afterword: Liminality - Contemplating the Hypothetically Potent Conjunction of the Social and the Physical
Don Handelman

References
Index

Marina Gold is an Associated Researcher at the University of Zurich. Her recent publications include People and State in Socialist Cuba: Ideas and Practices of Revolution (Palgrave, 2015) and a critical review of the moral turn in anthropology, Moral Anthropology: A Critique, co-edited with Bruce Kapferer (2018, Berghahn Books).