Betwixt and Between Liminality and Marginality: Mind the Gap

Betwixt and Between Liminality and Marginality: Mind the Gap explores the interdisciplinary thinking of "the marginal" within society, challenging and celebrating Victor Turner's symbolic anthropology while theorizing with his work and updating it to contemporary social issues. It focuses on marginality, exploring the dialogic relationship of space and agency and examining how marginal groups destabilize, shape, and affect the dominant culture.

Format: Hardback
Length: 326 pages
Publication date: 15 April 2023
Publisher: Lexington Books

Betwixt and Between Liminality and Marginality: Mind the Gap presents an interdisciplinary exploration of the concept of "the marginal" within society. Building upon the frameworks of Victor Turner's earlier notions of liminality, the book both challenges and celebrates Turner's symbolic anthropology, while also accommodating its continued influence across disciplines and within new theoretical constraints.

In its most basic essence, liminality serves as a powerful language for articulating transitions and changes. It encompasses intricate social theories that extend beyond Turner's classical symbolic approach. While highlighting the enduring relevance of Turner's language for expressing transition, this volume remains attentive to the validity of critiques directed towards him. Consequently, it theorizes with Turner's work while updating, even abandoning, certain primary ideas when applying them to contemporary social issues.

A central theme of this volume revolves around marginality. Turner recognized that marginals, akin to liminals, exist in a state of ambiguity, lacking assurance that their uncertainty will be resolved. This volume delves into the dynamic interplay between space and agency to recognize marginalized groups and individuals, and to explore, without a harmonious resolution, the consequences that arise for the marginals. Have race, class, gender, and sexual orientation become the arenas for contemplating reintegration and communitas? Each chapter examines how marginal groups, or liminal spaces and ideas, destabilize, shape, and impact the dominant culture.

By examining these questions, Betwixt and Between Liminality and Marginality: Mind the Gap offers valuable insights into the complex dynamics of society, challenging readers to consider the margins and the marginalized in new and thought-provoking ways.

Weight: 603g
Dimension: 236 x 157 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781793644893