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    4 views5 pages

    Turner

    Uploaded by

    Jacopo Miglioranzi
    Turner

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage Victor W. Turner The following seletion could not have boon writen were tno! orth seminal writing om vtua by the French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep (1873 1957). Van Gennep recognized by scholars as the first anthropologist study the significance of rituals faccomperrying the rational sages ia person’ fe birth, puberty, marriage and death. Ever since the publication of Les Rites de Passage in 1909, the phrase "rites of passage” has become part aed parcel of fnthropological erature. Van Genre sas i uma ritual thro successice Dut separate stage: separation, margin, and aggregution. she following selection Victor Tumer singles out the marginal, or minal, period for examination. The lominal sage in rites of passage ts wher the initiates are remoned and typically Secluded fron theres of socity—in effect they tecome fnsbl, or, in the itl of his article, "beri and Fetuvsn.” It is Turner's tl thatthe neophyte at the liminal stage has nothing—no status, property rank, lor kinship postion, He describes this condition as one of “sared poverty.” Turner concludes his article with far inition to researcher of ritual to concentrate Uhr efforts on the marginal stage, bliccng that this ts where the basic bung blocks of culture are exposed and therfore open for eros cultural ‘comparison. Victor Turner taught at Corel and the “University of Chicago. His major field rescarch was doe in Uganda, Zambia, and Mexico, Reprinted om Vitor W. Ture, “Hetrist and Be ‘oven The minal Peciod in Rites de Passa” The Pro- celia ofthe Arca Charge! Sait (1964, ‘Symposium oo New Approaches to the Study of Rll on, pp. 4-20. IN THis PAPER, FISH TO CONSIDER SOME OF THE sociocultural properties ofthe "minal period’ in that class of rituals which Arnold van Gennep has definitively characterized as “rites de passage.” IE ‘our basic model of society is that ofa “structure of positions,” we must regard the period of margin 9 “liminality” as an inlerstructural situation. 1 Shall consid, notably in the cise oF iitation rites, some of the main features of instruction mong the simpler societies shall also take note ‘of certain symbolic themes that concretely express Indigenous concepts about the nature of “inter stractura” human beings Rites de passage are found in all societies but tend to reach their maximal expression in sinall- scale, relatively. stable and cyclical societies, ‘where change is bound up with biological and tmeteorologial rhythms and recurrences rather than with technological innovations Such ites in- dicate and constitute transitions between stats. By “sate” Liman here “a relatively fixed or stable condition” and would clude in its meaning such socal constancies as legal status, profession office or calling, rank or degree. Uhold it to designate also the condition of 8 person as determined by his culturally recognized degree of raturation as when one speaks of “the marred or single tate” or the “state of infancy.” The term "state Slso be applied to eclogia conditions, oF the Physical mental or emotional condition in which 2 person or group may be fond at a particular time, A man may thus be in a state of good or bad. health a society in state of war of peace oF a sfate of famine or of plenty. State, in short, i a -2eGs to any pe OT BIE or Secure condion hot culturally tecognized. One may, TSuppose, ‘also alk about “a state Of transition,” since J. 5 Mill has, afterall, written of “a state of progres: sive movement,” but I prefer to regard transition 235 process, a becoming, and in the ease of rts de | Ps pasag vena transformation —hare an apt analogy Mull be water in roe of being heated to Dating Pomtora pupa chnging om gr omoth tan Ete tatalon hat deren carl properties ftom those orale ac Rae bck en Man Gennephimclf deed "yes de pastas “res which atompany every chong of place sae social postion and age To point the onvat be freen tate” and “Panaian” [employ ste” incude ahi ler terme Van Gen : phaser spariton map Hor) ed amas fae Te aa oe oe individual or gear fo an eae Bat point in the social truchte or se of calyal condi anise Sacer) riod, the state of the ctual subject (th is ambiguous, he passes through a seal that has Bale. The vl sob individual or corporate Ina sable state once more and by vate otis has gh and obigatons of «carly defined and "Suctaral” type, ands expected to behave ins cordance with eetain customary nonst and ethical ‘andards: The moet prominent typeof ies de ps tage tend to accompany what Loyd Warner (939, SiS) has called “the movement oa an through i IMetine from a Sa placental plete! win i ‘other's wom to hie desk and ullite xed [TST Ws Tobin and sr coal nhs i tea mann of tanation which ll ocetes fyalze and publicly mark with suitable obser ‘ances fo impress the iglicance of he individual sz pon nig es of he ony es ane the important tines of i publ Hage, and death” However, as Van Gennep, Hen JUNI and oles have shown, ies de patge ae net once! to cultura defined ie cries bat may Sccompany any chang? Romane ss To another as when a whole ibe poe To a Orwhen attests the sagem uct pen Dy pas SERIE pra harvest RSMTOT Rede pase, 1 WO restricted, sociologically speaking, to move iments betwen ascribed seizes THEY ao concern entry into a new achieved sft whether this be Political office or memBarhup ofan exclusive cub or Secret society. They may adut persons ito men Bros aso irri Tar Laas mo nfs asc | 7 bership of a ceigious group where such a group does not include the whole society, or qualify them for the offical duties of the cul sometimes in a ‘raded series of rites, ‘Since the main problem of this study isthe nature and characterstic of transition in relatively stable soxietes, shal focus attention on rites de passage that tend to have well-developed liminal periods. On the ‘whole, initiation sites, whether into Socal maturity ‘or cult membership, best exempliy transition, since they have wellmarked and piotracted marginal or minal phases. I shall pay only brief heed here to nes of separation and aggregation, since these are ‘more closely implicated in social structure than rites Of liminality Liminality during initiation is, there fore, the primary datum ofthis study, though I will draw on other aspects of passage ital where the at jgument demands this. may state here, parti a8 an side, that Iconsider the term “ual” tobe more fit tingly applied to forms of religious behavior assoc ates with sori tansiions. adhe the term “cere mony” has a closer bearing. on religious behavior sssocated with socialstates, where poificolegal n- ‘Stuns also have greater importagce, Ritual is transformative ceremony confirmatory "The subjectof passage ritual in elimina pe riod, strcturally, not physically, “invisible.” As members of society, most of us see only what we cxpect to se, and what we expect to sees what we ive conditioned to see when we have leamed the definitions and classifications of our ele. A 30 tdety’s secular definitions do not allow for the exis tence ofa not boy-notsman, which is what a novice ina male puberty rite i (i he can besaid tobe any thing) A St of essentially religious definitions co- exit with these which do set out to define the Structurally indefinable “tanstionalbeing” The anstonal being or “liminal person” defined by 2 name and By 3c oT symbols, The same name s ‘very frequently employed To designate those who are being inated into very diferent states of i For example, among the Ndembu of Zambia the name mandi may mean varios things itmay stand fora boy novice in citcumcison rites," "a chi designate undergoing his instalation rites,” of Yet again, “the histor ritual wife” who has Important ‘al duties in the domestic family, Our on terme “intate” and “neophyte” have asnslar Dreadth of FetGreRSeTE would seem from this that emphasis tends to be laid on the transition itself, rather than 48 | sorry Rervat, Smmousne AnD TABOO ace vine symbolism attached to and surrounding the limnal persona is complex and bizarre. Much of iis ‘modeled on human biological processes, which are conceived to be what Lévi-Strauss might cll “is fmomphic” with structural and cultural processes ‘They give an outward and visible form toan inward and conceptual process. The structural “visibility ‘Of linnal persone has a twotold character. They are tonce no Tonger classified and not yet dlasfied. In So far as they are no longer classified, the symbols that represent them are, in many societies, drawn from the biology of death, decomposition, cata- olism, and other physical processes that have a negative tinge, such as menstruation (frequent re garded as the absence oF loss of a fetus). Thus, in Some boys’ initiations, newly circumcised boys are ‘explicitly likened to avensruating women, In 30 far ‘oe tated, fora long oF short. period, a corpse is castomarily treated in fis oF her society Gee Sto- Baeus’ quotation, probably From a lost work of Plutarch, “initiation and death correspond word for ‘word and thing for thing” The neophyte may be buried, forced to ie motionless in the posture and dizetion of customary burial, may be stained black, ‘or may be forced ( tive fora while inthe company fof masked and monstrous mumuners representing, Inter alia, he dead, or worse sil, the undead. The rctaphor of dissolution is often applied to neo phytes: they are allowed to go filthy and identified ith thé easth, the generalized matter into which ‘very specific individual is rendered down, Particu- lar form here, Becomes general matter, often their very names are taken from them and each is called solely by the generic term for “neophyte” or “i fiand” This useful neclogism is employed by many wader anthropologists) “The other aspect, that they are not yet classified, is often expressed in symbol: modeled on processes fof gestation anc. parturition The neophytes are likened to or treated as embryos, newborn fants, or sucklings by symbolic means which vary from culture to culture. I shall return to this theme presently “The essential feature of these symbolizations is that the neophytes are neither living nor dead from one aspect, and both living and dead from another. ‘Theis condition is one of ambiguity and paridox, a [a the particular states between which its taking confusion of all the customary categories. Jakob Boehme, the German mystic whose obscure writings gave Hegel his celebrated dialectical “trad” iked to Shy that “In Yea and Nay all things consist” Limi mullty may perhaps be regarded as the Nay 10 all positive structural assertions, but as in some sense the source of them all, andy more than thal, a= a realm of pure possibility whence novel configura tions of ideas and relations may aise 1 will ot pur- se this point here but afterall, Plato a speculative Philosopher i there ever was one, did acknowledge his philosophical debt to. the teachings of the Hleuinian and Orphicintiations of Atics, We have no way of knowhng whether primitive initiations merely conserved lore, Perhaps they also generated dew thought and new custom, ‘Dr. Mary Douglas, of Univesity College, Lon- don, fas recently advanced (in magnificent book Purity and Danger 1966) the Very interesting and Ranting vew That te concept of pollution “ts a reaction to protec cherished principles and. cate forks from Conlradition.” She holds that inefet, what is unclear and contradictory fom the perspec. tive of socal definition) tends to be regarded as (t= ually) undean, The unclear isthe unceas.e., she ‘vamines the prokivions on Eating certain arumals ‘nd crustaceans in Leviticus in the light ofthis By sexta tee ng crate at canbe am Pigucsly classified interme of traditional criteria). From this standpoint, one would expect to find that Jsanstional beings are particulary polluting, since they ave Ratha one Man ror ano, may be both; or neither here nor there; of may even be novshere in terms of any recog cultural topog- raphy), and are at the vary east “betwint and be tween” all the recognized fixed points in space-time of structural easscation Infact, in confirmation of Dr Doug Hypothesis, Hminal esonae nearly al ways and everywhere are regarded as polluting to these who have never been, eo to speak, “ino lated” against them, through having been them- selves initiated ino the same state, [think that we ‘may pethape usefully discriminate ere between the Stats and dynamics of pollution situations. In other ‘words, we may have ta distinguish between poll: tion notions which concer states that have been ambiguously or contradictory defined, and those Which derive ftom ritualized transitions between Slates. In the fist case, we are dealing with what has been defectively defined or ordered, in the second Cs Whet do Onlin ty doy melndore — brea, Ma ty / Cmmenr’ + with what cannot be defined in static erms. We ae tot dealing with stactural contradictions when Wwe discuss liminaiy, but withthe esenly untrue tured (which i a once destructured and prestac- tured) and often the people themeelves ace this in terms of bringing neophytes into close connection ‘rtd or with upertuman power with what tn fet, often regarded as the unbounded, the if nite, the luce. Since neophytes are not only Structurally “invsble" (hough physically visible fet sally polling they are very commonly se ‘inded, partally or completely, from the realm of Culturally defied and ordered sates and satus Sten the fdigenows tern for the lina peiod is as among, Ndembu, the loative fonn of a now meaning “schsion site” (unin, hung ae).The oplyts are smetimes sid to "be av another poe” They hae ysl bu nt ssl “aly” fence thoy fave tobe Mey sce a paradox a SSR to ow what maghtnot fo be there’ Whee ep are mat served Sacred place of conceal iment they are often disguised, in masks or grotesque costumes or striped with white, red, or black clay, and the like 1m societies dominantly structured by kinship in- stitutions, sex distinctions have great steuctiral im portance. Patrilineal and matrilineal moieties and fans, rules of exogamy, and the like, rest and are built up on these distinctions, It is consistent with this to find that in liminal situations (in kinship: dominated societies) neophytes. ate sometimes treated or symbolically represented as being neither male nor female. Alternatively, they may be sembot- fcally assigned characteristics ofboth sexes, imspec- tive of ther biological sex. (Bruno Bettelheim [1954] has collected much illustrative material on this poiat from initiation rites) They are symbolically ether” ‘sees or bisexual and may be regarded a8 a Kind of Satan pins ars CRT mr as pepe trom the tes of the Fey tnystery religions tat Pato derived his nsion ex Frcs in hs Sposa the fst haar ere Ends the lil peiod see tn er rust phase in socal dynes the syne ‘el eran nn gs fnligbe in soclogical ers eal import peychologicr ond ental epee Pojcologtal Seplatons Sine sx dist ‘traces rain hey do not spp noo “A aul Tecan, dlocatyesct, Tomsen + Berner avo erenes Tar Limnas Poon Rese Passa | 8 ‘A further structurally negative characteristic of | sepia begs LS ey They? Se no states pty sgn, secular ching rank, kinship position, nothing to demarcate hem 4 Structurally from thet fellows. Their eonditon i in- ded the very prolype of sae) ety Rights ver property, gods, and services fae in post tons tn the polite jl sractre Since they db m0 ‘cceupy such posta, neophytes exercise no uch aM In the words of King Lear they represent ftked unarcommodated man Thave no time to analy other symbolic themes chat express these atribtes of structural ns thy ambi and neutrality want naw ip da tention to cetan pre aspects afliminaly AI Egy oe have noted Row Satan Umial proces Ae regarded as antogousto those of estation par turiton, and suckling Undoing dealin ae PESTON ae ACCOMM By processes of growth, Ensformation, and the reformulation of old ke tment in new patterns Is itereting fo note how, bythe principle af the economy {or parsimony) of symbole erence logically anfthetal proces of death and growh may be represented by the some {okene or camps Dy huts ad nel hat ave at ner tus and womb by lar symbol rhe Same moon ates and wanes) by snake yas Corthe sake appears to die, bat oly to shed is old sin and apper'ina new ono by bea sb Gor the bear die” in autumn ond “bora” In Spring) by nakedness which sat oncethe markt a ‘ewbom infant and a corpee prepared for butial). XJz ER by inmumerabte other symbolic Tormations and action. This coineidence of eppoate processes and ‘ROHOR in a single representation characterizes th ec uy ofthe hr hat which ae thismor that, an yetis both T have spoken ofthe infrstrucurlcharater of thelial lowever between ncophytes and thei instructors (here these exis and tn connecting ‘ophytes with one another there exis a et of ela toe that composra "socal structure” of highly spe ‘She mpe, It a structure of a very simple Kind ee ep an ee See oe See ant patent a rater say ected igs dates pepo deere Te port aitaton Te 50 | ster, Retuat, Simmouse, AND TABOO ‘Tomvan + Berworr AND Berwign: THF Lnaxal Pemion wy Res. Passace | 51 are many diferent kinds of privileges and obliga: tions, many degresofsuperotdination and suborai- nation tn the minal petiod such distinctions and gradations tend to be eliminated. Nevertheless, it Fras be understood thatthe authority of the elders ‘hay af ain Te autor feelers $Soaolule-because it represents the absolute, the a3 tomatic values of society in which ae expressed the common good” and the common interest The cesenc ofthe complete obedience ofthe neophytes isto submit to the elders but only in 30 far a5 they are in charge, soto speak, ofthe common good and represent in their persons the total coma TRat ee athony Te queso ealy GUTS a dition emerges clearly in societies where initiations are not collective but individual and where there are fo instructors or guns, For example, Omaba boys, like other North American Indians, go alone it the vwidemess to fast and pray (cart, 1952, 160). Tis Solitude sliinal between boyhood and manhood. Ir they dream that they receive a woman's burden strap, they feel compelled to dress and live hence- forth in every way at women, Such men are known {5 minug, The thos of such a dear im such a Situation 1s absolute, Alice Cummingham Fletcher tells of one Omaba so had been forced in this way to ive as woman, but whowe natural inclinations te him to rear family and to go on the warpath Here the mings was not an invert but a man bound by the authonty of tribal belies and values, Among many Plaine indians, boys on their lonely Vision {Quest infited ordeals ad tests on therselves that fsmounted o tortures, These again were not basically sell-tortures inflicted by a masochistic temperament but due to obedience w the authority of tradition in {he liminal situation a type of situation in which there is no soom for secular compromise, evasion ‘manipulation, casuisty, and maneuver In the Reld of eustom, rule, and norm, Here again a cultural ex- planation seems preferable toa psychological one. A formal man act abnormally because he ie obedient to tribal tradition, not out of disobedience toi. He does not evade but ullls his duties asa cizen. Leomplete abedience characterizes the ation- stip of neophyte to elder complete equality usually duracterzes the telaionship of neophyte to neo Phyte, where the ites are collective. This comrade ship must be distinguished from brotherhood orsib- ling relationship, sine in the latter there is always the inequality of older and younger, which often achieves linguistic representation and may be main- tained by legal sanctions. The liminal group is a community oF comity of comrades and not a struc tute of hierarchically arrayed positions, This com- radeship transcends distinctions of rank, age, Kinship position, and, in some kinds of cultic group, even of sex. Much of the behavior eecorded by ‘ethnographers in seclusion situations falls under the principle: “Each forall, and allfor each” Among the Ndembu of Zambia, or example, all food brought for novices in citcumision seclusion by thier moth cers is shared out equally among them. No special fa ‘vors are bestowed on the sons of chefs or headmen, Any food acquired by novices in the bush is taken by the elders and apportioned among the group. Deep friendships between novices are encouraged, and they sleep around lodge fires in clusters of four for five particular comrades. However, all are sup- posed tobe linked by specialties which persist after the rites are over, even into old age. This friendship, known as wubwambu (from a term meaning breast”) or coulurda, enables a man to claim privi- \ tse athospitaliy ofa farseaching bad. Ihave no ined here (9 dve'on the ifelong ties that are held {o bind in clowe friendship those initiated into the same ages in East Afian NiloHamitic and Bantu societies nto the same fraterity oF sorority fonan American campus, o int the same clas in a Naval or Military Academy in Western Europe “This comradeship, witht fariiarity ease and ‘would add mutual outspokennes, s once more the product of nteratructurl Sania. sith it cara ‘On duDaTTNC Ves expressive ofthe common weal People can “be themselves” iis frequently said, when they are not acting insttutionalized roles Role, too, cerry responsibilities and in the Lima situation the main burden of responsiblity s Borne bythe eer, leaving the neophytes fre to develop interpersonal relationships as they wall They com front one another, a i were, intgrally and not in ‘compartmentalized fashion as actors of roles “The passivity of neophytes to their instructors, tie maileability whichis increased by submission to ordeal, their eduction toa uniform condition, are Signs of the process whereby they are ground down toe fashioned anew and endowed with additional powers to cope with their new station in fe: Dr Richards, in her superb stedy of Bemba gifs pr bert ies, Chung hs told us that Bem speak of "growing a gt when hey mean inating er Cisse 21) this term “to grow” well expresses how many peoples think of tanotion res, We are in- ‘lindas sociologist, o si ou abstain (tts tndeod a devie which helps us toundeftand many Kinds of socal inerconnecton) and fo talk about persons moving though seutral postions S/ Kerarehca ams” and he His Note the Bombe SAT The Shiluk ofthe Sudan who see the status ot Condition embodied or incarnate, if you ike, the Person. To “grow a gino woman ito eect an Entological transformation; tig not merely to com ey an unchanging substance fom one postion arother by 4 quisimechanial force How eayt Karingals in Atstraia and I ave seen Ndembu in ‘Arica drive away grownp men before a Gram Sion ceremony becuse they had not boon initiated. ‘Among Nem men were ae chased ff becuse they had only heen ccumeised a the Mission Hos pital and ad not undergone the fll bush secsion Icording to the orthodox Ndernbu rite. These bio ibpaly matre men had not been “made men” by the proper rial procedures. Its the nual and the tcoteri Teaching which grows gland makes men itis the situa, fo, which among Shillok makes a prince into a King” cx among Lavale, a cukivtor Inioa hunter Theacane knowledge o ese” ob tained in the luna period eto change the n- most nature ofthe neophyte impressing him, as 9 teal impresses wan with the characteristics of is ‘ow state. Is nota mere aquisition of knowledge, ta change in being His apparent passivity ‘ealed san absorption of powers which wl Be ome active after hs socal situs hasbeen redefined inthe aggregation nites The srctural simply ofthe Umina situation in many ination is fe by it cultural complex fy: touch on only one aspect ofthis vast subject tater here and raise thee problems in connection ‘eh. This aspects the vial one othe commun Cation ofthe sts, the hear ofthe minal matter, Jane. Harrison has shown that in. the Greek Hessian and Orphe myles ths communice sion ofthe sacra ha thre main components O50, 144-160, By and lrg, this tvetold clssfeation ocean holds good for tniiation site allover the ork Sacm tay. be communicated as) exhibitions, “aha is shown (2) actions, “what fs done" and instructions, “what i sid” “Exhibition” would ince eweatory instr sents or sacred atic, sich as los of deities, he toes or ancestors aboriginal curig, sacred drums fr other musical instruments, the contents of ‘Amerindian meine uns, and the fan, ot ad tympanum of Greck and Near Exsern mystery ult Inthe Lesser Bhusinian Mysteries of Athens Scr consisted of bone, tp, bal, tambourine 3p. Pls miro, fan, and wll ees, Other Shue mask, images figurines, and fe the potery embers nba of the Bemba woud belong {this clas, some kinds of itation, afr exam ple the initiation into the shaman-iviner’s profes Son among the Sara of Middle Indi, describe by eres Ewin (1955, pictues and icons representing the journeys ofthe dead or the adventures of up tatural beings may be shown tothe intiande, A Striking feature of such sacred artis is often ther formal simplicity. tis thelr interpretation which is ‘Smplex nat their outward form "Among the “instnuctons” received by neophytes aay be reckoned such matters a the revelation of the veal, but sculry secret names ofthe des or spins Believed fo preside ver the tesa very f= Ghent procedure i Acan cule or sect asset ths (Turner, 192, 36). They ate alo taught the tain cutines of the theogeay,‘coemogony and inythicl story of their socetcs or cl, usually seth reference to the ra exhibited: Great impor tances altached to keping scet the nature ofthe sao, the formulas chanted and instractions given about them. These contte the crux of imialy, for whl instruction is also given in etical and so

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