liminality

Liminality refers to a state or condition of being on a threshold, between defined states or categories. In anthropology, it describes the transitional phase in rites of passage when individuals or groups move from one social status to another. The concept was introduced by Arnold van Gennep in his study of rites of passage and was later developed by Victor Turner, who emphasized its social and symbolic dimensions.

In Turner’s formulation, a rite of passage consists of three phases: separation, liminality, and incorporation. During the liminal phase, participants are no longer in their previous status but have not yet achieved the new one. Norms may be suspended or inverted, and the social structure becomes temporarily ambiguous. This period is characterized by ambiguity, openness, anti-structure, and often a sense of egalitarian communitas among participants, who share experiences beyond ordinary social roles. Ritual acts, symbolic attire, and communal practices frequently mark this stage, facilitating transformation.

Beyond ritual contexts, liminality has been used to describe broader experiences of transition and ambiguity in modern life. It can refer to adolescence, migration, exile, or other life events, as well as physical spaces that feel between meaningful places—airports, borderlands, or vacant urban spaces. In cultural studies, liminality helps analyze how globalization, technology, and social change create states of flux where identities and meanings are negotiable.

Critics note that liminality can rest on Western or essentialist assumptions about stages of change and may not capture power dynamics or non-linear experiences in all cultures. Some scholars prefer more nuanced terms such as threshold, ambiguity, or anti-structure to account for variation across contexts.