Egalitarian Dynamics

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.

Bruce Kapferer is Honorary Professor University College London and Professor Emeritus, University of Bergen, where he is Director of the project Egalitarianism: Forms, Processes, Comparisons, which is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant. His recent publications include Democracy’s Paradox: Populism and its Contemporary Crisis, co-edited with Dimitrios Theodossopoulos (Berghahn Books, 2019).

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).

“This is a very rich collection combining theoretical relevance with a wide spectrum of empirical material. The reader is taken on a fascinating journey including themes that range from blood brotherhood rituals in Rwanda to the symbolic power of Olympic games as complex performance systems, from the ambivalence of music intermezzos in Africa and America to the brave new world of the US in a post-capitol uprising world.” • Harald Wydra, University of Cambridge

“This is an outstanding and magisterial treatment of the work of Victor Turner on liminality and ritual, structure and communitas (or anti-structure) and of his theory’s past and present significance and indeed of its future potential.” • Donald Nonini, University of North Carolina