British-American anthropologist who developed the concepts of liminality and communitas — the 'threshold' state in ritual transitions and the anti-structural solidarity it generates.
The Ritual Process: elaborating van Gennep's rites of passage — the liminal phase (betwixt and between) dissolves ordinary social structure and generates communitas (undifferentiated, egalitarian togetherness). Liminality as creative potential — the site of symbol creation and cultural renewal. The forest of symbols: symbols are multi-vocal — they condense many meanings simultaneously.
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