APY3703: Exploring Victor Turner's Liminality in Ritual Context

This essay provides a summary and analysis of Victor Turner's ideas on liminality, a concept describing the transitional phase in rituals where individuals are between states. Turner's views on neophytes, their unstructuredness, sexlessness, and lack of status are explored. The essay also discusses flexibility, growth metaphors, and the role of symbols and sacra in liminal experiences. A personal encounter with a Bukusu initiation ceremony is described, relating it back to Turner's theories by highlighting symbols, the absence of rank, and the implication of growth. The conclusion emphasizes Turner's contribution to understanding rituals and the relevance of his work in real-life situations, particularly within African communities.

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Summary of the essay on Victor Turner's ideas on liminality
Introduction
Liminality refers to the characteristic of initiation as a stage of transition from one step to
another. Thus can be said to be the quality of equivocation that happens in the middle of rites
stages whereby the neophytes; a term used for beginners in a ritual do not have again their pre-
ritual status yet they are have not yet achieved the status to be in when the rite under practice is
done and finalized. Victor Turner was a reputable and experienced British cultural anthropologist
who gained fame globally due to his good job on rites, symbols, and rituals. The paper
summarizes his ideas on Liminality appropriately. (Brown Vega)
Body
Victor Turner argued that the initiates during the ritual become unclassified. By this Victor
Turner demonstrated that neophytes usually were conveyed in symbolic forms on the processes
which were like parturition and incubation. This involved the neophytes being given a treatment
of infants that were just born recently or handled like embryos under development, Turner then
argued that neophytes had a condition that is ambivalent and self-contradictive of various
customary listings whereby the initiates were both living and dead in one aspect yet neither dead
nor living in the other. Hence he stated that they are the utmost least betwixt and between
recognizable fixed points in space in regards to structural classification (Nyamnjoh and
Henrietta). The metaphor of dissolution is reflected by the Anthropologist where he indirectly
viewed this as an indirect separation from one step to another.
Unstructured ness and being dirty. On this, Victor Turner argued that it involved the association
of transition beings into bonds with supreme human power. Here he viewed the liminal beings as
not only being in able structurally and polluting in terms of rituals but also secluded in both ends
from the domain of cultural included status and states. Additionally, he said that the liminal
beings do not have a social quo but have the physical being (Drewery and Claire).
Sexlessness and Prima Matera
The British anthropologist argued that in the kinship dominated societies, the sex distinctions are
vital in the structural composition, the viewed sex distinction is made of patrilineal and

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matrilineal rules. Whereby he discussed that the transition being is not regarded as female or
male. Thus the neophytes were characterized by both sexes’ types regardless of the original sex.
They were either bisexual or sexless thus regarded as prima Matera i.e. the raw resource not
differentiated. Hence he emphasized on sex distinction being a vital component of structural
status.
Status and Rank
Victor Turner looked on both sides of liminality i.e. structural positive and the structural
negative. Thus on the structural negative, the neophyte has absolutely nothing i.e. no status and
no rank. Hence the neophytes have no right to good and services or property. He viewed this as a
complete prototype of poverty (Edgley and Charles)
Flexibility and being shaped through initiation
Victor turner being a professional anthologist gave ideas on this based on the flexibility and
malleability of the neophytes. He argued that the instructors in the ritual Aare key in enabling
that there is a transition were the instructor demands total subordination whereas the
transforming being requires absolute equity (Gewertz and Deborah). Turner used the example of
initiation of girls in south Ndebele the girls are reefed to Orkut-yambisa meaning to germinate.
He then stated that the transforming beings are given powers and ability to cope up with more
steps of life.
Growth metaphor
Anthropologist Victor Turner viewed this in terms as an ontological progress i.e. the intent to
grow. He termed rituals as being educational than the physical mutilation whereby there was
seclusion in those who never participated n the ritual i.e. circumcision, the uncircumcised were
driven out. The transforming being thus was given rewards by being orchestrated by the
community. An example was the Xhosa the uninitiated men were called ilulwane literally a bat
meaning no a land creature and an air creature (Turner et al).
Symbols and sacra

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Victor turner viewed symbolism around a luminal person as bizarre and composite and was a
module on the biological process of human beings whereas for sacra he viewed the vital factor of
luminosity to sacra. The parties involved took the form of objects such as god depictions and
masks. Turner viewed the communication of sacra as to strengthen the ability of transition beings
to think broadly for wide reference scope. He stated that bit also acts as human transfiguration.
He associated sacra with limitations such as mystery and frequent disproportion
Question Two
I happened to witness a ritual. Rituals are usually f three types i.e. rites of transition such as
pregnancy and initiation, the rite of incorporation i.e. marriage and rites of separation such as the
funeral. This one was a rite of transition as it was an initiation ceremony. The origin of the ritual
is from the founding father of the Bukusu tribe, Was Khakaba (Nagy and Timothy 41). IT is
mainly practiced by the Bukusu community who is a very large community on the southern side.
The initiation ceremony in Bukusu is referred to as khwingila meaning to enter i.e. referring to
the transition from childhood to adulthood (Bolman et al). The procedure involves the father of
the boy prepares everything accordingly. The boy is dressed in animal skins or sack cloths. A
jingle (chinyimba) for the boy is prepared. The ceremony is attended by a variety of people
including uncles to the boy. The paternal uncle and auntie of the boy are very vital in the
occasion.
In the evening there is dancing while a beer pot is prepared. The pot is put in the center of the
fathers' house. As singing continues, ancestors are appeased by pouring beer on the ground. After
this, the boy is allowed to sleep for three hours. At 3 o’clock, a grass is plucked and put on his
head as a symbol. This symbolizes that the boy is now growing like the grass. At arrival at home,
spoken words by aunties who carry sticks in an attempt to beat the boy. The initiate must block
them. The symbol is that he should show courage and bravery. It is at this point that the boy now
stands hands akimbo ready to face the knife (Thomassen 84)
Explanation of this event as a ritual using Turners ideas
The initiation ceremony by the Bukusu is a ritual phenomenon as it reflects all the views of
Victor Turner for a ritual. The event is full of symbols such as the sticking of the plucked grass
onto the boys head, the aunties of the boy trying to cane the boy using sticks is a symbol which

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aims at testing for the courage capacity of the boy. In turners view towards a ritual, there should
be an implication to grow. The grass attached to the bot is an indication that the boy has now
grown and is still growing just like the grass. In the event, there is no rank and status to the
initiate. Turner’s view of a ritual is that the transition being has got no rank and no status. The
uncircumcised men are usually secluded and driven out of the community. This is true as per
Victor Turner's view on the implication to grow. There is unstructuredness in the event whereby
the initiates are brought closer to the deities. The initiates here are brought to the supreme human
beings through the appeasing of ancestors by pouring of beer on the ground.
Conclusion
Victor Turner as a renowned British anthropologist clearly brings out his perceptions and views
on the rituals accordingly. He airs out the types of characteristics from rites of transition to rites
of incorporation and rites of separation (Nyamnjoh and Henrietta). He has likened the rituals to
African communities which clearly exhibit the rituals well. The personal encounter of a ritual
was awesome as it enabled me to know more about rituals and also to relate the views of Victor
Turner to the real-life situation. This makes the study of Anthropology more appealing and
enticing.

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Works Cited
Barrett, Coletta, and Allyn T. Whaley-Martin. "NICK TEST." Ethical Currents (2018).
Bolman, Lee G., and Terrence E. Deal. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.
Brown Vega. "Ritual practices and wrapped objects: unpacking prehispanic Andean sacred
bundles.
Drewery, Claire. Modernist Short Fiction by Women: The Liminal in Katherine Mansfield,
Dorothy Richardson, May Sinclair and Virginia Woolf. Routledge, 2016.
Edgley, Charles. "Victor Turner’s Dramaturgical Theory of Ritual." The Drama of Social Life.
Routledge, 2016. 60-73.
Gewertz, Deborah B. "The father who bore me: The role of Tsambunwuro during Chamber
initiation ceremonies." Rituals of Manhood. Routledge, 2017.
Nagy, Timothy. "Lens of Liminality: A Reflection on Faith Sharing in Young Adult Retreat
Ministry." Journal of Youth and Theology 17.1 (2018): 40-60.
Nyamnjoh, Henrietta M. Bridging Mobilities: Its Appropriation by Cameroonians in South
Africa and the Netherlands. 2014.
Thomassen, Bjørn. "Liminality Rediscovered: With Victor Turner and Beyond." Liminality and
the Modern. Routledge, 2016. 83-100.
Turner, Victor, Roger D. Abrahams, and Alfred Harris. The ritual process: Structure and anti-
structure. Routledge, 2017.