Some like it liminal: Identity development in rituals and rites

of passage

BYD

Dr Fiona Beals (Dr Phi)

Binge drinking had become an initiation ceremony or “rite of passage”, for teenagers, an Alcohol Advisory Council of New

Zealand (ALAC) speaker told a Nelson conference today. “There’s a widespread phenomenon to blame the young,” ALAC Principal

Policy Advisor Wendy Moore said. “You open almost any newspaper and read how bad they are, how irresponsible they are,

how they shouldn’t be drinking. But look at the rest of us; are we so responsible? “Actually the reason young people drink the way they

do is because that’s the way many of us drink.” ALAC research showed some 785,000 New Zealand adults regularly indulged in binge drinking, she said. Teenage binge drinkers, who merely

wanted to act like adults, regularly witnessed society tolerating and sometimes celebrating such behaviour. “Intoxicated people are

regarded as good fun, adults swap stories of drunken acts from their youth as if they were badges of honour, and even quite gross

outcomes such as vomiting in public seem acceptable,” Ms Moore said. “Binge drinking has become normal – a rite of passage – which starts with parents buying alcohol for teenagers in the hope of some

kind of control.”

From: http://www.alcohol.org.nz/media-centre/teenage-binge-drinking-rite-passage

Identity: Then and Now

Transitional Identity

• What are transitions?– Developmental– Social

• Traditional concepts of identity and transitions• Life is about multiple transitions• Within each transition we are repositioning ourselves and

our identity/identities• The moment of transition is a moment of limbo (liminal

moment)• These are moments of personal identity negotiation

Child ADULTTransition

Traditional Identity Transitions

ADOLESCENCE

The Liminal and Rites of Passage

The Liminal• Term coined by Victor Turner (1977)• Being in limbo – inbetween• Traditionally been connected to age

– Adolescence (the moment between childhood and adulthood)• Traditionally the moment of limbo (liminality) has been celebrated

through rituals or rites of passage• A. Van Gennep argues that rites of passage involve three elements

– Separation– Transition– Re/Integration

Child ADULT

Liminal

ADOLESCENCE

RITE OFPASSAGE

SOCIETY

Little Kunta Adult Kunta

Liminal

Third Kafo

Manhood Training

Juffure, West AfricaPlaying

Herding Goats

Respecting mother

Hunter

Women obey and respect him

Council Member

Traditional Rites of Passage

• Coming of age ceremonies– the Sacred Thread ceremony (Hindi)– al-khitan (Islam)– bar and bat mitzvah (Jewish)– first communion (Catholic)– the 21st, 40th and so on

• Other religious rites (blessings, baptisms)

• Weddings• Funerals

What These Rites of Passage Do

• Allow you to separate yourself from mainstream life

• Redirect you in future roles or your future self identity

• Provide a ceremony or ritual for you to engage in when you are changing roles

• Give recognition to the reality of change in one’s life and the need to have ‘space’ to make such a change

But What’s Happening

• Rites of passage are not as evident in society in general (instead are firmly within religion)

• Instead, developmental liminal moments are seen as a gradual change

• And, young adults and others are creating their own liminal moments – their own liminal rituals to change between roles and identities

HOME WORK

Friend

RepresentativeWorker

Multiple RolesParent

Partner

Flatmate

Multiple Roles

CONTEXT CONTEXT

SOCIETY

Liminal

Liminal Rituals

• Coping with the complexity of identity through liminal rituals

• These rituals can be either helpful or harmful– Television Vs Alcohol– The use of drugs

httpwww.free-clipart.net

Clubbing and Pubbing in Young Adulthood

"There is certainly evidence that young people have forged their own rite of passage ... and that activities such as

nightclubbing and alcohol consumption are central to such transitions ... adolescents try to

enact their own rite of passage through indulging in adult behaviour such as drug-

taking, alcohol consumption and sexual intercourse" (Northcote, 2006, p.4)

Clubbing and Pubbing: a rite of passage

• This Rite of Passage is particularly evident in urban university culture

• In many societies clubbing has become a rite of passage into adulthood

• When we look at countries like New Zealand, we can also see pubbing as a rite of passage

• In these contexts, young people use activities based on drinking, drugs, socialising, and sex to experiment with adult identities

The Liminal Pub/Club

The Liminal Pub/Club

The Liminal Pub/Club

Clubbing and Pubbing

• Seen as adult icons that young adults can participate in

• Desist as young adults gets older and takes on different roles

• Can have negative implications for young people

Issues and Concerns

httpwww.free-clipart.net

Transitional Issues or Lifelong Problems?

• Dehydration• Embarrassing/regretful

incidences• Accidents/trauma etc• Alcoholism• Drug abuse• Unplanned pregnancies• Unwanted relationships

What positive or negative impacts can clubbing and pubbing have on

personal biographies?

What influence can these youth constructed rites of passage have for

future coping and adapting skills?

What positive or negative impacts can clubbing and pubbing have on

larger social biographies?

The Power of the Liminal

Clubbing and Pubbing in the 30s

• A small proportion of young adults continue to participate in clubbing in their 30s

• For some pubbing becomes a lifestyle

• A liminal ritual

– Between night and day• There are three ways to view these adults

1. Adults partaking in rituals

2. Adults stuck in a rite of passage

3. Adults continuously constructing their own identities

Clubbing and Pubbing in the 30s

• A place of ‘escape’ involving– Separation– Transition– Re/Integration

• Incorporation into one’s identity

• Redefining one’s identity

1. Felt age2. Look age3. Do age4. Interest age5. Group reference

Clubbing and Identity

• Traditional conceptions of identity connected identity to age and biology

• Contemporary conceptions acknowledge context and a cognitive (or psychological) dimension to identity

• In clubbing, identity has five dimensions

Identity is fluid andchanging

Involves the person in constructing and

changing their identity

Clubbing and Pubbing

• Offer sites in society where an individual can remove themselves (from society) redefine or reconstruct their identity integrate themselves back into society

• Allow us to see how identity is no longer (or may never have been) one-dimensional

• Allow us to see how individuals are attempting to reconstruct themselves and create their own identities

Resounding Issues

• Just because clubs and pubs are liminal sites in society, they are not necessary ‘healthy’ sites

• Through these sites ‘transitional issues’ (like binge drinking) may become lifelong problems

• There is also a need to recognise other rituals we use as adults to allow ourselves a moment of re-definition

• There is a need to think of other healthier rituals and to begin to promote these other issues

What some other rites of passage that young adults could participate in

to replace the current emphasis on drinking?

What some other rituals that adults could participate in to reconstruct

and define themselves?

In a time of multiple transitions it is important for us to make space for

ourselves to prepare ourselves

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• Ministry of Youth Affairs. (2002). Youth development strategy Aotearoa: Action for child and youth development. Wellington: Ministry of Youth Affairs.

• Northcote, J. (2006). Nightclubbing and the search for identity: making the transition from childhood to adulthood in an urban milieu. Journal of Youth Studies, 9(1), 1-16.

• Ritchie, J., & Ritchie, J. (1984). The dangerous age: Surviving adolescence in New Zealand. London: Allen and Unwin, Port Nicholson Press.

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Intercultural Studies, 25(1), 87-100.• Turner, V. (1977). Variations of a theme of liminality. In S. F. Moore & B. G. Myerhoff (Eds.), Secular ritual (pp.36-

52). Assen, The Netherlands: Van Gorcum.