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alive/dead, child/woman, outsider/adherent), In a broad and general way, it is during such reli- involves a general “leveling” of rights, rank, and gious rites that mythology is legitimized, the strong privileges that is entirely antithetical to the “nor- become weak, the weak strong, and traditional status mal” or structural state of affairs. Turner (1997, 106), categories are reinforced by contrasting them with the for example, notes the following “binary opposites” potential anarchy and statuslessness of liminality. In where the first represents communitas and the an important sense, without structure there is no com- second structure: equality/inequality, absence of munitas and without communitas there is no structure. status/status, humility/just pride of position, James Houk silence/speech, and total obedience/obedience only to superior rank, just to mention a few. It should not See also Communitas, Rites of; Liminoid; Passage, be assumed here, however, that the “liminite” is Rites of powerless in a general sense. After all, if one is “out- side” structure, he or she is not controlled by it. Consider, for example, the “hippies” and “flower Further Reading children” of the sixties, quintessential liminites who staked out a social position that was distinctly anti- Alexander, B. (1991). Victor Turner revisited: Ritual as social structural or, in their terms, “antisocial.” Falling out- change. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press. side the purview of proper culture, so to speak, they Bell, C. (1992). Ritual theory, ritual practice. New York: engaged in activities that were socially unacceptable Oxford University Press. in a general sense, for example, the consumption of Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: psychoactive substances and rather unrestricted sex- Basic Books. ual practices. Houk, J. (1995). Spirits, blood, and drums: The Orisha reli- The power, so to speak, of communitas is also evi- gion in Trinidad. Philadelphia: Temple University dent in the interplay between structure and communi- Press. tas. Turner notes that both processes are essential for Turner, V. (1977). The ritual process: Structure and anti- the “well-being” of each other. In fact, one might view structure. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. society diachronically as a manifestation of the dialec- van Gennep, A. (1909). The rites of passage (M. Vizedom & tic process involving this continual interplay between G. Caffee, Trans.). London: Routledge and Kegan structure and communitas. Paul. One important example of this process might be referred to as “the normalization of communitas.” Consider, for example, the “mourning” ritual prac- ticed in the Orisha religion of Trinidad. According to Communitas, Rites of James Houk, the individual “pilgrim” involved in the ritual gains certain knowledge regarding spirits, ritu- In the 1960s Victor Turner adapted the word “com- als, etc., during a series of spiritual travels. The infor- munitas” from Paul Goodman’s usage, which connot- mation and knowledge gained during mourning, ed town planning on community lines. Turner uses however novel or traditional, or, put another way, “communitas” extensively in anthropology to mean a however heretical or heterodox, eventually becomes relational quality of full, unmediated communication, part of the complex of beliefs and practices that com- even communion, between people of definite and prise the Orisha religion. It is in this sense that com- determinate identity, which arises spontaneously in munitas is normalized. The subversion of standard all kinds of groups, situations, and circumstances. The social roles that occurs during mourning allows even Random House Webster Unexpurgated Dictionary (1998) neophyte and rank and file adherents to influence the defines “communitas” as: “Anthropol. The sense of religion along idiosyncratic lines, since everyone’s sharing and intimacy that develops among persons experiences are equally valid and, thus, equally who experience liminality as a group.” Turner first important. Looked at in this way, the communitas of noted this phenomenon—then not recognized in the mourning periodically revitalizes the structure of the social sciences—in the healing ritual of Chihamba belief system. In a similar way, Turner speaks of the among the Ndembu of Zambia in 1953. He observed purging and purification effect communitas has on and experienced it among the Chihamba patients who structure. were in passage between illness and health, and also 97 RT1806_C.qxd 1/28/2004 6:32 PM Page 98

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found it among novices changing from childhood to oneness is therefore often expressed in rituals of adulthood, and in other changes in social status. reversal in which the lowly and high-ups reverse Furthermore he recognized it in many different soci- social roles. eties among those in betwixt-and-between circum- After the inception of spontaneous communitas a stances, those going through some threshold or limen structuring process often develops and a cycle of com- in life together, that is, in a time of liminality. munitas/structure/communitas ensues. For example, religious vision becomes sect, then church, then a Description prop for a dominant political system, until communi- tas resurges once more, emerging from the spaces of The bonds of communitas that are felt at liminal times freedom often found in betwixt-and-between situa- are undifferentiated, egalitarian, direct, extant, nonra- tions. Revivals are of this nature. tional, existential, and “I–Thou” (in Martin Buber’s Much of religious observance consists of “norma- sense). The original sense of communitas is sponta- tive communitas,” the attempt to capture and pre- neous and concrete, not abstract. The experience of serve spontaneous communitas in systems of ethical communitas matters much to the participants. It does precepts and legal rules. These are often gathered in not merge identities; the gifts of each person are alive documents of “ideological communitas,” in which to the full, along with those of every other person. are formulated the remembered attributes of the Communitas liberates individuals from conformity to communitas experience in the form of a utopian general norms. It is the fount and origin of the gift of blueprint for the reform of society. Yet in the stories togetherness, and thus of the gifts of organization, usually recorded within them reside the seeds of the and therefore of all structures of social behavior, and realization of spontaneous communitas once again, at the same time it is the critique of structure that is whether these consist of poems, sacred history, sin- overly law-bound. Communitas should be distin- cere accounts of visions, or even music and art. In guished from Durkheim’s “mechanical solidarity,” the works of prophets and artists we may catch which is a bond between individuals who are collec- glimpses of the unused evolutionary potential of tively in opposition to another solidary group. In communitas, a potential not yet externalized and “mechanical solidarity,” unity depends on “in-group fixed in structure. versus out-group” opposition. But in the genesis and central tendency of communitas, communitas is uni- Sources of Communitas versalistic. Structures, like living species, become spe- cialized; communitas, as in the case of the biology of The spaces of freedom in society from which com- the human species and its direct evolutionary fore- munitas emerges are various. Communitas breaks bears, remains open and unspecialized, a spring of into society (1) through the interstices of structure in pure possibility as well as giving release from day-to- liminality, times of change of status; (2) at the edges day structural role-playing, and it seeks oneness. This of structure, in marginality; and (3) from beneath does not involve a withdrawal from multiplicity but structure, in inferiority. Liminality, marginality, and eliminates divisiveness and realizes nonduality. inferiority frequently generate sacred accounts, Communitas strains toward universalism and open- symbols, rituals, philosophical systems, and works ness; it is richly charged with feeling, mainly pleasur- of art. able. It has something magical about it. Those who experience communitas feel the presence of spiritual Liminality power. Liminality is the process of midtransition in a rite of Victor Turner emphasizes, first, “spontaneous passage. During the liminal period, the characteristics communitas”: a feeling that comes unexpectedly like of those passing through are ambiguous, for where the wind and warms everyone to each other. It defies they find themselves has few or none of the attributes deliberate cognitive and volitional construction and is of either the past or the coming state. They are betwixt at the opposite pole to social structures, that is, the and between. In nonindustrial societies their secular role sets, status sets, and status sequences consciously powerlessness may be compensated for by a sacred recognized and regulated in society and closely power—the power of the weak, derived on the one bound up with legal and political norms and sanc- hand from the resurgence of nature when structural tions. Communitas or the feeling of communion or power is removed, and on the other from the 98 RT1806_C.qxd 1/28/2004 6:32 PM Page 99

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experience of the sacred. Much of what has been pilgrimage situation does not eliminate structural bound by social structure is liberated in liminality, divisions, it attenuates them and removes their sting. notably the sense of comradeship and communitas. Moreover, pilgrimage liberates the individual from The kind of people in our society who are liminal are the obligatory everyday constraints of status and role, teenagers, students, trainees, travelers, those with defines her as an integral human being with a capaci- new jobs, and people in times of major disaster. In ty for free choice, and within the limits of her religious Western society there is a paucity of ritual for these orthodoxy presents for her a living model of human occasions; nevertheless, new or spontaneous rituals sisterhood and brotherhood. It should be noted that sometimes arise. The birthday party is a common the study of this element in pilgrimage has been cri- example of a regular rite-of-passage ritual. tiqued by Michael Sallnow and John Eade (1991), who turn back to the structured stage of communitas Marginality development and claim that conflict is endemic in pil- Marginality is a category whose individuals often grimage and that religious power hierarchies decide look to their group of origin, the so-called inferior the major outcome of pilgrimage, so that pilgrimage group (see below), for communitas, and to the more has the effect of enhancing the existing power struc- prestigious group in which they mainly live for their tures of society. structural position. Marginals may become critics of the structure from the perspective of communitas; The Presence of Communitas many writers, artists, philosophers, and postmoderns are marginals, as well as New Agers, environmental- Negative capability, that is, an open readiness without ists, gays, and those in monastic orders. preconceived ideas, provides the circumstances. There exists a democracy and humility about commu- Inferiority nitas: no one can claim it as their own. This is seen in Inferiority is a value-bearing category that refers to Victor Turner’s vision of it as residing in the poor and the powers of the weak, countervailing against struc- inferior, a gift coming up from below. As for the con- tural power, fostering continuity, creating the senti- crete circumstances, they can be found when people ment of the wholeness of the total community, and engage in a collective task with full attention. They positing the model of an undifferentiated whole may find themselves in flow, that is, they experience a whose units are total human beings. The powers of merging of action and awareness—a crucial compo- the weak are often assigned in hierarchic and strati- nent of enjoyment. Flow is the holistic sensation pres- fied societies to women, the poor, original inhabitants, ent when we act with total involvement, with no and outcasts, as well as members of minorities, holy apparent need for conscious intervention on our part. mendicants, children, and human rights advocates There is a loss of ego; the self becomes irrelevant. In such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. To the group, what is sought and what happens is unity, quote Liz Locke (1999, 3): “The non-athletes, the read- seamless unity, so that even joshing is cause for ers, the musicians, the skate rats, the gamers, the delight and there is often much laughter. geeks, the metal-heads, the ravers, the stoners, the The benefits of communitas are joy, healing, the net-heads, the writers, the outcasts, the refugees—we gift of “seeing,” mutual help, religious experience, the find a way to create communities.” gift of knowledge, long-term ties with others, a humanistic conscience, and the human rights ideal. Communitas and Pilgrimage Communitas takes place in the rituals of Africa and other preindustrial cultures, and also in churches, The journey to sacred shrines, usually undertaken by temples, mosques, and shrines all over the world, large groups of religious people seeking help at a far- achieved by collective prayer. Pentecostal and charis- away saint’s tomb or birthplace, is an activity in matic churches seek and find moments of universal which communitas flowers. Friends are made and a love, praying for the sick. Sufi brotherhoods in India, sense of sacredness grows as the days of travel go by. Pakistan, and Afghanistan, in intense, collective, sub- The religion and the forward urging of the people, missive chants to Allah, find that sense of unity. often in collective prayer, together produce an elated Communitas, not always achieved, is sought in the sense of sisterhood among all, something that draws world Olympic games, where the finely tuned human pilgrims to come again year after year. While the body is the common factor, an achievement possible 99 RT1806_C.qxd 1/28/2004 6:32 PM Page 100

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for all humans. The presence of communitas in music this or that is going to happen. By beholding behind and the change of consciousness in groups are two the closed eyes of your co-musicians and in sensing themes in need of further study. the nerve impulses and the movements of the mus- cles in their bodies, you will attain a security in rela- Other Definitions tion to what is going to happen. We are also working together to keep the song whole or coherent. This The term “communitas” has been further elaborated often happens as one new pattern is woven into the by later anthropologists, particularly Roy Willis and mix, that others pick up on its inherent beauty, and Stephen Friedson citing African ritual. They refer to a find ways to integrate what they are doing into this time of “intersubjective objectivity,” “a space of com- new structure. Strummings and pluckings are added munitas” (Willis 1999, 120), when people are tuned in on by other instruments until a new structure is to one another and live together through the same implicitly agreed to. Once this new structure is found flow of experience. In a Lungu healing rite Willis him- and woven in, the improvisation really can com- self experienced this liberated communitas. He was mence. The conscious mind is put on the back burn- aware of being lifted out of normal consciousness into er and the unconscious is given more control. One a state where ordinary perceptions of time and space has to become like a child. were drastically altered. The participants, including himself, were all in relation, different versions of each And he adds, “It almost becomes like a trance, a other, but there were no fixed boundaries to selfhood, religious experience.” there existed a permeability and flexibility between Understanding communitas entails a recognition self and other, an infinite reflexivity, with a sense of of a certain kind of medium in which we all live that is everything flowing within the all-encompassing permeable from person to person and which nourish- rhythm of the drum (Willis et al. 1999, 103). Stephen es what is “spiritual.” The nature of this conscious- Friedson (1996), similarly participating in Malawi rit- ness, in healing or music for instance, is felt when ual, tells how the spirits caused his “self” to expand, connecting with others. A kind of power exists that is creating a space within him, an opening, a clearing, implicit in this connective “spirit” between people. We where he became aware of a rich lived experience of can tap into shadowy abysses where there is a “reser- the equiprimordiality of human being and world. voir,” a rising and flooding medium that can waken This was spiritual communitas, both experiences the existing spirit connections into activity, a kind of showing how this can develop between anthropolo- power store that can join people. Then the soul is in gists and practitioners of religion. tune with others. Souls in communitas may even con- A prime example of communitas has been nect with the dead; may experience the power of described by Matt Bierce (personal communication, switching back and forth in time; may receive and April 2001), who cites jam sessions in Victor Turner’s send unmistakable messages where vitally needed; terms: liminality and communitas. He says of his jam- and are conscious of purposes throughout the spiritu- ming group al web—a huge visionary purpose sometimes. The implications follow that if one responds to We have been writing songs together for six years communitas one can no longer treat another human now and our cooperative powers have grown being as an object, because each person is too much immensely. We are intimately aware of each other part of the other. We find ourselves, as in the and our abilities, tendencies, favoritisms, styles, Copernican revolution, smaller than we thought, even moods, and emotions. This intimacy allows us a form on a par with the animals and not above them. We of jamming or improvisation that I think is a rare and exist in a vast interchange of spirit personality—often cultivated closeness bordering on telepathic intu- glimpsed, sometimes seen clearly in the acts of spirit ition. Above all else, we are friends. In the context of sociality. The social itself becomes a matter of intu- a jam, we communicate in a way that superceded itions passed between people and a joyous sense of speech and cognitive logic, in a language of sugges- bonding, sometimes providing the power of collective tions, weavings, liminal stances, pattern formations healing and of acting in visionary harmony. and dissolutions, patience, intensity and calm, and Edith Turner private exploration. You have to give yourself totally, without reservations. It’s not enough that you believe See also Communitas; Liminoid 100 RT1806_C.qxd 1/28/2004 6:32 PM Page 101

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Further Reading Individual Crisis Is Community Crisis In traditional village communities, a problem experi- Buber, M. (1958). I and thou. (R. G. Smith Trans.). enced by an individual or family becomes a commu- Edinburgh: Clark. nity problem. An illness in a Jordanian village Durkheim, E. (1895). The rules of sociological method. studied by anthropologist Hilma Granqvist brought Glencoe, IL: Free Press. the members together in collective support that Eade, J., & Sallnow, M. J. (Eds.). (1991). Contesting the helped restore the sick person’s vitality. Bringing sacred: The anthropology of Christian pilgrimage. flowers to someone in a hospital or food to the home London: Routledge. of a sick person are Western equivalents. The death of Friedson, S. M. (1996). Dancing prophets. Chicago: someone disrupts a community even more, and col- University of Chicago Press. lective rituals help reinforce social bonds, relieve ten- Locke, L. (1999, May–July). Don’t dream it, be it. New sions, and commemorate the dead person. For Directions in Folklore, 3, 1–3. example, women in the Trobriand Islands distribute Stinmetz, S. (Ed.). (1998). Random House unabridged dic- large quantities of banana-fiber skirts and banana tionary. New York: Random House. leaves upon the death of a relative, and in America, a Turner, V. W. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti- fund for some social purpose is often established at structure. Chicago: Aldine. the passing of a notable person, to keep his memory Turner, V. W. (1974a). Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors. alive. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Turner, V. Among a Melanesian group, the anthropologist W. (1974b). Pilgrimage and communitas. Studia Bronislaw Malinowski observed a commemoration in Missionalia, 23, 305–327. which people were required to eat some of the dead Turner, V. W. (1982). Liminal to liminoid in play, flow, person’s flesh. This ritual cannibalism was performed and ritual. In From ritual to theatre: The human serious- with “extreme repugnance and dread” and was usu- ness of play (pp. 20–60). New York: Performing Arts ally followed by violent vomiting, but it was “felt to Journal Publications. be a supreme act of reverence, love, and devotion.” Turner, V. W. (1992). Variations on a theme of liminality. Outlawed by the government but still done in secret In Blazing the Trail (pp. 49–65). Tucson: University of at the time of Malinowski’s study, the act was consid- Arizona Press. ered a sacred duty that expressed “the longing for all Turner, V. W., & Turner, E. L. B. (1978). Appendix A: that remains of the dead person and the disgust and Notes on processual symbolic Analysis. In Image and fear of the dreadful transformation wrought by pilgrimage in Christian culture: Anthropological perspec- death” (Malinowski 1954, 49–50). Death rituals make tives (pp. 243–255). New York: Columbia University the loss of a person less disruptive socially while help- Press. ing the community readjust. Willis, R., Chisanga, K. B. S., Sikazwe, H. M. K., Sikazwe, Some cultures’ response to crime is highly ritual- K. B., & Nanyangwe, S. (1999). Some spirits heal, others ized. An eyewitness account of a Turkish execution in only dance: A journey into human selfhood in an African Jerusalem in the late nineteenth century depicts the village. Oxford, UK: Berg. mother of the slain person drinking some of the blood of the murderer after his execution, exclaiming, “My son is avenged!” (Granqvist 1965, 126–27). Capital Crisis Rituals punishment in the United States carries some of this public outrage, but among Southwest Native Crisis rituals are called rites of intensification. These American tribes, a man who has killed an enemy, are employed when an unfavorable change has even in self-defense, “must purify himself for sixteen affected the group, or the group faces a danger or days, to cure his spirit of the madness of shedding calamity of some kind. Such situations spread anxi- blood” (Erdoes 1976, 35). ety, uncertainty, and fear that can be alleviated through the performance of mass rituals that provide Social Change as Crisis security and hope by reinforcing social ties and pointing to the transcendent dimension beyond New situations or practices, caused by some larger everyday experience. social change, may also threaten people’s security 101