This mini-thesis is a supporting document to the exhibition titled via: a phenomenological site-specific series of intermedia interventions and installations at the 1820 Settlers National Monument in Grahamstown. This mini-thesis examines ways in which one negotiates the movement of the self and interactions with others within the non-place. Non-places are ‘habitually transient’ spaces for passage, communication and consumption, often viewed from highways, vehicles, hotels, petrol stations, airports and supermarkets. Characteristic of these generic and somewhat homogenous spaces is the paradox of material excess and concurrent psychological lack where a feeling of disorientation and disconnection is established due to the excesses of Supermodernity: excess of the individual, time and space. The non-place is a contested space as it does not hold enough significance to be regarded as a place and yet, despite its banality, is necessary – and in many ways a privilege – in everyday living. I explore the concept of non-places in relation to the intricate notions of space and place, and draw on empirical research as a means to interrogate how one perceives the phenomenological qualities of one’s surroundings. I discuss the implications of the multiplication of the non-place in relation to globalisation, time–space compression, site-specific art and absentmindedness, as theoretical themes which underpin the practical component of my research. In addition, I situate my artistic practice in relation to other contemporary artists dealing with the non-place as a theme, and critically engage with the multi-disciplinary and sensory installations and video pieces of Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck.

The global society of today is characterised by global communications, expansive networks and uninterrupted movement of information and people. This study sets out to investigate psycho-geographic liminality, understood as a state of perpetual movement, through the work of selected contemporary South African artists. This liminality is situated between an identity denoted on one hand by fragmentation and fluid change, as a result of transitivity, and on the other hand by a sense of place, which sets up two psychological states, namely displacement and belonging. Transitivity is explored in relation to conditions of post-colonialisation, immigration, emigration and telecommunications within the context of globalisation and is considered in direct in contrast to the concept of place as a physical house, suburb, city or country where one feels 'at home,' denoting a sense of belonging. Through the investigation of relevant theories in sociology, anthropology and philosophy this study proposes that we are in perpetual transit, being at home everywhere and yet nowhere, therefore requiring a new understanding of belonging rooted in a continual flow. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

M.Tech. (Fine Art) / The focus of this research is an exploration of aspects of liminality and how it manifests in selected unsanctioned public art interventions in ‘urban places’, specifically, the Johannesburg Central Business District. Liminality informs my own art work and to contextualise my practice I investigate Steven Cohen’s performance/intervention entitled Chandelier (2001-2002), and Alison Kearney’s The Portable Hawkers Museum (2003). I argue that unsanctioned public art maintains a liminal identity, a fluidity of ‘repurposing a space’ that is in constant shift between different dimensions of liminality. Such works create a zone between physical and conceptual space, challenging the relationships between people and places, the artist and the audience. Liminal spaces (such as the underside of bridges for example) provide the platform for new mediation to happen outside of the normal social structures. Homi Bhabha (1994:54) refers to this as a “third space” where transformation may occur, and it is this transformation of space and experience that I aim to explore in my work. In my practical component I present a body of unsanctioned public art interventions consisting of ceramic sculptures placed in urban liminal spaces in Johannesburg. I populate the chosen spaces with imaginative objects that playfully reflect my own cultural hybridity, and resultant liminal existence, in a post-colonial urban society. My practical work thus draws on analyses of the liminal aspects of Cohen and Kearney’s works as well as on aspects of my hybrid existence arising from my status as an immigrant in Johannesburg. Through my art works I attempt to engage with the local inhabitants without the restrictions of institutionalised arenas, allowing for a new experience of both the space and the artwork. Finally I record my own interventions in detail and compile an annotated photographic catalogue to document the sculptures in situ and the ephemeral life span of these unsanctioned public art interventions.

L’ambition des politiques sociales actuelles est de réduire les inégalités dans l’accès aux droits : renforcer l'accès à une pleine citoyenneté aux personnes handicapées et tendre vers une société inclusive. Reflet d’un changement de paradigme, le terme « inclusion » succède à celui d’« intégration». Autrement dit, ce n’est plus à l’individu « différent » de s’adapter à un système dit « normal », mais à la société de faire en sorte d'inclure toute personne quelles que soient ses particularités : la solidarité est l’affaire de tous. À La Réunion, les politiques inclusives s’inscrivent dans un contexte sociologique particulier. L’île présente des particularismes dus à une histoire coloniale récente, suivie d’un développement socioéconomique accéléré depuis la départementalisation en 1946. Ce DROM – Département Région Outre-Mer – présente les atouts d’une société industrielle mais n’en reste pas moins dépourvue de ressources propres. Un métissage de la population, une multiplicité, une mixité de pratiques culturelles et cultuelles sur ce petit territoire viennent rappeler la singularité des Réunionnais. La lecture du handicap et son traitement social en sont fortement imprégnés. Cette société qui a développé un mode de fonctionnement particulier, a fabriqué des espaces inclusifs qui ne correspondent pas toujours aux exigences et codes de la société française métropolitaine. Ces espaces viennent se poser parfois en dualité avec l’école, ce qui place les enfants handicapés mentaux sur la liminalité, sorte de sas entre les deux sphères, familiale et scolaire, mais dans lequel certains élèves stagnent. Les dispositifs actuels en faveur de l’inclusion amènent les acteurs impliqués, familles et professionnels, enseignants et travailleurs sociaux, à œuvrer pour une meilleure inclusion. / Social policies nowadays aim at reducing inequalities in access to rights: reinforce access to full citizenship for people with disabilities and build an inclusive society. The concept of "inclusion" is gradually substituting that of "integration", following the change of paradigm. In other words, it is no longer up to the person with “special needs” to adapt himself to a so-called "normal" system. It’s up to society to ensure that everybody is included, regardless of his particularities. Solidarity is everyone's responsibility. The sociological context of Reunion Island is quite particular: it has known a colonial history before its accession to the statute of French department in 1946, which has accelerated its socio-economic development. This Overseas Department presents the advantages of an industrial society, without any natural resources. The various cultural and religious practices in such a small territory due to the melding of populations make the people of Reunion island singular. Their representation of handicap and its social treatment are strongly influenced. This society has developed spheres of inclusion with particular codes that are quite different from those of the French metropolitan society. Therefore, these particular codes are sometimes different from those practiced in school. And children with mental disabilities live in a sort of airlock between the family and school spheres, where some students stagnate, in the liminality. Nowadays all stakeholders, families, teachers and social workers, try to rely on new schemes to achieve a better inclusion for these children.

The artistic research, Kehrä/ Kehrae is done together with Myrsky Rönkä, with significant ropes, places and spaces, creatures and histories. This paper is subtitled entwining possible worlds. It implies alternative possibilities for prevailing modern western ways to live and die and circus. There are three big questions in the air: What is the meaning of circus? What does it mean to be alive? And how could circus care (the existence of life within the earth)? The starting point was a concern about the troubling state of life and the world how it is today and how the modern western circus felt paradoxical and incapable of responding to the current times in sustainable ways. The initial question was, how to combine circus and other aspects of life into one sustainable, or regenerative and renewable practice. In order to seek other, latent realities this research goes beyond modern western circus history, beyond modern western worldview, and beyond “ordinary” circus practice.  The guiding idea is: life is circus, circus is life. Therefore the practice in this research is a collection of “whatever we were doing”. To mention some with great importance: whirling, meditation, becoming-with rope, making and mapping space with ropes and strings, dwelling with nature, and sauna. The other idea is to go through liminality and evoke communitas, with circus practice, bodies, ropes, and others.  This means abandoning accustomed ways to train and think about circus and life. Because of its nature, this work is also opening up what could spiritual (circus) practice mean as an alternative to a mechanistic way of thinking and making. The ontology of this research is animistic and relational, which suggests care, respect, reciprocity, and response-ability in all of our relations and takes into account the circulative nature of time and life. Animistic ontology takes materiality and skill towards the idea of becoming-with, when becoming into who and what happens in relational material-semiotic worlding. During the process, some specific features, or dwelling places for circus, emerged. Those are circus and play, circus and liminality, circus and shamanism, circus and others. In these dwelling places lies the deep powers of circus to be inversive and subversive, simultaneously transformative and sustaining: the mythical power of circus. Through the final artistic outcome Kehrä/ Kehrae, this paper is entwining the strings of the research together as a temporary gathering to be unraveled and intertwined into one again.

First of all, my research is not only my research but our research. It has been made together with my long-time art companion Marjut Hernesniemi. The starting point for our research was our experience of the western modern circus, what it does, and how it cares for the cosmos. From our experience, the western modern circus is based on techniques, risk, danger, and spectacle. Human is in the center of it, often presented as superhuman controlling and manipulating everything. By looking at the current situation in the world, human domination has caused us problems in a form of climate change and other ecological crises such as mass extinction. However, there are different ways of relating to the world. In this research we have looked beyond the western modern circus, to the roots of circus in China and Japan, and to the archaic rituals, to find other ways of relating to the world through circus and trying to bring them to the present day. This research was set out with the question of trying to combine circus and other aspects of life as one sustainable or regenerative practice. The theoretical framework of the research has been ritual. The thought behind that has been the efficacy of the ritual in contrast to entertainment. That is circus can make a difference. From an animistic perspective, the purpose of the ritual is to sustain and renew, preserve or bring back the balance between the psyche, body, social, cosmic, and circle of life. With this in mind, we have made use of the anti-structure of liminality as a playground while working in the studio. In this playground, we have not been bound by the custom, convention, or ceremonials of the western modern circus. Instead, we’ve had the possibility to play. Use the definition of western modern circus as a launching pad and try to run as far as possible, but still have the connection point as the one that we left from. The rules of the play were simple, such as we don’t climb the rope, you are not allowed to hurt the rope, instead of objects, materials of becoming, instead of human exceptionalism, appreciation of the other, what if there was no human on stage. All these rules created different possibilities.  While in liminality we have been bound by another thing that can appear in a liminal phase, communitas. Communitas as an unstructured communion of equal individuals working towards a collective task with full attention. In our communitas, the task has been a sustainable circus. Moreover, in our communitas, ropes and nature were included as equals. Together we have been imagining and making different kinds of possible futures. These relations between us, nature, and the ropes have been intimate relations. During the process of making, humans have been ”affected” as much as the significant other.  Our task was to combine circus and other aspects of life as one sustainable or regenerative practice. As performances in circus consist of ritualized gestures that show the relationship between us and the cosmos, we need to rethink what we are presenting. To find a more sustainable and regenerative future, we need collective survival skills instead of individual ones. These survival skills should include all life in its diversity. For change to happen liminality, communitas and play are all needed. Liminality to open up a playground outside of the structured society. Play to come up with solutions to challenges. Communitas to form a special bond between the players, speak for the weak, and not forget that we work for the same cause.  Circus can transform, however it requires that the artists are willing to go through the liminal space themselves and take circus with them.

La liminalité est classiquement définie comme un état de transition entre et entre-deux positions sociales. Ce concept fondamental dans la recherche en marketing est utilisé pour explorer les transitions de vie des consommateurs, les rituels de consommation, et les expériences de marché extraordinaires. Cette thèse évalue la théorisation de la liminalité, identifie des hypothèses insuffisantes dans son traitement actuel et propose des outils conceptuels pour avancer sa théorisation à l’ère de la modernité liquide en étudiant deux modes de vie contemporains qui marient contingence, incertitude et ambiguïté. Le premier essai est un article conceptuel qui réexamine le traitement de la liminalité dans la recherche sur le comportement du consommateur. Contestant l’hypothèse d’unidimensionnalité, deux formes distinctes, la liminalité transformationnelle et la liminoïdité, sont identifiées. A l'inverse du traitement laudatif usuel, les dangers de la liminalité, lorsqu’elle fait partie d’une transition dépourvue de sens, sont soulignées. Cet essai contribue à la littérature en résolvant des ambiguïtés définitionnelles, en soulignant les limites du concept et en indiquant des directions de future recherche. Le deuxième essai étudie le mode de vie flexible, défini comme la tendance à embrasser à dessein l’instabilité, le changement et l’adaptabilité dans l’ensemble de sa vie via la précarité professionnelle. En mêlant entretiens longs, techniques projectives et observations participantes, cet essai interroge la façon dont les diverses et fréquentes transitions qui caractérisent le mode de vie flexible sont gérées par les consommateurs. S’écartant de la littérature existante, cet essai contribue à la recherche sur la liminalité des consommateurs en illustrant que la liminalité permanente est insoutenable pour les individus, qui ont besoin d’être libérés de la pression écrasante de sa poursuite. De plus, le capital de flexibilité est identifié comme ce qui leur permet d’accomplir avec succès ce mode de vie et ainsi de créer une échappatoire à la structure sociale qui, sinon, les contraindrait à des positions dominées. Le troisième essai étudie le parcours liminal des consommateurs qui traversent des transitions interculturelles répétées. Des entretiens en autodriving et longs explorent la mobilité ouverte, un type de mobilité internationale caractérisée par une forte incertitude quant à la durée du séjour à l’étranger et à la prochaine destination. Le parcours liminal des consommateurs les expose à un risque de déracinement et de perte de soi qui doivent être compensés par une consommation solide, ancrant le récit identitaire des consommateurs dans des expériences de consommation cristallisées, des objets matériels et des marques symboliques. / Consumer liminality is a vital concept in marketing research, usually defined as a transitional state of betwixt and between social positions. It enlightens life transitions, extraordinary experiences, and consumption rituals. This dissertation assesses the conceptualization of consumer liminality and advances its theorization in liquid modernity by exploring contemporary consumer lifestyles which embrace contingency, uncertainty, and ambiguity. The first essay conceptually reexamines the treatment of liminality in consumer research. I identify two distinct forms, transformational liminality and liminoidity, thus challenging the unidimensionality assumption. Countering its celebratory treatment, I highlight the dangers of liminality when it is part of a meaningless transition. This essay contributes to the literature by resolving definitional ambiguities, outlining the concept’s scope, and delineating research directions. The second essay explores the flexible consumer lifestyle, defined as purposefully embracing instability, change, and adaptability in every aspect of life through professional precariousness. Using a combination of long interviews, projective techniques, and participant observation, I question how the frequent life transitions which characterize the flexible lifestyle and could be conceptualized as an experience of permanent liminality, are handled by consumers. Departing from prior literature, this essay contributes to consumer research on liminality by illustrating that permanent liminality is unsustainable for individuals, who need a release from the overwhelming pressures of its pursuit. Further, I identify flexibility capital as what enables consumers to perform successfully this lifestyle and thus, create an escape from the social structure which otherwise compels them to dominated precarious positions. The third essay studies the liminal consumer journeys of consumers who experience repeated cross-cultural transitions. I combine autodriving and long interviews to explore open-ended mobility, a type of international mobility characterized by a high uncertainty regarding the duration of the stay abroad and the next destination. This essay contributes by emphasizing liminal dangers. I identify that liminal consumer journeys put consumers at risk of rootlessness and self-loss and must be compensated by solidifying consumption, which anchors consumers’ identity narratives in crystallized consumption experiences, material objects, and symbolic brands.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Introduced in 2010, the Dispensation Zimbabwe Program (DZP) regularised undocumented Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa. When DZP was closed, the Zimbabwe Special Permit was introduced, which was also replaced by the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit. This thesis examines the lived experiences of Zimbabwean migrants from the time they arrived in South Africa without papers, visas, or permits. It then examines the processes of acquiring DZP papers, processes of replacing it, and how conditions on the permits reinforce a particular notion of belonging for Zimbabwean immigrants. I draw on work inspired by the anthropologist Victor Turner’s (1967) concept of liminality to show that Zimbabwean migrants had been going through various phases of uncertain legal statuses which are all liminal. Through accounts of lived experiences and biographical narratives of migrants who see themselves as ‘entrepreneurs’ in Cape Town, I consider how migrant’s experience the structural effects of documentation and having or not having ‘papers’. It starts with a state of “illegality” because of being an undocumented migrant in South Africa. It proceeds to “amnesty” from deportation following the announcement of DZP. It then proceeds to the filling of application forms for legalisation at Home Affairs. The DZP permits make them “liminal citizens” in that they got political citizenship by virtue of being documented, but at the same time, the migrants do not enjoy full citizenship status economically. There is also “legal suspension” as in the period between applications for replacement of the permit with another for example from Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP) to Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP). The imposition of conditions in permits that it will not be renewed or extended throws them into a condition of “temporary conditional legality”. As a result, the liminality experienced is both existential and juridical. Juridical liminality results from uncertain legal status whether the migrant is documented or not. Juridical liminality is inherent in law and immigration policy. Existential liminality is because the uncertain legal status permeates all aspects of Zimbabwean immigrants’ lives and delimits their range of action in different spheres. This includes jobs, transnational capabilities, business, family, housing, and schooling for their children. Most studies on migration do not extend their arguments beyond that permits matter as they see them as giving immediate access to social and economic rights. In this thesis, I do not only examine how a condition of being an undocumented immigrant shapes aspects of immigrants’ lives but I further examine the experiences of living with temporary visas and their impact on their lives and family. Whereas in a rite of passage, the liminal stage is temporary, Zimbabweans in South Africa are living in chronic liminality. In all phases of liminal legality, the thesis demonstrates state power through documents/visas in shaping migrant lives deepening our understanding of immigrant incorporation, exclusion, citizenship and belonging.

[pt] A presente Tese aborda a fofoca como fenômeno comunicativo, investigando, em específico, seu significado social e cultural no Brasil. A análise teórica concentra-se em três aspectos principais: (1) a dinâmica situacional dos elementos pragmaticamente constitutivos de uma ação caracterizável como fofoca; (2) a recorrência dos conteúdos de mensagens trocadas a tal título e sob outras variantes semânticas e (3) os empregos concretos da fofoca como instrumento na prática social. Uma vez delimitada como fenômeno geral, passo a apreciar a dinâmica específica da fofoca no Brasil. Assim, analiso sua relevância a partir da noção de liminaridade segundo Victor Turner, considerando certos eventos em que a fofoca se manifesta em uma cultura marcada por fortes traços de predomínio da oralidade, fixidez hierárquica e trânsito relacional. / [en] This Thesis addresses gossip as a communicative phenomenon, investigating, specifically, its social and cultural significance in Brazil. The theoretical analysis focuses on three main aspects: (1) the situational dynamics of the pragmatically constitutive elements of an action characterized as gossip; (2) the recurrence of the contents of messages exchanged under this name and under other semantic variants and (3) the concrete uses of gossip as an instrument in social practice. Once defined as a general phenomenon, I begin to appreciate the specific dynamics of gossip in Brazil. Thus, I analyze its relevance based on the notion of liminality according to Victor Turner, considering certain events in which gossip manifests itself in a culture marked by strong oral predominance, hierarchical fixity and relational transit.

Goddess-based civilisations worshipped the divine as a parthenogentic primordial creative force. Parthenogensis a Greek word that derives from parthenos “virgin” and genesis “from the beginning” was the path of liberation or rebirth into one’s divine nature. Thus, the supreme deity was worshipped as the Virgin Goddess who alone, without male intervention created the Universe by entering liminal states or otherwise altered states of consciousness. Ontologically these states in goddess worshipping cultures were entered during rites of passage through dance, repetitive action, song and descending into underground grottoes. It is the intention of this thesis to explore two rites of passage, pre-menarche and menarche to establish if spiritualising these two events in our lives can lead to women having a vision of the divine, which is the intention of parthenogenesis – our own self-realisation.            Using the kaleidoscope theory as the primary methodology - a method which incorporates a consideration of linguistics, mythology, history, and folklore as well as archaeology - this thesis follows several lines of approach. First, by reviewing the belief systems around parthenogenesis through a matriarchal cosmogony myth and other ancient religious interpretations, it shows that in the pre-patriarchal western world a Virgin Mother Goddess was worshipped due to her parthenogenesis.        Second, it argues that the prepubescent initiation for Artemis of Brauron known as the arkteia, where young girls up to the age of 10 would play the She bear for Artemis was pre-menarchial rite of passage that set the stage for the divine experience during menarche, by retaining our instincts and intuition through our wild nature. To illustrate this, archaeological data as well as historical and mythological clues provide substantive evidence for this. Thirdly, it argues that the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary could have actually been her own menarche or first blood, whereby her spiritual conception of Christ-consciousness is announced by Gabriel and begins her journey to liberation through parthenogenesis. This will be illustrated through early century iconography and theological interpretations of Mary as she weaves the red thread to create the veil of the temple of Jerusalem. Additionally, through the Gospel of Mary Magdalene who was the first Apostle to see a vision of the resurrected Christ and is today considered the keeper of women’s blood mysteries, I argue that the spiritualising of menarche can also lead women to eventually have a vision of the divine, which culminates the path and intention of parthenogenesis – our own self-realisation.            Lastly it explores through existential health how these two rites of passage are reclaimed in the modern world and how they provide an embodied relationship for women with the divine.      This study pulls together fragmented elements of pre-history to make a compelling case for menarche as being the foundation for self-realisation and contemporary understanding of mythological and biblical narratives, rites of passage and their liminal spaces. The lost matriarchal path of parthenogenesis is determined to be applicable ontologically in the modern world.