This exploratory study was inspired by the author’s voluntary work with streetconnected children and youth in Kenya. It develops an understanding of the experiences of young people leaving the street in two provincial Kenyan towns. Although there has been extensive research concerned with street-connectedness, there has been a limited focus on young people’s transitions away from the street. Participants were identified with the help of three organisations: fifty-three young people, aged 12 -28, participated in semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and visual methods, during two field research visits to Kenya, in 2012 and 2013. The study found that their experiences of leaving the street were influenced by their day-to-day interactions with family, friends and other members of the communities into which they transitioned. These interactions influenced how accepted the young people felt and the extent to which they believed they were supported economically, physically and psychosocially, especially with regards to their relationships with family members. The participants’ interactions with school-based peers and teachers were particularly important in schools and training centres, where they struggled to develop a sense of belonging. Being street-connected is an integral part of the identities constructed by young people after they leave the street and establish places for themselves in their families, schools, local communities, and wider society. Such street-connectedness can be a strength: the resilience and skills developed on the street are useful attributes in adapting to new situations, potentially providing income-generating opportunities later on. However, the stigmatisation and resulting marginalisation they experienced on the street can have lasting effects. Barriers to inclusion experienced on the street influence a young person’s ability to develop a sense of belonging to their new situation after leaving the street. This study makes a conceptual contribution. Street-connectedness begins when a young person first arrives on the street, and continues until what could be years after they leave it. This street-connectedness can be characterised by three liminalities. The first is associated with living in the physical space defined as being on the street: a physical embodiment of liminality. The second, describes the process of being in transition as a young person newly arrived on the street, or having recently left the street: each being a liminal phase. The third liminality is described by an identity-forming social space, associated with being, and having been, street-connected: a liminal identity. This liminal identity, associated with being street-connected, impacts upon young people (re)entering home communities and, in particular, education, and highlights a need to consider and address the effects of these impacts.

La proximité entre les écrits de Novalis et de Mallarmé est aujourd’hui un lieu commun de la recherche sans pour autant avoir fait l’objet d’une étude approfondie. Si une influence directe ne saurait être affirmée avec certitude, le simple constat d’une modernité commune est également insuffisant. La parenté entre les deux projets esthétiques se situe à un autre niveau. Dans les contextes de crise des années autour de 1800 et de la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, les deux auteurs esquissent une conception de l’art qui vise une réorganisation des espaces du savoir de l’âge moderne. Le dispositif central de cette ‘troisième voie’ est celui de la limite qui permet de rompre avec la vanité d’une approche représentative de l’expérience esthétique. L’esthétique des limites de Novalis et de Mallarmé ne se restreint pas au simple constat de la négativité qui résulte des nombreuses limites fondamentales auxquelles l’être humain moderne se trouve confronté. Les deux auteurs ne considèrent pas en premier lieu la limite dans sa fonction de délimitation, mais comme un espace propre qui revêt une productivité et une fonctionnalité épistémologiques considérables. Selon eux, la limite est une configuration essentielle de l’expérience esthétique parce qu’elle confère à celle-ci une médialité et une performativité spécifiques qui permettent de dépasser la relation binaire entre la discursivité du savoir positif et l’inaccessibilité d’un savoir absolu. Ainsi, l’esthétique des limites est une conception particulièrement pertinente à l’époque actuelle où le débat sur la valeur épistémologique de l’art et de la littérature est loin d’être terminé. / The similarity between the writings of Novalis and Mallarmé has become a topos in research, however, it has never been the object of a detailed study. On the one hand, we cannot say that Mallarmé was directly influenced by Novalis, on the other, the declaration that they share a modern vision is just as insufficient. The connection between the two aesthetic projects has to be found on another level. In their respective contexts of crisis, that characterise the periods around 1800 and the second half of the 19th century, both poets outline a conception of art with the objective of a new organisation of modern spaces of knowledge. Boundaries are a central dispositive of this ‘third way’ because they make it possible to overcome the vanity of a representative conception of aesthetic experience. Novalis’ and Mallarmé’s aesthetics of boundaries do not confine themselves to simply assessing the negativity that results from the numerous fundamental limitations of modern human condition. Both of them do not primarily consider the phenomenon of boundary to be a mere function of delimitation. For Novalis and Mallarmé, a boundary is an autonomous space that possesses a high epistemological productivity and functionality. Boundaries are central configurations of aesthetic experience because they endow this experience with a specific mediality and performativity that allow to overcome the binary relationship between positive discursive knowledge and the unattainability of absolute knowledge. The aesthetics of boundaries are an important concept nowadays as the debate surrounding the epistemological relevance of art and literature is far from being finished.

Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

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This study investigates the functions of space in the Afrikaans ghost story. The aim of this study is to form an overall understanding of the functions of space in the Afrikaans ghost story, and also to promp further investigations into this branch of Afrikaans literature. The study is mainly text-analytical, and is therefore practical rather than theoretical. Aspects of space in the texts are discussed with reference to several different theoretical frameworks, such as: genre-definition; space in prose; realism and reality; reader-oriented approaches; frame stories; Freud's concept of the unheimlich; rhethorical and heterotopical spaces; and different aspects of liminality. The spaces that are specifically discussed include the prototypical haunted house, the farm setting, the road or tunnel setting, die cemetery setting and the city setting. The conclusion reached in this study is that space performs four important functions in the Afrikaans ghost story. These functions are: space is a defining characteristic of the genre; space functions as a link between reality and the supernatural; space forms part of the cast of the genre; space is pre-eminently liminal. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

This study focuses on two areas: alchemy (Part I) and rituals of initiation (Part II) in the works of Miguel de Cervantes, focusing on Don Quijote de la Mancha as my main case study. The first part analyses the function of alchemy and how it can be interpreted throughout the works and various literary genres of Cervantes. It will demonstrate that the texts of Cervantes contain both explicit and implicit allusions to, as well as different aspects of alchemy, such as operative and spiritual alchemy and how these are ultimately used by Cervantes as a means of expression. The author draws from this rich source and modifies these means of expression in order to achieve various results: sometimes with wit or in relation to fraud; at other times it focuses on inner alchemy relating to chivalry in what I have called spiritual chivalry, which has the aim of self-improvement and ultimately, gnosis.  Regarding the chivalric rituals of initiation, according to this investigation chivalry serves as both satire and representation of the alchemical process in the case of Don Quijote, which finds its key moments during the rituals. In this sense alchemy and chivalry are studied as two sides of the same coin, in which the search for something higher, an object (the philosopher stone, the beloved), subjects the protagonist to continuous transmutations and puts him in contact with the transitory, that is, liminal states, people and spaces. From this perspective Don Quixote de la Mancha is built upon liminal poetics. My approach, which follows the tenets of analogical hermeneutics, is included within the framework of the Western Esotericism Studies. The 16th and 17th centuries were a fertile age for alchemy throughout Europe. In Spain, alchemy and other esoteric disciplines co-existed with the Spanish Inquisition and its body for the control of ideas and texts: censorship. By being ambiguous and putting into dialogue different ideas of alchemy, Cervantes not only allowed readers to reach their own conclusions, he also protected his work from censorship.

This study investigates the functions of space in the Afrikaans ghost story. The aim of this study is to form an overall understanding of the functions of space in the Afrikaans ghost story, and also to promp further investigations into this branch of Afrikaans literature. The study is mainly text-analytical, and is therefore practical rather than theoretical. Aspects of space in the texts are discussed with reference to several different theoretical frameworks, such as: genre-definition; space in prose; realism and reality; reader-oriented approaches; frame stories; Freud's concept of the unheimlich; rhethorical and heterotopical spaces; and different aspects of liminality. The spaces that are specifically discussed include the prototypical haunted house, the farm setting, the road or tunnel setting, die cemetery setting and the city setting. The conclusion reached in this study is that space performs four important functions in the Afrikaans ghost story. These functions are: space is a defining characteristic of the genre; space functions as a link between reality and the supernatural; space forms part of the cast of the genre; space is pre-eminently liminal. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (January 13, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-57)

It is widely accepted that Higher Education should provide students with a challenging experience. Research on threshold concepts provides a framework for exploring challenging content within a discipline and has contributed to understanding how to support students with conceptual difficulties. However, less is known about how individual students experience challenge and difficulty in their academic studies, in particular how they respond and feel when they become stuck. This study explores students’ experience of challenge, difficulty and stuckness, how they responded and managed challenges and any associated feelings. The study, carried out in a university in the Southwest of England, used a Qualitative Longitudinal Research design to follow 16 students through the second year of a degree for Allied Health Professionals. Data were collected using the semi-structured and email interview methods. Data were analysed longitudinally and cross-sectionally using a constant comparison process. The findings and discussion are presented using a ‘natural’ style which aims to capture the student journey over the academic year. The study found that some form of challenge, difficulty or stuckness was commonplace in the students’ educational experience. The value of challenges which create uncertainty in education is recognised, particularly where students are grappling with boundaries around knowledge. Variation in students’ experiences was partly explained by their ‘spiky profiles’ (influencing factors such as prior education and work experience) and partly by differences in factors relating to strategy use. The students were creative and resourceful in developing a range of specific and generic strategies in several areas: the use of time and space; the management of expectations and acceptance of feelings; and monitoring and reflection. The study adds to current understanding of stuckness through an examination of the liminal spaces students encountered. The discussion argues for a more nuanced and holistic approach to understanding students’ engagement with a complex cycle of challenges and strategy use, which creates a range of expectations, tensions, feelings and opportunities. It identifies implications for Higher Education practice and calls for an understanding of the impact and interconnectedness of factors influencing students. It stresses the importance of providing structures for students to explore how they learn and develop their academic practice, in addition to discipline specific knowledge and skills.

This thesis compares two novels each by Nigerian writer Ben Okri and Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun. By examining apparently transformative moments in the lives of each protagonist, Azaro and Zahra, its principal aim is to show how liminality characterises their identities, and is a source of personal and potentially political liberation, mirrored in the narrative techniques. The Introduction demonstrates the centrality of identity to these novels and the domain of postcolonial studies and defines the key concepts in relevant literary, theoretical and political contexts: identity, hybridity, liminality, magical realism and the postcolonial/postmodern debate. Chapter I establishes Azaro and Zahra as liminal beings from birth, whose childhood rituals are incomplete and who continually subvert parental and social expectation. This examination of liminality may be extended by reading the characters as emblems of their respective nations-in-waiting. Chapter II focuses on the tension between biology and culture within Zahra's gendered identity and demonstrates empowerment in her choice to remain liminal in a 'potential space'. Azaro's shifting sexual awareness is examined as a manifestation of his liminality. The allegorical reading of Zahra's life is continued, and a connection made between sexual and political corruption in the English texts. Chapter III centres on the fluidity of Azaro's boundaries and perception. Like Zahra's, his liminality is chosen, as he decides to live in a potential space between human and spirit. Zahra, too, has a special relationship with the spirit world; she and Azaro are shown to have revelatory visions of political significance. The Conclusion brings together the analysis of Azaro's and Zahra's identities before extending the liminal states of the protagonists to those of reader and artist. It concludes that these texts offer new opportunities for the understanding of postcolonial texts and moving beyond the duality of the postcolonial/postmodern debate.