Arnold van Gennep

“Rites of Passage” by Arnold Van Gennep is highly recommended for anyone interested in studying anthropology. Van Gennep effectively explains and demonstrates his theory of Rites of Passage but, at times, confuses the reader by bringing up many examples without going into further detail about how the example relates to his theory. Despite this flaw, many anthropologists consider his work foundational because of his declaration of a human universality. Van Gennep’s theory on how rites of passage are divided into the three categories, separation, transition, and incorporation, is displayed and supported by all of his examples throughout the entire book. Each chapter in the book represents a stage of life such as pregnancy, childbirth, marriage, and funerals. With each life period, Van Gennep lists common rites of passages for many different cultures. After he explains the rites of passage for a certain subject, he sorts the actions or pieces of the rite of passage into his three categories. With the…

Arnold van Gennep’s rite of passage theory can be applied to the film Inside Out. The theory states the threefold scheme which van Gennep presents as three stages of a rite of passage involving: separation which describes a detachment from your normal environment, liminality which entails “an inversion of normal behaviour showing a discontinuity of how things are normally meant to be,” and incorporation which gives a indication of the new role that the participants are to take on, “getting…

Van Gennep (1960) was concern with the social movement of individuals and societies, as well as with the mechanisms they use to ensure social stability during these times of change. These rites of passage were defined as the stages of separation, transition, and incorporation (Tinto, 1993) by Van Gennep, and used by Tinto. The first stage, separation, requires the individual to disassociate from the old environment (family, friends, high school, hometown) into the new environment (summer…

In this essay I will present an argument that The Room attempts to portray an engaged couple about to get married through multiple symbolic actions, and to demonstrate this notion that the majority of society believes a purposeful and achieved life comes through the ritual of uniting individuals through marriage. Also using the theorists, I will be able to provide insight as to why the term ‘ritual’ could be considered fluid. I will begin to support this argument by discussing multiple…

Snowpiercer, directed by Bong Joon-Ho is about economic inequality, where the individuals in the tail-section are being treated miserably by others living in the front section of the train. Bong uses various religious theories from Religion: The Basics, in order to point out his message. In the Snowpiercer, Malory Nye’s theory on power is shown through the character development of Wilford, him arranging the people in a specific way confirms that theory. Richard Gombrich’s theory on cognitive vs…

Chapter 6 of our textbook Cultural Anthropology, highlights the importance of rituals in everyday life. The book describes a ritual as having four parts. This includes a repetitive social practice, being set off from routine life, adhering to a ritual schema, and involving actions that are encoded in myth. Traditions are another way to describe a ritual. They are routine processes that mean something and never change due to their important significance. As an example, we are given a…

In her text Sex in Transition: Remaking Gender & Race in South Africa, Amanda Lock Swarr credits Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner for the concept of liminality, which describes “passage from one cultural state to another” (Swarr 3). However, liminality does not necessarily have to express a temporary state; it can be applied to a state which is permanently between social categories (Enke, Lecture 3/8). Swarr applies this concept to gender to create an alternative term to more widely used…

Therefore, Gennep helped coin the term rite of passage when he studied the transitional period of people. It is not just another transitional period for someone, there is now a special word to describe this transition thanks to Gennep. Rites of passages are also seem sometimes as ritualist. Another definition for rite of passage is “ a life cycle ritual that marks a person’s or group of persons’ transition from one social state to another” (Welsch and Vivanco 360). This just being another way to…

Liminality Today Not much is similar across the globe in each and every human being. Hence, the few similar phenomena that do exist prove to be very important in the understanding of human beings. Liminality is such a phenomenon. First discussed and classified by Arnold van Gennep, liminality is an universal anthropological phenomenon that refers to the transition stage during a ritual. Liminality is an essential element of the human experience. However, liminality is not only confined to an…

activity which functions as a symbolic means by which appreciation is regularly conveyed to a recipient of this recipient” (Goffman, 56). The student is expected to give the teacher respect inside and outside of class. In lecture they should be listening and taking notes, and outside class they are supposed to be doing their homework the teacher assigned to them and talk about them respectfully. If they do not follow the expectations in class they may have to serve a detention and if they do not…