As I have been pondering much about opposition and categorization lately, I’m beginning to think that maybe I am in a personal transition in many aspects, hence my overall feeling of neither this nor that. I am not child, I am not adult. This reality was presented ironically in an article which discussed the ritual processes that take place during rites of passage.
Since society divides lines between social categories, the period between two opposing categories does not follow any of the “normal” social tendencies of either group. The liminal period is free from the structure of the other states- whereas a man is expected of so many things, and a child is expected of so many things, the transitional person (neophyte) has no expectations- “They are at once no longer classified and not yet classified…Since neophytes are not only structurally ‘invisible’ (though physically visible)…they are very commonly secluded, partially or completely, from the realm of culturally defined and ordered states and statuses” (Turner 237).
In many ways, this type of in-between is what college is all about. Hide the adolescents who are mature enough to be away from their parents but not mature enough to live on their own as productive members of society. We live by few of the rules that adults must live by- whilst the law is still valid to all, we are still not expected to limit our partying, clean up our messes, or be remotely responsible for anything but our studies. At the same time, if we act like children, we will have consequences. These consequences are still enforced by a social hierarchy, namely, the professors and institutions we are a part of: “It is a structure of a very simple kind: between instructors and neophytes there is often complete submission; among neophytes there is often complete equality.”
Unlike other stages of our lives, such as high school and one day when we will compete in the workplace, all of us are socially equals in university. There is no social ranking; we are all here, all in an ambiguous phase, without anything to base a ranking off of: “they have no status, property, insignia, rank, kinship position…nothing to demarcate them structurally from their fellows”. We are taken away from our homes which might show our “fellows” our economic status, we are all given the same lifestyle in dorms or apartments, and without much money to spend. We are therefore at the most level playing field as far as competition goes, with boundless opportunity ahead of us to get ahead in the world.
The rites of passage that this article deals with are mostly of indigenous sort; Turner emphasizes religious ceremonies and body paint and chants and all that good stuff. However, seeing as we’re all human, these arguments apply to all-
“Undoing, dissolution, decomposition are accompanied by processes of growth, transformation, and the reformulation of old elements in new patterns.”
Yup.
By the by, all of these bright colorful pieces (above and below) are created by Jen Stark, and made solely out of paper. Whoa is right.
Esta foto es para tí, Hana. Ella es de Chile…¡que chulo!
(We are all one?)
Michael Page
No comments:
Post a Comment