Abstract
This paper explores an elusive, yet common, experience: liminality. Liminality conceptualizes an interregnum loss of clarity, status, or identity between waypoints along transitional processes, such as the culturally symbolic passage from teenager to adult or one’s trace through the formless region or boundary linking familiar spaces. By definition, liminal spaces are “betwixt and between” and, thus, resist certainty. Ambivalence arising in these liminal spaces can induce unintentional and even regrettable responses. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) likely trigger liminality. Attending to and reflecting on one’s liminal experiences requires cultivating critical consciousness about what is normally peripheral to familiar phenomenologically discrete situations. Liminal spaces are overlooked because they are assumed to represent trivial, throwaway moments — essentially reflective blindspots. However, this presentation makes the claim that unrecognized responses to liminality may “weight” the conditions under which decisions are made. A brief review of discussions in anthropology and organizational studies about liminal experiences will introduce an exploration of examples of liminality and how attending to such experiences helps us grapple with VUCA and other unstructured circumstances.
Presenters
Michael MoonAssociate Professor, Department of Public Affairs and Administration, California State University, East Bay, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Uncertainty, Complexity, Anxiety, Unknown, Self-Awareness
