ANNOTATION:
'liminality' as anthropological tool

It must be remembered that Victor Turner's theory of liminality
is essentially an anthropological tool, an abstract frame of 
reference employed in attempts to further understand actual
data. Furthermore, it is not an absolute quality of certain
cultural phenomena, but constitutes an attribute seen to be 
in evidence only in relation to the specific cultural context in
which it is found, more specifically, that which is 'liminal' is 
precisely that which appears at odds with, or outside of social
structure (yet another abstract concept!). This being so, it 
makes little sense in trying to interpret all cultural 
phenomena as liminal, as this notion only achieves analytical
worth by way of the structure:anti-structure contrast. Now this
dialectical relationship may be argued to be evident universally,
as Turner himself argues in 'The Ritual Process', but liminality
itself cannot be said to be so.