ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the core features of the liminal experience. Liminal processes can be fruitful and rewarding, but also unsettling and threatening: their positive outcomes as well as their ‘dark side’ need to be investigated to raise awareness about the likelihood of their coming together in most liminal experiences, which makes the overall picture complex and challenging. The concept of liminality can be almost unanimously traced back to the anthropological studies made by Arnold van Gennep at the beginning of the 20th century and subsequently revitalized and enriched by Victor Turner. Liminars have since been identified in almost all the fields that have taken this construct into account as being ‘betwixt and between’, since they are ‘temporarily undefined’. Literature has offered various examples of the comradeship that can accompany liminars throughout their transition. Organizational studies have been paying increasing attention to the relationships among liminars lately.
