ABSTRACT
Bourdieu discusses the way in which the habitus, defined as a system of dispositions, that is of permanent manners of being, seeing, acting and thinking, or a system of long-lasting schemes or schemata or structures of perception, conception and action is developed from the field of origin but can be altered by new experiences and pedagogic action. The abandoned habitus is divided from its originary field. The re-confirmed habitus is divided from a new/secondary field. The reconciled habitus occurs when the two fields, although opposing, are integrated. A destabilised habitus is when the structuring forces of each field are incorporated into the habitus but cannot be reconciled. Homi Bhabha's concept of the third space provides one with a useful way of thinking about what can be created from the painful experience of a cleft habitus, and what can be generated from the process of being forced to step outside of oneself.
