From Threshold to Network: Theoretical Overview of the Transformation of Liminality Across Contexts

This article traces the evolution of liminality from Arnold van Gennep’s foundational anthropological work, through Victor Turner’s elaborations, to Bjørn Thomassen’s critical reappraisal and Jon McKenzie’s formulation of the liminautic in the context of the digital age. While alternative terms such as Turner’s liminoid – referring to individualized, leisure-based experiences – and McKenzie’s liminautic – describing digitally mediated and networked thresholds – have expanded the conceptual terrain, the term “liminality” continues to dominate scholarly discourse across disciplines. This persistence can be attributed to the concept’s remarkable adaptability and its capacity to describe complex, transitional states in both analogue and digital contexts. However, this very adaptability renders liminality conceptually elusive, as it resists fixed definitions and tends to migrate across disciplinary and methodological boundaries.