Safe Haven

We often wonder why we act a certain way in certain places and there must be a reason why? Why is that we act a certain way when we go to concerts or when we go to the library? Through a showcase of articles, we will discover the reason why we act a particular way. This is because we are entering a liminal space that has its own set of rules and boundaries where people can act out differently than the social norms because it is acceptable. We will specifically be looking at how the punks and ravers of the ‘70s entered the liminal space and what they experienced while they were in that space, along with a ritual clown from a Native American tribe.
In the article, “Anarchy in the UK: ‘70s British Punk as Bakhtinian Carnival”, Peter Jones illustrates that the British punks in the ‘70s were trying to redefine themselves by covering their bodies with tattoos and piercing and symbolically wearing dog collars to showcase how society viewed them as animals. They also wrote and sung lyrics about the repressed social classes and genders at their outlandish concerts that could be compared to carnivals, seeing people with white make up faces and their eccentric fashion statements. Jones then expressed that “Carnivals brings together, unifies, weds and combines the sacred with the profane, the lofty with the low, the great with the insignificant” (3). He compared how the carnivals and the ‘70s British Punk concerts brought people of all backgrounds into one place. Also, in the social sphere they have created, they were able to have a large group of people to follow their rite-of-passage. They accepted the role of being the ‘outcasts’ or the ‘clowns’ of the society because they knew they were the ‘tricksters’ of the society by attending the c...

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...s that were set of their social group.
In conclusion, since the punks were breaking the rules of society, they were able to provide “a liminal space in which observers and ritual participants may fruitfully contemplate the vagaries of life” (Van Ham 320). They were able to provide a space where people were able to express themselves and not care what society thought of them because of the sacred power that was over them when they entered their concert, their under-ground dance club, or their ritual meeting. The people felt safe from the sense of control and authority their liminal space provided them. They did not have to fear anything knowing that what they were doing was a whole different experience then what any person would feel following the social norm, which they often find monotones. The liminal space provided them the excitement they have been waiting for.