Elements for a Theory of the Frontier
"Frontier" is included in the general category of "limit" (limes: a road bordering a field). But what is at the origin of limit, frontier? An authority, a power that can exercise "the social function of ritual and social significance of the line, the limit whose ritual legit...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
1986
|
| In: |
Diogenes
Year: 1986, Volume: 34, Issue: 134, Pages: 1-18 |
| Further subjects: | B
Girard, René (1923-2015)
|
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | "Frontier" is included in the general category of "limit" (limes: a road bordering a field). But what is at the origin of limit, frontier? An authority, a power that can exercise "the social function of ritual and social significance of the line, the limit whose ritual legitimizes passage, transgression" (Bourdieu, 1982, p. 121). The limit, a traced line, sets up an order that is not only spatial but temporal, since it not only separates a "this side" from a "that side" but also a "before" and an "after". This dual nature of the limit is at work in the myth of the founding of Rome. Any limit, any frontier, is intentional: it proceeds from a will; it is never arbitrary. Its legitimacy was originally established by a religious ritual and later, by a political procedure. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1467-7695 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Diogenes
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/039219218603413401 |