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: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press
1986
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In: |
Diogenes
Year: 1986, Volume: 34, Issue: 134, Pages: 1-18 |
Further subjects: | B
Girard, René (1923-2015)
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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. |
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Item Description: | HN: 134 |
ISSN: | 1467-7695 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Diogenes
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/039219218603413401 |