Van Gennep's "Rites Of Passage", Durkheim And Turner's Theory Of Communitas

Part I of Essay
I. Classify using Van Gennep's categories and point out aspects which would be of particular interest to Turner and to Chapple and Coons. The Mescalero girls' puberty ceremony is an example of a "Rite of Passage," a ceremony that marks the transition of an individual from ....

Part II of Essay
.... to the girls. Van Gennep divides Rites of Passage into three parts: separation, transition and incorporation. In the Mescalero puberty ceremony, separation is achieved when the girls move in to their camp homes. During this stage, the Godmothers and Singers take the role of the parents. This may be described as a "cessation of interaction between the individual and the group in which he or she has been interacting" (Chapple and Coons, p. 485). However, there is not a complete separation from the girls and the community. There are instan ....