Liminality as a Field Experience in a Study of a Group of Homeless Poles in Brussels

Abstract

Migrants from Central and Eastern Europe constitute a growing part of rough-sleeping population in the Western European cities. Cultural aspects of their multiple marginalization can be analyzed with the use of the opposition of communitas and “social structure” introduced by Victor Turner. Using extensive field material gathered during recurrent visits to the field, I show the manifestations of communitas within a group of Polish homeless in Brussels: reluctance to form hierarchical relationships, reciprocity, physical closeness and intimacy, shared language practices, and alcohol consumption rituals. Group’s interactions with the surrounding suggest further attributes of its members as being in a liminal stage: taking over the public space, practices of status reversal, taking roles of wise tricksters, and passers-by’s fears of contact with them. That description leaves doubts, however: Turner’s opposition is imposed from a position of power. This interpretation is further inflated by personal emotional experiences from the fieldwork.