Anthropos 93.199$ 
128 
Richard Kisiara 
Reaggregation, following the liminal period, and 
also known as the postliminal stage, is the placing 
of the subjects, transformed in some ritual, or 
cultural or social way, into their new positions 
in society. Again, in the case of death, activities 
such as sharing meals after the funeral and at 
commemoration brings together members of the 
deceased’s group, reintegrating them back into so 
ciety. Burial may also be seen as reintegrating the 
deceased into the next world (Van Gennep 1960: 
147, 164 f.). The limen stage or the liminality 
period is that time when the subjects have been 
detached from their old places but have not been 
reaggregated into their new positions in society. It 
is the in-between period, what Victor Turner has 
referred to as “between and betwixt” (Turner 1964; 
1992: 49). 
Liminality is that period when subjects are 
neither here nor there, and thus many rules that 
would apply in the old phases or the new phases 
that the subjects are coming from and going to 
do not apply as much. Liminality is a kind of 
a “dead” stage, and as Turner (1992: 49) points 
out, many liminal stages have symbols of death. 
In death, the mourners and the deceased constitute 
a special, liminal group, according to Van Gennep. 
Victor Turner (1992: 51) also identifies two types 
of liminalities: sequestered and public. The former 
refers to initiation rites involving initiates being 
humbled to make them ready for the next stage, 
while the latter involves everybody in the society 
during society wide seasonal feasts. 
Communitas is a Latin word which Turner 
defines as a “modality of social relationship” (Tur 
ner 1969: 96). Communitas is the bond “between 
those ... undergoing ritual transition” (Turner 1974: 
274). Communitas is distinguished from the more 
commonly used term community, which refers 
to “an area of common living” (Turner 1969: 
96), thus community has a physical dimension 
as opposed to the social dimension that charac 
terizes communitas. The concept of communitas 
becomes clearer if it is contrasted with its opposite, 
structure. Whereas communitas is spontaneous and 
immediate (Turner 1969: 127), a reaction to a life 
crisis that has just occurred (for example a death), 
structure is the ordinary daily rules of conduct that 
people follow (Turner 1969). Structure, as Turner 
explains, “is rooted in the past and extends into 
the future through language, law, and custom” 
(1969: 113; also see Turner 1975: 22). Turner adds 
that bonds of communitas are unstructured in the 
sense that they are undifferentiated, equalitarian, 
and direct. Communitas tends to ignore, cut across, 
or reverse certain behavioral expectations, and this 
is reflected in some of the behaviors that have 
been observed in funerals across the world (Turner 
1974: 274). There is, for example, some permis 
siveness in sexual intercourse in the fields during 
funerals among the Lugbara of Uganda, something 
that is normally forbidden (Middleton 1982). An 
important point that Turner makes that is at the 
very center of my argument is that the dialectic 
of communitas and structure is necessary for the 
adequate functioning of any society (Turner 1969: 
129). The relative rigidity of structure is broken 
by the permissiveness of communitas and Turner 
believes this is a revitalizing experience: “men are 
released from structure into communitas only to 
return to structure revitalized by their experience 
of communitas” (Turner 1969: 129). 
The concepts of liminality and communitas 
have been most extensively used in what have 
been considered major life stages, namely birth, 
initiation into adulthood, marriage, and death. In 
many societies around the world, movement to and 
from these stages are marked with rituals. These 
rituals have very important social, cultural, eco 
nomic, religious, and political implications, not on 
ly to the individuals passing through these stages, 
but also to their families and their communities- 
In this paper, I examine the social and political 
implications of liminality and communitas in Luo 
funerals. 
A Brief History of the Luo 
The Luo are the third largest ethnic group in 
Kenya, numbering about 2.7 million people 
(Republic of Kenya 1994: 6-2). The Luo make 
their home mostly in western Kenya, but there 
are many Luo people who have migrated to and 
now live in various urban centers in Kenya, and 
also in some resettlement schemes. Nairobi and 
Mombasa, the largest and second largest cities in 
Kenya respectively, host thousands of Luo people- 
The Luo have settled in resettlement schemes in 
the Rift Valley Province and also along the coast 
of Kenya. 
Despite outmigration, many Luo migrants still 
consider western Kenya and the villages in this 
part of the country where their extended families 
live as their ancestral home. During major holidays 
such as Christmas and Easter, many Luo peopl e 
living in the cities go back to visit in the villages 
in western Kenya. This concept of ancestral hom 6 
is particularly important when discussing funerals 
among the Luo, and I refer to this later in this 
paper.