Crossing Cultural Boundaries: Taboo, Bodies and Identities

To cross boundaries, to go beyond borders: an evocative idea, but what are the implications and consequences of transgression? How are boundaries challenged, redefined and overcome within the intricacies of taboos, bodies and identities? Crossing Cultural Boundaries: Taboos, Bodies and Identities brings together a range of articles that address this theme using different frameworks of interpretation. As in the case of taboo, boundaries are often internalised and may function as regulators for a society. Their existence becomes visible the moment they are violated. The essays in this book explore voluntary and accidental encounters with boundaries not only from theoretical perspectives but also from the experience of those who are part of transitions on a regular basis in their everyday lives. The notion of otherness is central to the articles in this book. The definition and interpretation of cultural others become part and parcel of the process of negotiation of bodies and identities. While ‘the other’ is marked by outward bodily signs, spaces, taboos and cultural practices, the self is empowered by resisting submission to dominant modes and descriptions. Deconstructing boundaries becomes part of the project of redefining the self. This book will appeal to academics and researchers in communications, cultural studies, sociology, health sciences, anthropology, literature, and applied linguistics.