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Mothers in the making? Exploring liminality in cyber/space
Author(s) -
Madge Clare,
O'Connor Henrietta
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
transactions of the institute of british geographers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.196
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1475-5661
pISSN - 0020-2754
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2005.00153.x
Subject(s) - liminality , cyberspace , space (punctuation) , sociology , the internet , performative utterance , embodied cognition , epistemology , aesthetics , computer science , world wide web , art , anthropology , philosophy , operating system
This paper makes a case for cyberspace and geographical space coexisting simultaneously as an interconnected dyadic cyber/space combining the virtually real and the actually real. Based on empirical evidence from a study examining the role of the Internet in the life of new mothers, we investigate the simultaneity of online/onsite experiences through an exploration of cyberspace as a performative liminal space, one where the women ‘tried out’ different versions of motherhood. We suggest that liminality, as a concept that can denote both a space and time of ‘betweenness’, is a useful tool in the virtual geographers ‘conceptual handbag’ as it enables a more lively understanding of cyberspace. But although cyberspace can result in the production of new selves, these selves have residual attachments to embodied experiences and practices. This suggests that new theorizing about cyber/space must combine a consideration of liminality with everyday corporeality.