Crossing the Threshold

Exploring the role of thresholds in negotiating identity through archaeology, folklore, and literature

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This website is a forum for the exploration of how people have and continue to use both literal and metaphorical thresholds as negotiating devices to define, protect, and empower themselves.

 

In these pages I’ve posted examples of my research on thresholds, including papers I’ve presented at history, anthropology, and literary conferences, as well as my developing Ph.D. dissertation work.  There is an especial emphasis on the use of magic and countermagic (apotropaia) for regulating and controlling domestic threshold spaces (e.g., doors, hearths, gates, windows, roofs, floors, and walls).  While my focus is primarily British and Anglo-American, I’m also interested in comparative data from all cultures, countries, and time periods.

 

For further information, I’ve included a section of links to a range of related sites and a bibliography of relevant sources.

 

This is a research area with little cohesive scholarship.  If you have any pertinent information, suggestions, comments, or questions, please contact me.  I look forward to hearing from anyone interested in thresholds.

To Contact Me

E-Mail: C. Riley Auge`

Historical Archaeology

& Folklore Studies in

Apotropaic Magic

Vernacular Architecture

Engendered Boundary Identities

 

Literary Studies in

Transitional Thresholds

Worldview Frameworks

Boundaries as Identity Markers

 

 

 

C. Riley Augé

All materials in this website are copyright protected and cannot be copied or used without proper citation and express permission of the author.