Mourning and orienting to the future in a liminal occasion: (Re)defining British national identity after Queen Elizabeth's death

Journal article

Obradović, S., Martinez, N., Dhanda, Nandita, Bode, Sidney, Ntontis, E., Bowe, Mhairi, Reicher, Stephen, Jurstakova, K., Kane, Jazmin and Vestergren, S. 2024. Mourning and orienting to the future in a liminal occasion: (Re)defining British national identity after Queen Elizabeth's death. British Journal of Social Psychology. 64 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12807
AuthorsObradović, S., Martinez, N., Dhanda, Nandita, Bode, Sidney, Ntontis, E., Bowe, Mhairi, Reicher, Stephen, Jurstakova, K., Kane, Jazmin and Vestergren, S.
AbstractIn this paper, we conceptualize the days of mourning that followed the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. as constituting a liminal occasion, a moment of in‐betweenness through which we can explore sense‐making in times of transition. How do people navigate through liminal occasions, and are they always transformative? Through a rapid response ethnography (Ninterviews = 64, Nparticipants = 122), we were able to capture the raw moments within which a collective comes together, as part of a national ritual, to transition from ‘here’ to ‘there’. In our data, liminality prompted participants to strategically define British national identity and its future by positioning the Queen as representative of Britishness, her loss as a national identity loss. No longer taken for granted, participants reasserted the value of the monarchy as an apolitical and unifying feature in an otherwise divided society, characterizing the continuity of the institution as an essential part of British identity and society. The analysis illustrates how liminality offers a useful conceptual tool for addressing how temporality and change are negotiated in relation to a shared identity, and how navigating transitional moments brings with it political implications for the future.
KeywordsEthnography; Liminality; National identity; Queen Elizabeth; Rituals; Sense-making
Year2024
JournalBritish Journal of Social Psychology
Journal citation64 (1)
PublisherWiley
ISSN0144-6665
2044-8309
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12807
Official URLhttps://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjso.12807
Publication dates
Online08 Oct 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted18 Sep 2024
Deposited17 Oct 2024
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Open
Output statusPublished
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