T H E | L I M I N A L is an inquiry-in-writing about all things betwixt & between: creative process, identity, relations, conversations, paradox. Grounded in the relationship between language and the body, this newsletter is a cross-pollination of anthropology, literature, poetry, art, science and embodiment praxis.
Each issue centres upon a theme, with original writings, scaffolded by curated resources and tools to connect the month’s inquiry with your own body + life.
In anthropology, liminality describes an ambiguous threshold, neither here nor there; previous ways of being dissolve as new ones emerge. It can be a difficult, trying space. to be. And is also a space of immense creativity, possibility, and social transformation.
I began writing T H E | L I M I N A L newsletter in January 2020 to maintain sanity and connection while writing my PhD dissertation in anthropology. It was also, unwittingly, the very beginning of a global pandemic.
Since then, “liminal” has become somewhat of a catchphrase for our times, used to describe the not-yet and potentiality of all we are facing and questioning and reimagining in our built and natural worlds—our relationships with work, our bodies, our politics, our planet, art, and one another.
T H E | L I M I N A L is a space that asks more questions than it answers (like anthropology itself), and lingers in the wonder of paradox.
Take a wander through the archives, pour yourself a cup of tea, and let’s sit together in conversation.
I’m so glad you’re here.
With love,
Allie
About Allie
Dr. Alexandra (Allie) Middleton is an anthropologist by vocation, a writer by soul, a photographer by heart, and a yoga, meditation, and embodied writing teacher by spirit.
Allie is an assistant professor of medical anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, and holds a PhD in Anthropology from Princeton University and a BA from Duke University. Her work sits at the nexus of medical anthropology and feminist science and technology studies. You can read more about her professional work here. Allie is currently working on her first book, based on human-machine relations and experimental neuroprosthetics.
Allie is also an essayist and creative nonfiction writer, with work published and forthcoming in The Rumpus, Electric Literature, Off Assignment, The Washington Square Review, and Entropy.
Allie is the founder of WITHIN, a method, online workshop series, and global community for writing from/through/into the body, weaving writing with the practices of yoga, breathwork, and meditation.
A West-Coast native (Bend, Oregon + San Francisco, California), Allie has lived and worked in North Carolina, Colorado, Brooklyn, Togo, West Africa, Brazil, and Sweden. Since 2018 she has been based in Sweden, and currently calls the borderlands of Malmö and Copenhagen home, where she lives with her husband and young daughter.
Above all else, Allie thrives upon human connection and believes deeply in the power of a story well told.
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