Sydney Grogan - Reading Reflection 4 - Entry 12

Image & Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, reflection from pages 131-140


This blog will be dedicated to the differentiations Turner makes of the three different types of Communitas. Turner views Communitas as the raw bond that pilgrimage creates between individuals. The true essence of Communitas is bringing people within a group to the same level so that everyone is able to have a communal experience as one. Turner states that there are three different types of Communitas: existential Communitas, normative Communitas, & idealogical Communitas.

Existential Communitas is a spontaneous experience of connectedness within your community. An example of this could be a group that forms on a long-distance hiking trail. Let's say that several different people decide to hike a certain trail for their own personal reasoning, & they end up at the same place at the same time on the trail. Inevitably, these people will bond with each other & form some sort of a community spontaneously, as they can easily bond over their goals & intentions of their future experience.

Normative Communitas is essentially existential Communitas, yet organization & structure are key elements. An example of this could be any type of religious pilgrimage, or even tourism, as a formerly united group brings about a structured practice in attempt to foster social control. Normative Communitas is inspired by idealogical Communitas.

Finally, idealogical Communitas is a promotion of utopian models or societies. A utopia is a perfect society or community, one so perfect that it can only be imagined. In this perfect community, everyone shares a similar moral or ideal. Idealogical Communitas promotes such a society as it creates the literal perfect conditions for existential Communitas to occur.

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