الفهرس 
The ThresholdOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The research has applied the social drama theory of anthropologists Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner of the rites of passage and the concept of liminality, as well as Homi Bhabha’s hybridity theory to selected plays of the three playwrights: Betty Shamieh, Elizabeth Wong, and Marie Clements. This helped in highlighting the journey of the female ethnic women throughout their identity formation that is in the passage of transition. Moreover, the hybrid characters and their fragmentation and opening up a third space of possibilities have been analysed through Homi Bhabha’s theories. Consequently, themes like loss of identity, fragmentation, death, rebirth, and re-initiation are all tackled and pinpointed in the plays understudy, as well as analysing the infused theatrical and aesthetic techniques used by the three playwrights. The thesis is divided into four chapters, along with an introduction and a conclusion.
Chapter (1) entitled ”The Threshold” paves the way with the main concepts used as the theoretical ground of the research. Therefore, Arnold van Gennep’s rites de passage and the stages he explained in his work are pinpointed. Then, Victor Turner’s work on these stages, and the characteristics of the liminal phase are highlighted. Homi K. Bhabha’s theory of hybridity and Third Space is tackled to illustrate main concepts as mimicry, ambivalence and unhomely lives. All of which are important to the threshold subjects. Moreover, important notions as shamans, communitas, and types of rituals were explained and discussed to be used in the application.
Chapter (2), ”The Liminal Journey of the Ethnic Women,” applies Turner’s liminality phase and explains the crisis point that happened in the lives of the female characters of the plays understudy. Furthermore, the characteristics of liminality are applied and illustrated. In addition, the formation of the liminal phase is tackled, giving examples from the plays of the three playwrights, through comparing and contrasting the techniques with which they deliver the limbo effect.
Chapter (3):” In-Betweeness of Cultures” applies Homi Bhabha’s theory of hybridity and his main concepts of stereotypes, mimicry, ambivalence and third space. The chapter highlights the colonised and coloniser relationship and how it is subverted, proving the non-fixity of cultures and the hybridity of the subjects. The chapter also shows the new possibilities that this threshold phase of hybridity opens.
Chapter (4), entitled ”Transformation,” deals with the final stages of the passage of transition where healing and reintegration to community take place. This is the postliminal existence for the female characters, which is signified by their transformation in personality and perception. It also signals the resignification of their identities from being lowly and weak, to being agents and full subjects.
The conclusion follows, highlighting the outcomes of this research. The liminality concept and the postcolonial theory of hybridity are integral and complement one another, fulfilling the target of this research. In addition, the common themes and techniques shared by Betty Shamieh, Elizabeth Wong, and Marie Clements are pinpointed. The feminist attitude the three playwrights adopt is clarified, along with their political stance.