between two worlds

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

occupying a liminal position in which one belongs fully to neither of two cultural frameworks, nations, or communities, experiencing the tension, freedom, and creative possibility of a life lived at the boundary between distinct worlds; the phrase describes the existential condition of second-generation immigrants, bicultural individuals, and diaspora communities who navigate between the cultural expectations of their heritage community and those of the society in which they live; being between two worlds can be a source of alienation and dislocation, but is also increasingly recognised as a position of cultural creativity and insight, as those who inhabit multiple frames of reference can translate between them in ways that enrich both