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The article refers to anthropological, sociological and pedagogical aspects of reframing – in a creative way – the rituals addressed to children at the threshold of puberty. Based on a presentation of a new ritual of farewell to childhood, the paper is a theoretical reflection on the need of introducing new rituals that create ground for animation-educational practice. This practice – by revivifying creativity in areas considered so far closed and exclusive – makes it possible to overcome socially unfavourable structures of performance, and the inceptions of new, legitimized and empowering forms of subjective representations. Ritual's creative qualities – in Victor Turner's conceptualization – have inspired the authors to emphasize the need to replace a hegemony of thinking with a heterogeneity of thinking about the rites of passage. This undertaking is directed towards creating a space in social consciousness for rituals that are other than religious ones. Following Gert Biesta's thinking, we argue that the farewell to childhood in the form we propose can be seen as an expression of pedagogical interruption and a practice of commonality which is a common good, one endlessly fragile and requiring cultivation. The secular children's rite of passage and other secular rituals that arise not in opposition to religious rituals, but alongside them, are such common goods.

The article refers to anthropological, sociological and pedagogical aspects of reframing – in a creative way – the rituals addressed to children at the threshold of puberty. Based on a presentation of a new ritual of farewell to childhood, the paper is a theoretical reflection on the need of introducing new rituals that create ground for animation-educational practice. This practice – by revivifying creativity in areas considered so far closed and exclusive – makes it possible to overcome socially unfavourable structures of performance, and the inceptions of new, legitimized and empowering forms of subjective representations. Ritual's creative qualities – in Victor Turner's conceptualization – have inspired the authors to emphasize the need to replace a hegemony of thinking with a heterogeneity of thinking about the rites of passage. This undertaking is directed towards creating a space in social consciousness for rituals that are other than religious ones. Following Gert Biesta's thinking, we argue that the farewell to childhood in the form we propose can be seen as an expression of pedagogical interruption and a practice of commonality which is a common good, one endlessly fragile and requiring cultivation. The secular children's rite of passage and other secular rituals that arise not in opposition to religious rituals, but alongside them, are such common goods.

Embedded within the biographies of some transgender people are narratives elements more frequently found in culturally-specific legends settings and the interplay of mythological figures. Individuals who specifically identify as transsexuals (unlike other, non-binary or gender-queer transgender people) sometimes report the wish, the dream, and/or the desire to understand or alleviate their experienced gender incongruence in a surprisingly creative way: through some type of magical transformation. Calling upon recently collected interviews, this study examines those narratives and their use of such elements, noting their reliance on binary gender formations. Through philosophical and cultural-anthropological analyses, we suggest that these fields grant powerful and imaginative personal allowances, opportunities and perceptions to transsexual identifying transgender individuals – magical transformations and justified transpositions to alleviate dysphoria, a surrender of personal responsibility to unseen universal forces, and especially an inherent wisdom gifted during transitional liminality – that neither scientific nor academic evaluations of gender transition can. While these creative allowances are fictive, fantastical, and temporary, they nevertheless articulate a need if not an imperative for understanding, expression and ultimately action on behalf of the transitioning individual.

The article aims to describe vulnerable groups in the context of qualitative research in social science with special attention to ethical and methodological dilemmas. This is a theoretical study, which does not aspire to offer solutions or guidelines, but rather show elements worth taking notice of and analyzing when research is planned and carried out. We argue that in the social sciences, vulnerability is relational and crucial. However, social science researchers perceive the category of vulnerability as ambiguous and nuanced. This article shows that ascribing research participants univocally to a vulnerable group may lead not only to them being stereotyped and deprived of individuality but also to a situation where the research act itself disempowers them. We also argue that apart from issues often raised concerning the protection of participants from vulnerable groups, the researcher and their protection are also pivotal, particularly when the researcher, due to their involvement, abandons the out-group perspective or when they belong to the vulnerable group.