Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance
October 30, 2012 DOI: 10.1558/isbn.9781781790212 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
Psytrance is a global dance culture that began in Goa, India, in the 1970s and 1980s and has since spread worldwide, expressed primarily through festivals such as Portugal's Boom Festival. Drawing on first-hand accounts from Australia, Israel, Italy, the UK, the US, Germany, Turkey, and elsewhere, the book examines this transnational movement's diverse aesthetic roots, national variations, and internal debates. It argues that psytrance's event-culture integrates technology and spirituality, creating rites of risk and consciousness that challenge existing theories of ritual, music, and culture.
Study at a glance
| Design | multi-sited ethnography |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Psytrance's festival-based event-culture merges technology and spirituality, producing rites of risk and consciousness that require revising existing approaches to ritual, music, and culture. |
Abstract
Born from extensive international research, Global Tribe documents a little understood global dance culture that has mushroomed all over the world since its beginnings in diverse psychedelic music scenes flourishing in Goa, India, in the 1970s and 1980s. From small parties to major international events such as Portugal’s Boom Festival, the paramount expression of this movement has been the festival. Via first-hand accounts of the scenes, festivals and music of psychedelic trance (psytrance) in Australia, Israel, Italy, the UK, the US, Germany, Turkey and other places, the author explores this transnational movement with attention to its diverse aesthetic roots, national translations and internal controversies. As a thoroughly engaging multi-sited ethnography and an intimate examination of the digital, chemical, cyber and media assemblage of psytrance, Global Tribe studies the integrated role of technology and spirituality in the formation of this visionary arts movement. The book demonstrates how the event-culture of psytrance accommodates rites of risk and consciousness, a complex circumstance demanding revision of existing approaches to ritual, music and culture.