The rave: Spiritual healing in modern western subcultures

Journal/Book: Anthropol Quart. 2000; 73: 620 Michigan Avenue NE Admin Bldg Room 303, Washington, DC 20064, USA. Catholic Univ Amer Press. 35-49.

Abstract: At raves, young men and women dance to electronic music from dusk to dawn. Previous scholarship treats the rave as a hypertext of pleasure and disappearance. However, such a postmodern view does not attend to the poignant and meaningful spiritual experiences reported by those who go to raves. This article examines claims about altered states of consciousness at raves and the therapeutic results-''spiritual healing''-such states are said to bring. While physiological processes (exhaustive dancing, auditory driving) may contribute to altered states of consciousness, symbolic processes create appropriate frameworks for spiritual healing. Such therapeuticism can be more fully understood in the context of other modem western spiritual subcultures. Placing raves within the context of these other subcultures foregrounds questions for further research.

Note: Article Hutson SR, Univ Calif Berkeley, Berkeley,CA 94720 USA

Keyword(s): raves; shamanism; youth culture; American spirituality; symbolic analysis

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