Rave Culture and Religion [Paperback]

The collection provides insights on developments in post-traditional religiosity (especially 'New Age' and 'Neo-Paganism') through studies of rave's Gnostic narratives of ascensionism and re-enchantment, explorations of the embodied spirituality and millennialist predispositions of dance culture, and investigations of transnational digital-art countercultures manifesting at geographic locations as diverse as Goa, India, and Nevada's Burning Man festival. Contributors examine raving as a new religious or revitalization movement; a powerful locus of sacrifice and transgression; a lived bodily experience; a practice comparable with world entheogenic rituals; and as evidencing a new Orientalism. Rave Culture and Religionwill be essential reading for advanced students and academics in the fields of sociology, cultural studies and religious studies.

1. The Difference Engine: Liberation and the Rave Imaginary Graham St John

2. Ephemeral Spirit: Sacrificial Cyborg and Communal Soul Hillegonda C. Rietveld

3. Raptures: the 'Instituant' Religious Experience of Rave Fran?ois Gauthier

4. 'Connectedness' and the Rave Experience: Rave as New Religious Movement? Tim Olaveson

5. The Flesh of Raving: Merleau-Ponty and the 'Experience' of Ecstacy James Landau

6. Entheogenic Dance Ecstasis: Cross-cultural Contexts Des Tramacchi

7. The 'Natural High': Altered States, Flashbacks and Neural Tuning at Raves Melanie Takahashi

8. Selecting Ritual: DJ's Dancers and Liminality in Underground Dance Music Morgan Gerard

9. Sounds of the London Underground: Gospel Music and Baptist Worship in the UK Garage Scene Ciaran O'Hagan

10. Gamelan, Techno-Primitivism and the San Francisco Rave Scene Gina Andrea Fatone&l“'