Technoshamanism and Raves

I had started this search hoping to focus on the appropriation of dances from the middle east by North American women. Obviously by the temporary tile of this work, something happened. Thanks to a lack of sources available on-hand at the HIL about raqs sharqi, my search wandered a bit and was then hijacked by two articles by Scott R. Hutson. The titles he gave his articles were too good to pass up: "The Rave: Spiritual Healing in Modern Western Subcultures" (2000) and "Technoshamanism: Spiritual Healing in the Rave Subculture" (1999). Perfect.

As far as who Mr. Hutson is, I have not finished my search. At the time he wrote the 1999 article, he was a grad student in the department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Presently he is not listed on their website. So, where is he now? I'm not sure yet. His most recent publications that I have found are on the website of the Society of American Archaeologists as well as the website for the Journal of Social Archaeology. I wonder how he came to write about raves.

For those that are not familiar with raves (I have never been to one myself), I offer a generalization. Raves first appeared in Britain in the late 1980s (Hutson 2000 35). Raves are dance parties that are often held late at night and continue on until the following morning. They are commonly held in warehouses, nightclubs, or in fields. "Techno" music is the common favourite at these dance parties. "‘[T]echno' is a catch-all term for any type of "electronic" music dominated by percussion rhythms and averaging about 120 beats per minute. ‘Electronic' refers to the fact that most techno (in the catch-all sense) is produced synthetically by mixing beats from drum machines with other prerecorded sounds." (Hutson 1999 53).

Hutson offers the argument that ravers achieve a type of spiritual healing by entering into an ecstatic state during these dance parties. Many factors contribute to this ecstatic state (flashing lights, drugs), however Hutson places a great importance on the DJ. "...the DJ acts much like a shaman who, aided by key symbols, guides the ravers on an ecstatic journey to paradise – a presocial state of nondifferentiation and communitas. It is this return to paradise through altered states of consciousness which brings spiritual ease to ravers facing an anxious and uncertain society." (Hutson 1999 54).

Hutson offers several examples where ravers use religious language to express their experiences. Some ravers call DJs "high priests". Some call Ecstasy (a drug common at raves; technically called 3,4- Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA for short) "the holy sacrament". Hutson quotes one raver who said that the DJ made him "see God". Another says "The rave is my church. It is a ritual I perform." (Hutson 1999 60). Another, referring to the rave, asks "Ever had an experience that makes you sit up and re-evaluate your life?" (Hutson 2000 35). Why are ravers using this kind of language? What are they experiencing, any why?

According to Hutson (and the website he quotes), it's a shamanic journey. "‘Technoshamanism' refers to the DJ's role as ‘harmonic navigator,'... The DJ ‘senses when it's time to life the mood, take it down, etc., just as the shaman did in the good ol' tribal days.(1)' In other words, through a tapestry of mind-bending music, the DJ takes the dancers on an overnight journey, a psychic voyage, and, with one finger on the pulse of the adventure and the other on the turntables, gives the dancers a safe passage back down to earth." (Hutson 1999 61).

Technoshamanism? The good ol' tribal days? What!? Please Hutson, explain: "The role of the technoshaman is consistent with the anthropological definition of a shaman, as given by Michael Harner: the shaman, as keeper of ecstatic techniques, helps his/her followers embark on a mental and emotional adventure that transcends their normal ordinary definition of reality."(2)

Also, later on in his article, he discusses Mircea Eliade's concept of ‘the myth of eternal return' and refers to him as "an authority on shamanism." (Hutson 1999 65). Hutson notes that the rave might be a result of this yearning to return to time in the past where everything is perfect and peaceful – a place and time and the concepts of "self" and "other" do not make sense.

Who is Michael Harner? Who is Mircea Eliade? What do they know about ‘shamans'? Tune in next week for a response to Hutson drawing from the work of Alice Beck Kehoe.

Notes:

1. Hutson quotes here from http://www.hyperreal.org/raves/spirit/technoshamanism

2. Hutson is paraphrasing from The Way by Michael Harner