57: The Anthropology of the Dancefloor

Experiential journalist Rak Razam chats with "radical anthropologist" and global freakologist Graham St John about the evolution and current direction of Global Trance Culture. With origins in the 60s Acid Tests and the legendary Goa beach parties, the archaic revival of psychedelic trance and dance and group mind has blossomed into a cathartic Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ) in almost every modern culture across the planet. Why is this revival of tribality so important and what human need is fulfilled in the psychic moshpit of the dancefloor? How does an anthropological perspective inform these liminal zones and does trance culture itself point towards some gestalt consciousness awakening in the species? Graham's latest book, Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance will be published by Equinox Press in June/July 2012 . Click here to download his first anthology on Australian doof culture, Free NRG: Notes from the Edge of the Dancefloor , which also contains the story by Rak Razam, "Directions to the Game". This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.