A cultural history of global electronic dance music countercultures,
Technomad explores the pleasurable and activist trajectories of
post-rave. The book documents an emerging network of techno-tribes,
exploring their pleasure principles and cultural politics. Attending to
sound system culture, electro-humanitarianism, secret sonic societies,
teknivals and other gatherings, intentional parties, revitalisation
movements and counter-colonial interventions, Technomad investigates
how the dance party has been harnessed for transgressive and progressive
ends, for manifold freedoms. Seeking freedom from moral prohibitions and
standards, pleasure in rebellion, refuge from sexual and gender
prejudice, exile from oppression, rupturing aesthetic boundaries,
re-enchanting the world, reclaiming space, fighting for the right to
party, and responding to a host of critical concerns, electronic dance
music cultures are multivalent sites of resistance. Drawing on extensive
ethnographic, netogaphic and documentary research, Technomad details the
post-rave trajectory through various local sites and global scenes, with
each chapter attending to unique developments in the techno
counterculture: e.g. Spiral Tribe, teknivals, psytrance, Burning Man,
Reclaim the Streets, Earthdream. The book offers an original nuanced
theory of resistance to assist understanding of these developments. This
cultural history of hitherto uncharted territory will be of interest to
students of cultural, performance, music, media, and new social movement
studies, along with enthusiasts of dance culture and popular politics.
