"What are we doing here?" Nostalgic Desires for a Cosmopolitan Sensory Aesthetic in the Amsterdam-based Psytrance Scene

Bibliographic Data

ID5079984
AuthorsEva-Maria Alexandra Van Straaten (University of Göttingen, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume4
Issue1
Pages65-85
Publication date2012-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDancecult (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1947-5403 • E-ISSN: 1947-5403
PublisherMaynooth University (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.12801/1947-5403.2012.04.01.03
OpenAlexW375205525
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited8

In Amsterdam, complaints about the apparent commercialization of psytrance parties are articulated in terms of the demise of a cosmopolitan sensory aesthetic that was ostensibly inherent to the Dutch psytrance scene. This article critically explores how, in the context of the perceived decline of this aesthetic in the scene, nostalgic narratives about psytrance parties of the past fuel a desire for the return of the cosmopolitan psytrance party. It is argued that the nostalgic desires for parties that aspire to a cosmopolitan aesthetic can be understood as an ethical rhetoric that plays out a postcolonial subconscious. This ethical rhetoric enables participants to construct themselves as ethically responsible subjects and thereby assuage feelings of guilt produced by the persisting defects of colonial power relations. I will suggest that this ethical rhetoric, while camouflaged in positive discourses, can also paralyze the need for the actual subversion of remaining deficiencies in an increasingly globalized world

Aesthetics · Art · Cognitive psychology · Sensory system · Sociology · Visual arts · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior · Psychology · Travel Writing and Literature

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