Search
Share & Follow Religion News Blog
Remember These Stories?
Scientists find Burning Man a research bonanza
AP, Aug. 28, 2002
http://www.sfgate.com/
RENO, Nev. (AP) –
Most of the 20,000-plus free spirits at this week’s Burning Man counterculture celebration travel to the desert 120 miles north of Reno to express themselves with music and art, commune with nature or just “find themselves.”
Others descend on the ancient lake bottom for a weeklong, psychedelic party full of hallucinogens and nudity before Saturday’s ceremonial burning of a towering, 45-foot effigy made of wood and neon.
Katherine Chen is back this year to work on her doctoral dissertation on organizational activities for the sociology department at Harvard University.
“I wanted to conduct field research into an organization in which people were actually happy to participate,” Chen explained.
Chen is among a number of anthropologists, sociologists and other academics who find the Black Rock Desert’s eclectic mix of artists, spiritualists, old hippies and young thrill-seekers to be the perfect place for scientific research.
Others include Rob Kozinets, an assistant professor of marketing at Northwestern University; Sarah Pike from the religious studies department at California State University, Chico; Mark Van Proyen of the San Francisco Art Institute; Jeremy Hockett, a doctoral student in the University of New Mexico’s American studies program; and Lee Gilmore, who is seeking his Ph.D. at the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, Calif.
Chen, who holds degrees in sociology and human biology from Stanford University, said in contrast to Burning Man, “most organizational research examines how organizations extract the last drop of productivity from their presumably reluctant workers.”
She previewed her paper on organizational growth and the pressures it brings in a recent Harvard publication.
“Many people, particularly those associated with a group such as the Burning Man, equate bureaucratic structures with spirit-crushing banality,” she wrote.
“Yet certain bureaucratic structures — centralized databases and clear tiers of management — enable members to coordinate their work without significantly compromising the organizational mission of participation and self-expression.”
Hockett, who holds a master’s degree in art history from Michigan State University, presented a preview of his ongoing work on Burning Man a year ago to the Joint Conference of the Rocky Mountain and American Studies Associations at the University of Nevada, Reno.
With no corporate sponsorship and no vending allowed, Hockett said the initial lack of organization “was a conscious strategy akin to those of the Diggers and Yippies in the late 1960s.
“It was meant to prevent the centralization of power and to avoid any sense of hierarchy. If the main tenant of Burning Man was radical self-expression, then any establishment of rules or extensive planning was seen as anathema to its spirit,” Hockett said.
But over the years, as attendance began to double on an annual basis, fund-raisers became necessary and a group called the Earth Guardians was formed to help lead the post-burn cleanup and serve as desert watchdogs year-round, he said.
“They have proven to be expert diplomats who are able not only to compromise, but convert potential enemies into allies, to transform negative preconceptions into viable working relationships,” Hockett said.
“In short, they have learned to apply the lessons of cooperation, communication and collective action born of experiences made possible by this extraordinary event in the middle of the Black Rock Desert to everyday existence.”
Bookmark, Share, or Email This Page
Comment
Read Another Article
|
Related News Articles
Topic(s): 
You Might Like These Articles As Well
Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates
Find Related 
Search Religion News Blog