Transfestive Horizons

This article identifies conceptual lacunae, connections, and cross-talk in an interdisciplinary field of research targetting a wide distribution of events that possess an intentionally transformational—or “meta-transformational”—remit. While such events—including Burning Man and “transformational fe...

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Main Author: Graham St John
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online 2023-11-01
Series:Journal of Festive Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/187
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author Graham St John
author_facet Graham St John
author_sort Graham St John
collection DOAJ
description This article identifies conceptual lacunae, connections, and cross-talk in an interdisciplinary field of research targetting a wide distribution of events that possess an intentionally transformational—or “meta-transformational”—remit. While such events—including Burning Man and “transformational festivals”—are embraced by diverse groups as signature contexts for transformations of self, society, and culture, and while research in this field has grown apace across disciplines, there has been little effort to survey, define, or critically evaluate this field of research. The first part of the article defines nomenclature, outlines morphology, describes event models and their prototypes, critically reviews relevant literature, discusses interpretative frameworks, and highlights the complexity of “transformative events,” before focusing on Burning Man as a researched phenomenon. The second part outlines the issue content, before making observations on future research directions. By way of its attention to, and explanation of, novel nomenclature—e.g. “transfestive”—the article serves as an introduction: both to the issue “Event Horizons: Transformational Festivals, Movements, and Cultures,” and to a broad field of research on transformative events.
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publisher H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online
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spelling doaj-art-2e6d79b67ebf4aa0beb1ae5881969f3e2025-08-20T03:19:20ZengH-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences OnlineJournal of Festive Studies2641-99392023-11-015114010.33823/jfs.2023.5.1.187160Transfestive HorizonsGraham St John0University of HuddersfieldThis article identifies conceptual lacunae, connections, and cross-talk in an interdisciplinary field of research targetting a wide distribution of events that possess an intentionally transformational—or “meta-transformational”—remit. While such events—including Burning Man and “transformational festivals”—are embraced by diverse groups as signature contexts for transformations of self, society, and culture, and while research in this field has grown apace across disciplines, there has been little effort to survey, define, or critically evaluate this field of research. The first part of the article defines nomenclature, outlines morphology, describes event models and their prototypes, critically reviews relevant literature, discusses interpretative frameworks, and highlights the complexity of “transformative events,” before focusing on Burning Man as a researched phenomenon. The second part outlines the issue content, before making observations on future research directions. By way of its attention to, and explanation of, novel nomenclature—e.g. “transfestive”—the article serves as an introduction: both to the issue “Event Horizons: Transformational Festivals, Movements, and Cultures,” and to a broad field of research on transformative events.https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/187transfestivetransformative eventtransformational festivalmeta-transformationalburning manevent culture
spellingShingle Graham St John
Transfestive Horizons
Journal of Festive Studies
transfestive
transformative event
transformational festival
meta-transformational
burning man
event culture
title Transfestive Horizons
title_full Transfestive Horizons
title_fullStr Transfestive Horizons
title_full_unstemmed Transfestive Horizons
title_short Transfestive Horizons
title_sort transfestive horizons
topic transfestive
transformative event
transformational festival
meta-transformational
burning man
event culture
url https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/187
work_keys_str_mv AT grahamstjohn transfestivehorizons