Psychedelics under Catastrophe: Reflections on the October 7 Rave Massacre
Arun Saldanha
South Atlantic Quarterly April 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1215/00382876-11626577 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that the spirituality and hedonism of psytrance in Israel form an articulation of the country's disavowed settler-colonial fabric rather than opposing its militarism. |
Abstract
How is pleasure structured by violence and catastrophe? This essay provides reflections on an event profusely mentioned but little understood at the time of writing, the massacre of Israeli ravers in the attack on October 7, 2023, by Palestinian militants. It is important to sketch the countercultural specificities of psychedelic trance music to appreciate how it became singularly popular in the state of Israel. It turns out the spirituality and hedonism of psytrance do not stand in opposition to the militarism of Israel but form an articulation of its disavowed settler-colonial fabric.
Citations in the library
Cites 4
- Historicizing psychedelics: counterculture, renaissance, and the neoliberal matrix Frontiers in Sociology September 21, 2023
- Psychonauts: Drugs and the making of the modern mind Journal of Psychedelic Studies February 26, 2024
- Neuro-plastic Shamanism? Towards a Political Ontology of Whiteness and the Psychedelic Zeitgeist Anthropology of Consciousness September 1, 2022
- Webbed Attachments: Psychedelic Lessons from the Multiverse Theory & Event April 1, 2025