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Document Type
Text
Broad Creation Date
2024
Language
English
Location
Portland
Abstract
This dissertation employs phenomenological and poststructuralist modes of inquiry to examine the relationship between techno’s utilization of abject experiences and the cultivation of a synergetic community embracing hope and inclusiveness. Using such key philosophers as: Mikhail Bakhtin, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Julia Kristeva, and Rosalind Krauss, I emphasize parallels between community and track structure by investigating the interconnectedness between participants (including the DJ) within techno events and the interplay of samples within techno tracks. This analysis reveals tensions and dualities that shape the techno community and music, and involves the subversion and diminishing of hierarchical structures found within our day-to-day. Approaching techno in this way fills an underexplored gap within current scholarship, which commonly approaches the subject matter through the lenses of deviance, drug abuse, or its clumsy connections to shamanism.
I argue that techno continually forges a synergetic community, transcending prior superficial interpretations that situate techno as related to momentary cathartic release. I emphasize the importance of interconnectedness, participation, and technology in fostering intimacy within a world increasingly swallowed by detachment. With a focus on peace, love, unity, and respect (P.L.U.R.), I assert that technology empowers the subversion of hierarchical structures, drawing individuals closer to one another rather than furthering isolation and alienation. This shift highlights that techno belongs to both everyone and no one. However, as techno is increasingly integrated within the mainstream, it has greater possibility for exploitation. This is why understanding techno’s transformative potential is important. By examining techno as a participatory experience and an activist state, as well as focusing on its development through its use of Detroit’s abjection to spur hope, inclusiveness, and the act of continual forging, I situate techno as being capable of transforming how we treat ourselves, others, and the rest of the world.
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Community Psychology | Music | Philosophy | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Publisher
Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts
City
Portland ME
Recommended Citation
Whitlock, Angela R., "Uncovering Abjection Through Utopian Dreaming: How Techno Subverts Hierarchical Structures and Continues to Forge A Synergetic Experience" (2024). Academic Research and Dissertations. 56.
https://digitalmaine.com/academic/56
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