Transfestive Horizons: An introduction

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.