Burning Man, an Experiment in Community

By Sean Michael Sullivan

Anthropology 330 Magic, Witchcraft and Religion B. Pierini December 4, 2003

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Burning Man, an Experiment in Community Founder and project director Larry Harvey, describes the Burning Man Project as “a project dedicated to discovering those optimal forms of community which will produce human culture in the conditions of our post-modern mass society.” (Harvey 1997) Held every August, Burning Man draws tens of thousands of participants from North America, Europe and Asia. Arriving on the desolate Black Rock Desert, an experiment in temporary community takes place. On the parched lake bed, structures, roads and communal areas are built to form Black Rock City which will exist for seven days. The horseshoe shaped city surrounds a center space one mile wide. At the center of this “no-mans” land, a 40 foot neon lit wooden man is placed upon a structure to gaze down at the citizens of his city until he is immolated on the sixth day of the festival. How does this experiment in community create a system of pervasive sacred symbols? How does the Burning Man Project transform the individual with lasting effects? Does the festival fall into any of the modern anthropological definitions of religion? These are questions that we will explore in this essay. In the Beginning In 1986, Larry Harvey and Jerry James got together with a small group of friends to burn an effigy in the form of a wooden man on Bakers Beach in San Francisco, California. It became an annual event until it attracted so many people that the San Francisco police department was forced to shut down the event. The event was moved to the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada. This dry, desolate lake bed was once a

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prehistoric lake created by glaciers of the last ice age. The desert becomes the home of the burners for one week out of the year at the end of August. (Brill 2003) A city is born where participants express themselves in radical ways through art, music, performance, written and spoken word. A deep awareness of the environment exists in the minds of the burners. “Leave No Trace” is the mantra. Communal experiences are created through theme camps and other participatory spectacles. Spectators are frowned upon while participation in your own unique way is encouraged by all. You won't find capitalism alive and well here. The gift economy is the norm where people surprise one another with gifts and random acts of kindness. Except for purchasing the essential bags of ice (where the money is donated to the Gerlach, Nevada public schools), money is not needed within the boundaries of Black Rock City. As the number of participants grew, the city flourished in total anarchy. Conflicts with government agencies and law enforcement forced the Burning Man organization to cope with the reality of governmental bureaucracy and the law. In response, the Black Rock City was organized into a layout of city blocks and streets extending out like points of the compass away from the Man and establishing a set of rules for participants. It is an ongoing challenge for the Burning Man organization to balance the freedom of expression of the participant against the needs of the community and the surrounding communities in Nevada. The city has grown from a small group of one thousand to more than thirty thousand participants who make the annual pilgrimage to the Black Rock Desert. This city has a Department of Public Works, responsible for building the city and taking it

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down at the end of the week. The Greeters work tirelessly around the clock at the front gate welcoming the burners home. A Department of Mutant Vehicles is responsible for the registration of art cars that may be driven around the city during the event (otherwise BRC is a pedestrian city). The Black Rock Rangers are a group of volunteers who serve and protect the participants and serve as mediators between the burners and law enforcement officers when the need arises. As one ranger put it, the Rangers “make excuses for the stupid things you do.” (Ranger Rob, personal communication) The Black Rock Gazette provides daily news and topics of interest to the citizens of the city. The Black Rock City Post Office provides mail service within the city and even has a U.S. Postal Service postmark for outgoing mail service from the city. The Earth Guardians volunteer to raise the awareness of participants to care for the natural resources used and to protect the environment, restoring it to its pristine condition after the event (which is carefully monitored by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management). This comprises only a fraction of the Black Rock City's infrastructure. Burning Man 2003, Beyond Belief Every year, Larry Harvey chooses a theme for the festival. In the summer of 2003 the theme was “Beyond Belief” which could be described as “sacred things appear to come from some profoundly other place that is beyond the bounds of space and time.” (www.burningman.com 2003) With this theme in mind, we prepared for the event. My partner and I hand dyed all the muslin panels that we would need to build our dome structure that I designed out of PVC pipe and rope. We made our costumes that we wore throughout the week. We packed all of our clothing, food, water, camping gear, solar power system, and camp decorations into our mini-van for the six hour drive from

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Sacramento to the Black Rock Desert. I decided that my gift to other participants would be Tibetan tsa tsas, small casted relief statues of a Tibetan Buddhist deity known as Dorje Drolo. I had made thousands of these tsa tsas for a stupa (a monument representing the Buddha's mind of enlightenment) our dharma center had built in the Santa Cruz mountains. I had a couple hundred tsa tsas left over. I painted them gold to give to other burners during the week. This was my fourth trip to the Black Rock Desert. There's always this feeling that I get and others have expressed it as well when you drive into the town of Gerlach. You look out to the east across the playa, you see the city off in the distance and you feel this sense of exhilaration and nervousness. Once you drive off the highway, you begin an abrupt departure from reality. A rather tall, very naked man was welcoming people home. A friendly woman collected our ticket, and gave us hugs as she welcomed us back. The gate area was decorated with wooden structures dividing each of the line of cars. Upon each structure sat an elevated throne with a toilet seat and a large bell. Some people were made to get out of their cars, sit on the throne and ring the bell. We drove around until we found a good spot to camp, not too far from Center Camp, but not too close where there would be a lot of pedestrian traffic. Our street address was 6:30 (between 6:00 and 7:00) and Gospel. The streets radiated outward from the inner esplanade starting on the south side at 2:00 AM with one radial street per hour until 10:00 PM. Concentric ringed streets were arranged from the inner large street called the Esplanade for nine blocks (a distance of ½ a mile) to the outer ring called Vision.

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That night we managed to get our two dome structures erected and some of our furniture set up. While we were building our camp, a large yellow school bus started driving large circles around our camp (the area around us was mostly empty still). The bus stopped and voices in the darkness started yelling at us. It turned out to be a group of guys from Seattle who had camped next to us the previous year. We had an instant little reunion. The next day we took our first trip to Center Camp to check things out. Center Camp is the social hub of Burning Man. There are couches, pillows and places to sit and socialize with other burners. Center Camp has two stages, a large one for musical performances and a smaller one for poetry readings and spoken word. In 2002 I had the privilege of hearing a group from Australia play drums and didgeridoos. It was a spontaneous, mind blowing performance. The leader of the group was musically trained in the traditional methods by Aboriginal teachers. Prior to Burning Man, they had recently completed a recording project for a motion picture soundtrack with recording artist Peter Gabriel. We rode our bikes out the Paradox Promenade to the temple where the Man stood. The temple was designed in the style of an ancient temple one might find in Mexico. There were steps leading up the front and back of the temple where you could stand directly under the Man. At the base of the temple were alcoves, four on each side, where participants volunteered to become the anthropomorphic deities of the temple. Other burners had the opportunity to make offerings to these deities. As I walked around the temple, I found in one alcove a young man dressed in a bunny rabbit suit. In the next was a woman sitting in the lotus position meditating

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dressed as a Hindu goddess. In the next was a man in a polyester leisure suit, gold jewelry, large sunglasses, holding a martini looking like he just left the Las Vegas strip. Within the temple on the sides without stairs were entrance ways into the temple itself. Inside sat two large shrines where everyone was encouraged to make offerings. I placed a Dorje Drolo tsa tsa on one of the shrines inside the temple. Winds blow across the Black Rock Desert on a regular basis. Forty mile per hour winds are considered fairly tame. My first year, on two different nights, we had wind storms in excess of 95 MPH. This year it was quite dusty and the wind kept creating white out conditions where large clouds of the alkali playa would be so dense you had to stop and sit down for fear of running into something. Burning Man teaches you respect for the environment, for each other and ultimately for ourselves. I have learned to work with nature, to build structures that harmonize with the environment. The amount of human ingenuity at Burning Man never ceases to amaze me. The challenge of the environment tends to bring many to a state of realization that we are a part of nature and nature is a part of us. This is reflected in the organization of the community, the gifting economy, the openness, and the art. One night, we could not sleep so we got on our bikes and rode them past the Man, probably two miles from our camp into a wide open area where there was the occasional art installation. It was about 3:00 in the morning. We came across a large chandelier which stood about twenty feet tall, more than thirty feet wide, lying on its side on the playa. A large chain connected the top to a large fixture that appeared to have broken off from the ceiling. It was complete with the jagged piece of ceiling still attached. It was as if this large chandelier broke off the dome of the sky and plummeted to the earth.

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What can you possibly think about something like this? This magnificent piece of art is right here, two hundred miles from nowhere for all to appreciate and experience. I could not help but open my mind to a whole new level of experience. I appreciated the irony of this event, the craziness and the brilliance. It was so human. We rode further out, probably another half mile where we came upon a small wooden structure lit with a thin strand of electro-luminescent wire. A wooden tunnel faced the east in the direction of the sunrise. We crawled inside onto the carpeted floor into a small sitting area, lit with Christmas lights. The ambient sounds of a New York subway came from small speakers mounted on the walls. Within this little subway station we left little gifts (tsa tsas, candy, and glow sticks) for other travelers to find. Over the course of the week there was so much you could see. Thirty thousand people participating in an experiment unlike any other carried out before. I was so amazed at the expressions of gratefulness and happiness of burners when I would give them a tsa tsa, explaining the history and the sacred ritual involved in creating them. For me, that was the greatest gift, knowing that I had just contributed something memorable to their experience. The level of experiences at Burning Man range from the deep mystical drum circles around bonfires that go on night after night, to the amazing works of art. Every night it was an exciting journey into the unknown. We found a camp where a laser was covering the space above us with sheets of light and we could dance to the primal beat of the music as the DJ's who become the techno-shamans lead the group into the transcendental bliss of music, under the desert sky, celebrating life in its purest essence. Or you might choose to visit the infamous camp of Dr. Megavolt, where you could

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experience the raw power of 25,000 volts of electricity from a tesla coil flung in your face while you stood in a wooden cage. The Burn On Saturday evening, the event reached its climax in the ritual burning of the Man which always leaves me with the distinct impression that I have become part of a large family of humans who have celebrated such rituals spanning back into the mists of time. As the sun sank below the mountains, red flares were shot into the sky summoning the burners to come out to the Man. In 2003, a unique participatory spectacle took place where several thousand people with a wide variety of percussion instruments gathered in an attempt to create the world's largest drum circle. Tens of thousands of people gathered in a circle around the Man while the drum circle pounded out its deep resonating tribal beat. It was a sea of costumes, glitter, glow sticks and fire. Processions lead from the Fire Enclave out the main promenade to the temple where the Man stood waiting. One burner describes a past burn ritual: Crimson appeared in the arch of the Man's thighs, naked, with a flaming torch in each hand. She moved sensually around the innermost circle of onlookers, in a striking modern dance ritual of her own design. We'd seen her rehearse it that morning, but now she touched off dozens of little sticks held out by the crowd, until an undulating mass of people joined her in a dance of fireflies, twirling around the feet of the Man. It was beautiful! (Duper 2003) There were hundreds of people followed by flaming art cars spinning fire pots, blowing flames in an ecstatic dance. Thousands of drummers pounded a rhythm that

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reminds one of the human heart beat. The sound rolled through the playa where I felt it in my feet and my chest. Within the Man, a red heart beat in time to the rhythm of the drums. The fire dancers continued their sensual dance with the fire for almost half an hour. The crowd was growing restless with anticipation. The arms of the Man were raised up. One of the cables on the right arm broke and the arm slammed back down causing the neon lights to break. The crowd roared and laughed. This has happened so many times before people said that maybe it's now just a part of the event. The fire dancers stopped and left the circle. The drummers continued their relentless beat. After several minutes, pyrotechnics erupted from the top of the temple. There was a resounding boom as large barrels surrounding the base of the temple exploded hurling large fireballs into the night sky. At the top of the temple, pyrotechnics ignited into a shower of brilliant phosphorescent sparks. More fireworks were launched into the sky. The playa lit up almost as bright as day with a massive succession of fireworks erupting in colorful patterns. Within the temple I could see the fire raging, fighting to get out and consume the Man. Wave after wave of pyrotechnics fired off into the night sky. This burn was unlike any other I had seen. Soon the fire began licking the feet of the Man and shortly afterward he was engulfed in a column of flame. Standing more than one hundred yards from the temple I felt like I was being barbecued, the heat was so intense. The intensity of the fire began creating weather. Smoke billowed in thick black clouds. The massive air currents began stirring up the playa dust. Large dust devils

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began dancing, sucking the fire into them where funnels of flame roared around the now engulfed temple. At last the Man collapsed as the burning temple groaned and crashed to the ground. The crowd surged forward in a scream of delight and began running around the mountain of burning temple and the Man. People were hurling things into the fire. Participants take things they wish to be rid of, journals, letters, that which they've been holding onto and hurl it into the fire as a form of purification and transformation. It is a release. This is Burning Man. Culture, Religion, and the Sacred Self One could argue that the human species stands on the cusp of an evolutionary change, not brought on by natural environmental change, but that which has been produced by mankind itself. The evidence supporting this idea may be found in the explosive growth in the field of scientific knowledge, industrialization and technology. Human knowledge of the world has expanded more in the past century than the last two thousand years of human civilization. Industrialization, urbanization, technology and globalizing forces are reshaping our views of ourselves and forcing old social systems to change, often quite rapidly. These changes call into question how we view ourselves individually and collectively as a society. As described at the beginning of this essay, Larry Harvey stated that Burning Man is designed to create human culture through optimal forms of community. After attending the event over four years and interviewing new and experienced participants, I have concluded that Burning Man is, in and of itself, a system of symbols in which

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participants create an idealized world view whereby undergoing a psychological and spiritual transformation by uniting symbols of the sacred self and the sacred other. Let us expand upon this idea and discover the meaning behind my thesis. First we must define, for the sake of this argument, the definition of religion as described by anthropologist Clifford Geertz. Religion is: (1) a system of symbols which acts (2) to establish powerful, pervasive, and longlasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic. (Geertz 90) Employing an anthropological approach to the study of the Burning Man project, we must examine the relationship of religion to the self. Symbols of the sacred self are representations and meanings associated with identity images such as “who am I” and “what am I.” On the other end of the spectrum, symbols of the sacred other are the representations of and meanings associated with supernatural beings and powers. (Pandian 1991) In this analysis I suggest that the symbols of the sacred other maybe be expanded to include that which transcends the boundaries of the self. Anthropologist Jacob Pandian suggests that people have to use the symbols of “who they are” or “what they are” and know how to interpret these symbols to conceptualize their experience in a culturally appropriate manner in relation to how they conceive themselves and others. A culture is maintained because there are people who use these symbols and can represent and interact with one another with similar interpretations of reality and meaningful or shared significances. (Pandian 1991) These symbols then become the threads of a tapestry woven into some ordered whole which

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makes up a religious system. Patterns of meaning, inherent to the symbolic forms carries with it a set of conceptions which can be communicated to people allowing them to perpetuate and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life. (Geertz 1973) For a moment consider these ideas as related to the Burning Man Project. Larry Harvey describes Burning Man's symbolic system: Participants in our experiment must confront the pressing task of survival within a natural world that is subject to volatile and life-challenging change. Liberty, at Burning Man, is tempered by our primal needs as human beings, and this shared experience, symbolized by our species' attraction to fire, forms a central and necessary basis for our community. A second basic lesson we have learned while acting in the abstract and liberating space of the desert is that in order to found a cultural sphere, human beings require a center of gravity, a powerful axis in time and space. At our event this transcendent center is most conspicuously supplied by Burning Man himself. (Harvey 1997) Sacred Symbols The irony of Burning Man is, human culture created by humans derives its symbols from popular culture. Burning Man exists in response to the needs of the participants who not only use the public symbols created and sustained by the Burning Man organization itself, but are encouraged to create personal symbols through “radical self-expression” in the form of art and participation within the community. The heurist processes found in the symbols of the sacred other and the sacred self, gives birth to the energetic play of individualism, community and culture. From this culture, individuals are forced to give up preconceived ideas and experience Burning Man as it is. If one

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continues to hold onto preconceptions, Burning Man can become a very difficult experience on a psychological and physiological level. Those who accept the symbolic system find their perceptions permanently transformed, causing a paradigm shift in their world view. Tori, a 33 year old male who has attended Burning Man six years, describes how he was transformed: Much of the apathy I had developed over the years had been stripped away by this huge gathering of good natured, self policing people. I began to believe in humans in a way that I never had before. The ability for so many to be so different from one another and still have a beautiful and excepting (sic) environment put me into an immediate impression of what humans might be capable of if they abandon judgementalism. (Tori, personal communication) Nearly all of the participants, new and old, whom I interviewed, described similar experiences after attending Burning Man. Another interesting fact was that many participants after their first Burning Man described experiencing periods of depression and difficulty reintegrating back into their “normal” lives. In almost every case the participant realized that these feelings stemmed from the idea that their lives were no longer compatible with their new world view. As one participant exclaimed, “Burning Man is like a guide post for my life.” (Josiah, personal communication) As a result, people tend to be more motivated to change their lives, especially in the area of creative expression as artists. These experiences are consistent with Geertz's definition of religion to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations relative to the Burning Man experience.

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What specific elements create this lasting transformation in the participants? Geertz offers this paradigm: That sacred symbols function to synthesize a people's ethos – the tone, character and quality of their life, its moral and aesthetic style and mood – and their world view – the picture they have of the way things in sheer actuality are, their most comprehensive ideas of order. (Geertz 89) As Harvey pointed out, the Burning Man becomes the axis in time and space around which human culture is created. As a symbol of the sacred self, the Burning Man means different things to different people. In this way, there is not general consensus of the symbolic meaning of the Man, except that it provides a focus for the group. This is evident in the architecture of Black Rock City. The Burning Man statue sits in a large empty space at the center of the city. He is visible from all points. It is left to the individual participant to use this symbol of sacred self to discover a personal meaning according to the psycho-spiritual needs of the individual. It is a potent symbol of the sacred self which also serves as the axis of transformation as I described in the narrative of the burn ritual. Seen from a distance this ceremonial statue constitutes an ultimate landmark upon the face of the featureless playa. Participants are practically dependent on it as a guide to navigation. Observed close at hand it towers five stories high and, like a pyramid of ziggurat, appears to unite heaven and earth as if on a great cosmic axis. (Harvey 1997) In the ellipse of the Burning Man experience, there is another focus namely art and the performance rituals surrounding it. To Bronislaw Malinowski, myth and ritual

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are interdependent but myth serves as the moral foundation of culture. Myth fulfills in primitive culture an indispensable function: it expresses, enhances, and codifies belief; it safeguards and enforces morality; it vouches for the efficacy of ritual and contains practical rules for the guidance of man. Myth is thus a vital ingredient of human civilization; it is not an idle tale, but a hard-worked active force; it is not an intellectual explanation or an artistic imagery, but a pragmatic charter of primitive faith and moral wisdom. (Malinowski 101) This couldn't be more evident than in the work of the thousands of artists who attend Burning Man. Since we are not a preliterate culture and lack an oral tradition like many band and tribe societies, the artists appropriate elements of mass society, symbols that pervade popular consciousness. They reverse the process by transforming pop culture into myth which is expressed through the form of an actual community. (Harvey 1997) Myth provides symbols to guide a society with explanations of those fundamental universal questions of ontology. In the realm of sacred other a symbolic structure provides a framework wherein the roles of the individual, the priest, and the shaman are played out. By uniting the sacred symbols through full participation instead of spectatorship, the participant experiences mysterium tremendum. This emotional experience of awe and mystery initiates the transformation causing a fundamental shift of consciousness for the participant. It is this very process that defines the Burning Man community and its values that are so integral to the whole and its world view. In the process of becoming a member of the Black Rock City community, the individual gives up a dualistic world view and discovers a liberating non-dual view.

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Two foci become the elliptical continuum between the sacred self and the sacred other. How is this symbol instilled into the consciousness of participants? The Burning Man organization sloganized “radical self expression” and “radical self reliance” as the idea upon which one would create the experience. The organization and the artists serve as priests, the full-time religious practitioner whose religious authority is legitimized by his knowledge and interpretation of the sacerdotal tradition expressed in the festival’s theme and the artistic expression of the participating artists. The participant often becomes the shaman who possesses the ability to enter an altered state of consciousness in order to participate in this non-ordinary reality. (Pandian 1991) Throughout the course of the event, participants transition from one role to the other, interacting with the symbols by firmly establishing the sacred self in relation to the sacred other, and initiating or reinforcing the transformation through an expansion of consciousness. How is this non-ordinary reality formed? How does it differ from so-called normal reality? Burning Man seeks to define its own unique culture and perpetuate itself by encouraging participants to start their own regional events where they live. Cross-Cultural Comparison Native Culture Social classes (upper, middle, lower) Capitalism (free market economy) Social attributes: - Clothing - Fashion - Conformity - Mass media - Consumerism - Limited emotional expression

Burning Man Egalitarian society Gifting economy Social attributes: - Clothing optional - Costumes - Radical self expression - Anti-media - Radical self reliance - Expression through art and participation

If we examine the culture that has developed out of the Burning Man community we find that there are two key components that create this non-ordinary reality (symbols 17

of the sacred other); the counter cultural attributes of the community and the desert environment. In the above table I have suggested some key differences between native culture and the Burning Man culture. Based upon my own experience, I feel that it is important to point out a key issue about the Burning Man project. Burning Man promotes ideas of an egalitarian society and anti-consumer sentiments. In an ironic twist, over the years, Burning Man has evolved from an inexpensive event where many participants were already from the fringes of mainstream society to participants coming from the middle and upper middle class of society whereby the original participants have been all but squeezed out. As such, participation in the Burning Man project involves a sizeable investment of both time and money. This has lead to accusations from some quarters that the Burning Man organization is profiteering from the project. (Baron 2000) It is an ongoing struggle that all participants must face and in many ways mirrors the reality of capitalist societies. Our postmodern mass society has become one of isolationism due to resulting urbanization and other technological, sociological and economic factors. For individuals, long commutes in cars and technology (cell phones, pagers, faxes, e-mail) tends to remove face-to-face contact between people which can lead to a sense of isolation. Burning Man turns all of this upside down. The desert environment is unique. It's stark beauty and otherworldly nature lends itself well to building a unique city. Participants comment that Burning Man would not be what it is without the Black Rock Desert. The harshness of the environment, the unpredictable weather, the heat, the cold, pushes the participant's physical body to its limits. I believe this is a major contributing factor to creating the altered state of

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consciousness that one experiences during the event with or without the use of mind altering substances, making one more open to the influence of the sacred symbols. The layout of the city, the interactive experiences, and the temporary nature of the city leads to a greater willingness of participants to interact creating a strong sense of community while encouraging individuality. This is contrary to today’s postmodern society which tends to be plagued with the stress of a lack of time, long work hours, commutes, crime, violence and the general insecurity in the world today. The participants, by creating this ideal culture, through themselves, integrate their symbols into a cohesive world view which they are able to take home. Burning Man serves to alleviate the stresses of life's uncertainties by offering a set of symbols which motivate and transform the individual's consciousness. The annual ritual along with regional events throughout the year serves to renew the bonds of the community and deepen the process of psycho-individual transformation. What are the resulting states of mind for the participant? Most participants I interviewed, say they have an increased sense of generosity and altruism towards others, greater open mindedness, greater emotional openness towards others and new experiences, and a willingness to change their lives to live congruent with the symbols which Burning Man establishes. Megan, a female participant says: ..this giving attitude opens people to each other, it extends beyond the physical giving which we first perceive and reaches into the emotional, mental, and spiritual. We create things for the sole purpose of others to experience and enjoy. This type of interaction breeds trust, compassion, and community. (Megan, personal communication) Clearly, Burning Man offers a unique approach to a religious experience. It offers

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the participant a rewarding experience by exploring the symbols of sacred self and other within the scope of a culture and community. Burning Man provides an outlet of creative and emotional expression in response to the stresses of postmodern life. It establishes a mythos, a set of symbols and tools to create “conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.” (Geertz 90) This whole experiment we're running is an effort to recreate culture in our modern world. Because if we don't do it, I can justly fear that when the machine stops, we're going to find ourselves so isolated from one another that none of us are going to be able to cope with it. So if you're going to survive in the coming world, you're going to have to learn radical self-reliance in an environment like this and then take that selfreliance and turn it into connection with other people, and then turn it into connection with the whole universe out there. (Harvey 1998)

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References Cited Baron, Neil 2000 Has Burning Man Sold Out? http://www.rgj.com/news2/stories/entertainment/967765731.php (25 Aug.) Brill, Louis M. 2003 The First Year in the Desert http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/1986_1996/firstyears.html (22 Nov.) Duper, Carson 2003 The Road to Burning Man – Part Five http://www.stumprecords.com/bloody_stump/issue_5/carson.html (27 Oct.) Geertz, Clifford 1973 The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. Basic Books Harvey, Larry 1997 Burning Man and Cyberspace http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/people/cyber.html (15 Oct.) Harvey, Larry 1997 Burning Man and the Art of the Nineties http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/lectures/90s_art.html (21 Nov.) Harvey, Larry 1998 Larry Harvey's 1998 Speech http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/1998/98_speech_1.html (22 Nov.) Josiah 2003 Personal Interview. 14 November Malinowski, Bronislaw 1925 Myth in Primitive Psychology. W.W. Norton and Co. Megan 2003 Personal Interview. 15 November Pandian, Jacob 1991 Culture, Religion, and the Sacred Self. Prentice Hall. Ranger Rob 2003 Personal Interview. 11 October Tori 2003 Personal Interview. 21 November

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