ACADEMICS AT BURNING MAN
Megan Heller (the Countess of the Black Rock City Census) introduces the Burning Nerds event at Ashram Galactica, Black Rock City. Lee Gilmore, author of Theatre in a Crowded Fire, stands in left hand corner. Photo by Cesar Cortes, 2011
Scholars and academics have long found Black Rock City ripe for research projects and scholarly analysis. Burning Man’s Communications Department has served as a liaison to these projects by providing access to the Burning Man archives, photo and video passes on the playa, staff and participant interviews, and other forms of support for research and educational efforts.
History
In 2010, the Jack Rabbit Speaks newsletter issued an invitation to scholars, educators, and academics to attend the first official “Burning Nerds” Meet and Greet, held on Friday, September 3rd at Hotel Ashram Galactica in Black Rock City. Over 200 academics attended; sociology, anthropology, performance, art, business, spirituality and religion, business, and dozens of other disciplines were represented at this lively affair, and several researchers took the stage to provide insights into their current or planned projects about Burning Man and our related culture. Based on the enthusiasm from that event, we formed a Burning Nerds Google group, built this webpage, and now we meet annually in Black Rock City.
Related Academic Reading, Articles, and Collaborations
The Black Rock Census is a collaborative research project that began in 2002. Volunteers include professors and students from universities in Canada and the United States representing a range of disciplines. The Census results are distributed in the AfterBurn report online, on the playa, and in academic publications. The information is also used by the Burning Man organization to better represent the interests of the people of Black Rock City in negotiations with authorities in the state of Nevada and the US federal government. Thank you to those of you who have filled out the Census form in the past. Knowledge is power! You can become one of our volunteers simply by emailing census (at) burningman (dot) com and telling us about yourself and your interest in the Census.
Ever read an article or a book that makes you think of Burning Man in a whole new light? If you'd like to share that article with our community, check out our newly launched Academics Wiki, where you (once registered) can add your favorite academic texts to a growing reading list.
Are you interested in connecting with other Burning Man academics and scholars? Join the Burning Nerds Google Group to stay updated on recent, relevant, and ongoing research about our collective experience in Black Rock City, and find out about meet-ups, collaborations, and future events.
Burning Man’s annual AfterBurn Report is the year-end overview of the Burning Man Project, our objectives, and the successes and obstacles we encounter each year. If you seek data about participants or departmental/organizational information, you’ll find it here, dating back to 2001. (Note: each year’s annual report is typically available the following spring.)
Read what Founding Director Larry Harvey has written about Burning Man.
To send us a message regarding works you’d like to see listed on this page, request information for your own research, or to contact us about other academic opportunities, email us at academics (at) burningman (dot) com.
Interested in what the press has to say about the event? Media coverage of the event is archived here.
Center Camp Cafe Speaker Series
You have a brain. And expertise. And no fear of dialogues with strangers. Speak on the Playa. Contact sleepless (at) burningman (dot) com to find out more.
Published Academic Work on Burning Man
Authors and Subject
Bowditch, Rachel: Performance & Ritual
Chen, Katherine: Organization & Sociology
Clupper, Wendy: Performance Art & Erotic Politics
Doherty, Brian: American Underground
Gilmore, Lee: Spirituality & Ritual
Hockett, Jeremy: Ethnography & Self
Kozinetz, R. & Sherry Jr., John: Consumers, Markets, & the Sacred
Kristen, Christen aka Lady Bee: Art on the Playa
McCrae Kateri & Heller, Megan, et al: Emotion Regulation
St. John, Graham: Electronic Dance Culture
Turner, Fred: New Media Production
Bowditch, Rachel
(2010). On the edge of utopia: Performance and ritual at Burning Man. Chicago, Il: University of Chicago Press.
(2010). The somatic city: Rehearsing utopia at the Burning Man festival. XCP: Cross Cultural Poetics. Urban Feel. #23
(2007). Temple of tears: Revitalizing and inventing ritual in the Burning Man community in the Black Rock desert of Nevada. The Journal of Religion &Theatre, Vol. 6, No. 2, 140-154.
(2007). Dancing with fire: The ultimate effigy. Puppetry International Magazine Issue 22.
Chen, Katherine K.
(2011) Artistic Prosumption: Cocreative Destruction at Burning Man. American Behavioral Scientist doi:10.1177/0002764211429362
(2009). Enabling creative chaos: The organization behind the Burning Man event. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
(2009). Authenticity at Burning Man. Contexts 8(3): 65-67.
(2005). Incendiary incentives: How the Burning Man organization motivates and manages volunteers. In L. Gilmore & M. Van Proyen (Eds.), Afterburn: Reflections on Burning Man (109-128). Albequerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
(2003). Coordinating contributing members: How the Burning Man organization forms an 'alternative' artistic community in the Nevada Black Rock Desert. Pp. 56-61 in People Shaping Places Shaping People Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Proceedings 34. Eds. Julia W. Robinson, Kathleen A. Harder, Herbert L. Pick, and Virajita Singh
(2003). Burning Man lights a fire: The Nevada desert event doesn't just produce art, it produces citizens. In the Fray.
(2003). Growth at Burning Man: An anthropological view. Blacktop Gazette: Decompression Issue 2(3).
(2002). The alternative in the desert: On the Burning Man organization. Alumni Quarterly Colloquy: 16. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Harvard University.
Clupper, Wendy
(2011). Darwin loves you: The evolution of performance art thanks to Burning Man. Festivals and Faires in the United States. New York: Mellon Press.
(2009). The erotic politics of Critical Tits: Exhibitionism or feminist statement? Political Performances: Theory and Practice. New York/ Amsterdam: Rodopi Press.
(2007). Burning Man: Festival culture in the United States, Festival Culture in a Global Perspective. Festivalising! Theatrical Events, Politics and Culture. New York/Amsterdam: Rodopi Press.
Doherty, Brian
(2004). This is Burning Man: The rise of a new American underground. New York NY: Little, Brown & Co.
Gilmore, Lee
(2010). Theatre in a crowded fire: Ritual and spirituality at Burning Man, University of California Press. Gilmore, L., & Van Proyen, M. (Eds.).
(2005). Afterburn: Reflections on Burning Man. Albequerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
(2003). Fires of the heart: Ritual, pilgrimage and transformation at Burning Man. In L. Gilmore & M. Van Proyen (Eds.), Afterburn: Reflections on Burning Man (43-62). Albequerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
Hockett, Jeremy
(2005). Participant observation and the study of self: Burning Man as ethnographic experience. In L. Gilmore & M. Van Proyen (Eds.), Afterburn: Reflections on Burning Man. Albequerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
Hoover, Duane J.
(2008). Realizing the artful in management education and development: Smoldering examples from the Burning Man Project. Journal of Management and Organization. November.
Kozinets, Robert V & Sherry Jr., John F.
Kozinets, Robert V & Sherry Jr., John F.
(2007). Agents in paradise: Experiential co-creation through emplacement, ritualization, and community,” in Consuming Experiences, ed. Antonella Carů and Bernard Cova, London and New York: Routledge, 17-33.
(2007). Comedy of the commons: Nomadic spirituality at Burning Man. In R. Belk & J.F. Sherry Jr. (Eds.), Consumer Culture Theory, Vol. 11 of Research in Consumer Behavior (119-147). Oxford: Elsevier.
(2005). Welcome to the Black Rock Café. In L. Gilmore & M. Van Proyen (Eds.), Afterburn: Reflections on Burning Man (87-106). Albequerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
(2004). Dancing on common ground: Exploring the sacred at Burning Man. In G. St. John (Eds.), Rave Culture and Religion (287-303). New York and London: Routledge.
(2003). Sacred iconography in secular space: Altars, alters, and alterity at the Burning Man project. in Contemporary Consumption Rituals: A Research Anthology, eds. Cele Otnes and Tina Lowrey, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 291-311.
(2003). The moment of infinite fire. In S. Brown & J.F. Sherry Jr. (Eds.), Time, Space, and the Market: Retroscapes Rising (199-216). New York: M. E. Sharpe.
(2002). Can consumers escape the market? Emancipatory illuminations from Burning Man. Journal of Consumer Research, 29 (June), 20-38.
(2002). Desert pilgrim. Consumption, Markets and Culture. 5 (September), 171-186.
Kristen, Christen aka Lady Bee
(2007) Fire Art of Burning Man. Playing with Fire. Leonardo online Vol 40, no. 4 http://leonardo.info/gallery/burningman_fire/LadyBee.html
(2003) The Outsider Art of Burning Man Leonardo on-line vol. 36, no. 5. http://www.leonardo.info/gallery/burningman/index.html
McRae, Kateri S., Heller, Megan, John, Oliver P., & Gross, James J.
(2011)Context-Dependent Emotion Regulation: Suppression and Reappraisal at the Burning Man Festival, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 33:4, 346-350 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2011.614170
St. John, Graham
(2009). 12 noon, Black Rock City. Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture. 1(1).
(2007/11/09 - 3:22pm). Begoggled in the mega-vibe @ Burningman. Undergrowth.
Turner, Fred
(2009) “Burning Man at Google: a cultural infrastructure for new media production.” New Media & Society 11, no. 1-2: 73-94.
