Traveling across the nation with the latest iteration of the Grateful 死, Sam Cooper ’24 joined a community of like-minded “死heads” for a summer of 音乐 and ritual dancing. These experiences form the basis of their summer research project.
库珀的项目— funded through a Craig A. McEwen Student Research Fellowship in the Social Sciences—is tentatively titled “The Stars Were Set in Spin: Ritual Dance, 反主流文化, 和社区死亡之旅.” It draws on the philosophy major’s journey through America following 死 & 公司, the latest, and by all accounts, final version of the Grateful 死 (aka The 死). 死 & 公司 features several original members of the cult rock band. Formed nearly sixty years ago, The 死 is known for its fusion of rock, 爵士乐, 蓝调, 蓝草音乐, 和迷幻, and for its legions of loyal followers, 叫免票乘客.
The original 死 may have disbanded in 1995, but 死heads are still very present as part of a subculture that continues to thrive, often using their own slang and idioms when talking to each other. Today’s 死heads include many, 像库珀, who are too young to remember the original ensemble but keenly follow The 死’s many cover bands and spin-off groups like 死 & 公司.
“I attended twenty-two shows, from Charlotte, NC, to St. 理想, MO, 到波士顿, MA, 到旧金山, CA,库珀说。, whose interest lies in “looking at places where meaning and community are made. 特别是, my community of 死heads is built inside shows on the dance floor,库珀补充道。, who is also an anthropology minor.
在显示, Cooper and others partake in a ritual dance known as spinning, which they describe as “a type of moving meditation where we whirl for hours on end.” Cooper said their fellow travelers on tour could best be described as “pleasure-seeking nomads and peddlers.”
“We live in our cars, vans, or small buses—all converted into homes—and travel from show to show. 巡演, expectations of capitalistic and transactional relationships are subverted in favor of community and joy; 音乐 is the central focus of life, not money or power.”
Although they grew into their role as a participant observer and researcher throughout the summer, 库珀说, they see their role as more community scribe than ethnographer. “The piece of writing I am producing documents tour life through my eyes and through the relationships I built with my fellow community members.”
Here’s an excerpt from 库珀的项目, highlighting the role of the spinning dancers within the 死head community:
Ascending from the material plane to the spiritual one is what we still reach for, those of us who spin all show or not. On the purest of nights, when there is ample room and the 音乐 is on, it happens. Ecstatic spin orbits begin to fall in line, and we dance along the pathways of a familiar shape—the flower of life. Stepping in time with one another, surrendering oneself to the superorganism of sacred geometry, 是优势. The flower, alive and buzzing, holds unspeakable power; we conjure it, but we cannot control it. The best we can do is hold tight to its churning wheels as they fill our souls with life.
“Sam's project is truly remarkable,” said Assistant Professor of Philosophy Aliosha Barranco Lopez, Cooper’s summer academic supervisor. “Philosophy is mostly practiced by a small group of people: academics,”她说。, 尽管这是一门学科, it can provide any person with a deeper understanding of themselves, 他们生活的世界, and their relationship with others. However, it is unclear how to bring philosophy closer to people outside the classrooms. Sam’s project involves doing just that,” she added. “Using anthropological skills and empirical observation, Sam will argue that the 死head community has found a way to undertake their own philosophical analysis about the human condition.”
库珀的项目, 巴兰科·洛佩兹说, has the potential to change what “doing philosophy” could look like and might open up new ways of effectively bringing the subject outside the academic setting.
