Versiones del performativo: de Derrida a Shoshana Felman

there is a large yearly party to celebrate the establishment of the community. Wider networks of friends and family are invited making quite a big party gathering of around 50 to 70. Amplified recorded music in keeping with the

social movement’s subculture is played, Dub, Roots and Folk; occasionally live music will be performed. Dancing, alcohol and recreational drugs are also prevalent, which will be discussed in more detail below. It is not unusual for a special sweat lodge or hot tub to be set up for the benefit of everyone at the party.57 _{Perhaps more interesting are the smaller impromptu}

gatherings that take place regularly. This may be because a group of WWOOFers 58 _{are completing their time at the community or a couple of} friends drop by and end up staying over. These smaller gatherings are usually made up of the majority of community members plus a few others who are visiting or WWOOFing. Live music is more common at these

settings; sometimes informal storytelling takes place as well as whole group discussions. I have been present when community tensions are discussed at these gatherings in an informal way: recreational drugs coupled with a

relaxed social setting seems to help community members gain deeper understandings and new perspectives surrounding the problems that they face. The timing of such gatherings can be quite ad hoc, even disruptive to important communal work. Some members prefer to carry on with the task at hand and party later, whereas others are happy to seize the moment and relax with friends - they surmise that work tasks will still be there tomorrow whereas the visiting friends may not!

Commonly linked with a celebration or party is the use of recreational drugs. I did not envisage drug experiences being a major focus during the

interviews. However in discussing the journey into environmentalism and community it was frequently referred to by the interviewees and indeed is a continuing but not dominant feature at both rural communities. Here Theo talks about his early drug experiences whilst travelling in South America.

Theo: “To be quite honest smoking a lot of marijuana and erm, that

was an opening up for me, you know it was a connection to a deeper place within me, deeper understanding of who I am and where I fit into the universe. Not only marijuana but LSD, …….. You know my sense very much with drugs having been through that experience is that they do open up doors of perception particularly those more sort of psychotropic drugs but it's in an unsustainable way [laughs] at least

57 _{Sweat lodges were also noted by Maxey at Brithdir Mawr (2002, p. 228).} 58 _{World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (see Chapter 3.4.4)}

this is my journey with drugs that I feel they show you possibilities but then you got to find your own way back there without the drug, you know and of course the dependency might come in when you feel you need the drug or whatever.” Int 5 7:49

Theo’s pinpointing of the purposeful side of taking psychotropic drugs was echoed in many of the interviews chiming with the counter cultural

movements of the 1960s. This dominant theme continued within the

communes movement that formed during that period and into the 1970s both in the USA and UK (Rigby, 1974a; Speck, 1972). Benjamin Zablocki

discussing the US context believes that such drug use in some cases triggered the establishment of communes, he distinguishes two types.

“There are two major ways in which drug use triggered the

development of communes. One was through the institution of the

crash pad. The other was through the fostering of the psychological

experience of communion. Crash pads were simply dwelling units, usually urban occasionally rural, in which a varying number of people live and cooperate in obtaining the necessities of life… In some

cases, whole crash pads have actually made the transition to become true communes. In other cases, subgroups of crash pad populations have ‘discovered their tribe’ and gone on to found communes. But in the majority of the relevant cases, it has simply been that the crash pad living has whetted an individual’s desire for something deeper, and started him out on a search which eventually led him to a life in a commune.”(Zablocki, 1971, p. 300).

Although drug use has not necessarily played such a central role in the formations of the communities that I have studied it has nonetheless been highlighted as a significant part in the life history of the community members and there may be some evidence that this shared history bonded the early community members together. In this next quotation from Sabrina she emphasises the feeling of group bonding when a whole group is experiencing the same drug.

Sabrina: “There was one time which I don't talk about much but we

picked up some ecstasy tablets, me and [partner] actually, were in [southern county] and we brought them back there with ten people on the site at the time, it was Samhain, so we had ten tablets and we gave everyone an ecstasy tablet because that's what we do and it was like a really really intense group thing, I've never experienced anything quite like that before or since, it was something about all

being on the same drug and we went for a walk, I went for a walk, and they all followed me, and I remember somebody shouting follow the witch, we just went to this rock wall that was sort of at the back of the site, you're connected in this incredible way, erm I don't know though something about that, the next day we were a complete mess, it was horrible.” Int 14 30:00

Also very prevalent within the interviews was the appreciation and connection with the natural environment whilst under the influence of psychedelic drugs, leading to deeper consciousness of nature – again, something that was not unheard in the 1960s (Speck, 1972, p. 60).

Jay: “There was a few friends and we used to go out into nature or even parks in Birmingham and take psychedelics and kinda look up the trees and go wow…. In fact I remember at that time just after I finished being a student I remember there was a particular tree in the park I used to sit and hang out with, originally when I started hanging out under that tree it didn't have any sense of being some meaningful thing it was just a beautiful tree and I was just hanging out under it probably somewhere you know, then after a while really having a sense that there is some personality in that particular tree and being like, ahaaa, that's interesting.” Int22: 3:37

Arnie: “I think it opens your mind up, opens your eyes up a little bit I

guess being under the influence puts a slant on it, yeah you probably never seen a dawn like it, when you're off your head on ecstasy and whatnot and as a result of that that is a very real experience for you at the time so erm yeah I do think it brings you closer to nature.”

Int 16 8:18

Often such experiences were related whilst discussing spirituality, revealing the close associations between ‘nature connection’ drug use and spiritual experiences. At this juncture it may be helpful to term substances taken to induce spiritual experiences or trancelike states as entheogens (Taylor, 2005, p. 596). However the distinction between recreational drugs taken for personal relaxation or pleasure and entheogens taken for specific religious or spiritual purposes was not always clear-cut. For example the consumption of magic mushrooms can fall into both categories, being considered a

recreational drug or a serious endeavour to connect with nature spirits (Wallis, 2003, p. 27). Community members occasionally referred to shamanic practices or indigenous tribes in relation to the otherworldly aspects of drug taking; however the use of entheogens in the very

purposeful, sustained sense was not evident at both Raven Hill or Yosemite and after questioning only seemed to amount to occasional practice in the past (Int 5 8:12). Within both communities, problems around drug addiction were referred to and indeed some openly revealed that they had been severely addicted to drugs in the past. For these community members the significance of ‘nature connection’ in their recovery cannot be overstated (Macnaghten & Urry, 2000, p. 180), it was emphasised clearly and

repeatedly within the interviews. This journey quite often coincided with the journey from urban environment to rural setting and in this respect is very reminiscent of the British 1980s film ‘Withnail and I’.59

People with chronic drug dependency issues are generally referred to as the ‘Brew Crew’, the term being commonly used in the 1990s protest movement (Int 14 24:20), and without considerable recovery they would not be able to retain

membership within these community structures.

Evident in the earlier quote from Theo above, there is a desire to have a similar experience to those experienced taking drugs by other means. This may be through body experiences of connecting with nature or through specific spiritual practices and meditation. Adrian Harris’s study of Eco- Pagans within the 1990s road protests also notes this progression and desire to move on. Entheogens can act as stepping stones that catalyse a deeper level of connection that makes them unnecessary. This was true for Jay60 who said he no longer used entheogens: ‘They're my drugs now - birds, wild animals, trees’ (Harris, 2008, p. 188).