Transformational and experimental social contexts: Tamera ecovillages and Boom Festival as analysers

Ecovillages and psychedelic festivals are western-based ecotopic movements that emerge as safe spaces to experiment alternative lifestyles and social structures that intend to be disruptive with the conventional society. These movements are mainly promoted and visited by western, white, middle-class and urban young adults that see in these settings the opportunity to transcend theirselves and to experiment alternative cultures and lifestyles. Considering this, these contexts offer transformational landscapes where individuals are free to self-express, invest in their inner development, raise their ecological awareness, experience non-ordinary states of consciousness, experiment natural living and to bound and build trust among other human an non-human beings and ecosystems. The ecotopic impulse is transversal to these movements and is based in antagonistic beliefs: for one hand, the ecodistopic perception of the western social structures and lifestyles and, on the other hand, the belief that the transition to a more ecological, fair and meaningful way of life is still possible and has to be made from the grassroots. In this chapter, the transformational character of these global movements, their similarities and differences will be illustrated through the ethnographic work implemented at Tamera ecovillage and at Boom Festival.