imaginaries correlating to an alternative lifestyle centered on expressive, hedonic,
cosmopolitan, and nomadic tropes. The making of alternative formations through
the trajectories and discourses of nomadic subjects indicates discontentment
towards Western dominant structures, and suggests, more than the congealing of
various national self-expatriations, a general civilizational diaspora.
Displaced souls in India: the alternative triangle of Techno and
New AgeBesides multi-locality, the organizational and ideological dimensions of the “freak
ethnoscape” characterize it as a truly global culture. Alternative subjects circulate
within planetary regions as distant as Ibiza and Goa; nonetheless, more than mere
instrumental means, their practices of displacement and connectivity are
constitutive elements of a lifestyle informed by globalism. Their shared practices are
co-informed by a worldview structured by core categories of “movement-and-
charisma,” as this study seeks to demonstrate.
In Western Romantic imaginaries, India is a referent that nurtures utopian
desires for an alternative life away from the despiritualized routine of modern
reality. In fact, many Ibiza “residents” have visited India, particularly Goa, Poona,
and Manali, the “alternative triangle of India.” In Ibiza, Indian religious, artistic,
and gastronomic objects overtly circulate within tourist markets and chic boutiques,
reflecting the consumerist drives of the majority (tourists and middle classes). On the
other hand, an aestheticized “India” pervades the daily life of many Western
subjects by means of cosmo-mystic life-orientations and body-techniques
(meditation, yoga, super diets, breathing), reflecting a “style of life” inspired by
ethical decisions (Davidson 1994; Hadot and Davidson 1995).
By late October, global nomads arrive in India, in advance of the charter tourists
and vacationing backpackers from Western/ized countries. And so did I. During the
pre-monsoon seasons of 2001 and 2002, I interacted with various alternatives,
freaks, and bohemians, attempting to understand their lifestyles, cultural orientation,
and background, as well as their socio-economic strategies in relation to native and
tourist formations at the local, national, and global levels. Traveling and living in
freak regions, my daily life in India consisted of attending various events in the
“alternative triangle”: guesthouses, underground bars, parties, hippie markets,
beaches, ashrams, bus and train stations, etc. I sought to combine ethnographic
methods with a nomadic sensibility in order to grasp the movement within the
movement.
Consequently, I had to move in and out of Ibiza and Goa several times between
1998 and 2002 in keeping with important geo-climatic windows that complement
both sites. Goa “happens” during the European winter (from November to April)
while Ibiza “happens” during the Asian rainy season (from May to October). This
climatic periodicity frames oscillatory patterns of nomadism traced by global freaks.
As Deleuze and Guattari point out, “nomads do not move” (1980:381): they are
permanently trying to keep the smooth space of creativity and experimentation.
238 GLOBAL NOMADS IN IBIZA AND GOA