
Article
The Shanti Sena “Peace Center” and the Non-Policing of an Anarchist Temporary Autonomous Zone: Rainbow Family Peacekeeping Strategies
Contemporary Justice Review
(2011)
Abstract
This article utilizes ethnographic methods and government documents to examine the self-policing and peacekeeping strategies of the Rainbow Family, a nonviolent acephalous intentional community that holds massive weeklong gatherings around the globe. It is a case study that examines the efficacy of these methods, comparing them to those traditional police agencies employ under similar conditions. It contextualizes these strategies by examining other utopian and anarchist communities and movements such as Critical Mass bike rides. This study demonstrates how smiling, chanting, listening, social pressure, and social capital all play into forming a more effective and less violent approach toward peacekeeping.
Keywords
- Rainbow Family,
- Rainbow Gathering,
- Anarchism,
- Utopian Studies,
- Nonviolence,
- US Forest Service,
- Anthropology,
- Ethnography,
- Nonhierarchical
Disciplines
- Critical and Cultural Studies,
- Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication,
- International and Intercultural Communication,
- Journalism Studies,
- Mass Communication,
- Indigenous Studies,
- Other American Studies,
- Other Film and Media Studies,
- Politics and Social Change,
- Race and Ethnicity,
- Social and Cultural Anthropology,
- Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance and
- Social Influence and Political Communication
Publication Date
March, 2011
Publisher Statement
Author Posting. (c) 'Copyright Holder', 2011.
This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of 'Copyright Holder' for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Contemporary Justice Review, Volume 14 Issue 1, March 2011. >doi:10.1080/10282580.2011.541077 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2011.541077)
Citation Information
Niman, Michael I.(2011) 'The Shanti Sena 'peace center' and the non-policing of an anarchist temporary
autonomous zone: Rainbow Family peacekeeping strategies', Contemporary Justice Review, 14: 1, 65 — 7