There is an intimate relation between rapture and damnation, civilization and savagery. In Issue 2/2015 of the ZfK (»Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften«), the contributors depict their experiences with rapturous states and damaging events. The cultivation of »altered states« of trance at Carnival in Cologne and Italian neo-fascists, as well as ecstatic experiences in Madagascan heavy metal are all investigated, as is the confrontation with outsiders in religious festivities, in the global art industry and in colonial expeditions. The debate section is dedicated to the question of how we in Europe deal with accusations of blasphemy - and to this end, discusses the work of the French ethnologist Jeanne Favret-Saada.
