[ecrea] Metal and Politics Conference, Bournemouth, 2016

Call for papers Metal Music Studies, ISSMS Conference: Metal and Politics

Conference date: 9th June 2016

Deadline for proposals: 1st March 2016

Conference venue: Bournemouth University, UK



Politicians and activist groups (such as PMRC) have often sought to 
censor heavy metal for ‘fear’ of the damage it does to young people. 
Discourses of fear are invoked to justify such actions; as means of 
controlling populations.   This of course therefore raises wider 
questions about the nature of censorship and state control and so we 
might ask whether heavy metal has a role to play in challenging these 
dominant discourses. Green Day’s anti-war American Idiot sent political 
messages to fans and state actors alike, and so we might also ask how 
politics is represented in metal. In addition, what kind of responses 
are there from fans, consumers, audiences, producers and distributors of 
metal? And how do other media (whether creative or critical) reflect, 
challenge, or enable the political aspects of metal music or the 
dialogue between politics and metal?



This conference CFP also adopts a wider definition of politics, one 
which goes beyond the behaviour of state actors and institutions. Rather 
we take the view that politics takes place in, and through, the power 
relations that structure our societies.  In this way, we use politics as 
a mechanism to ask questions about the ways in which power circulates, 
operates and is distributed, and we seek to build on the sociological 
debate in earlier works (e.g. Weinstein, Walser).   In adopting this 
broader definition of politics we are able to ask questions about the 
nature of identity for example around sexuality, race, gender, class, 
and religion.  How are these identities constructed, and what roles can 
heavy metal play in this process?  Does heavy metal have the capacity to 
challenge dominant narratives, and mechanisms of social control; can 
metal provide a site for alternate politics; or is there inevitability 
to the ways in which power functions, irrespective of the cultural site 
through which it is expressed?



As such, the wider questions that underpin this CFP, are: Should 
politics be separate from metal, or is metal inherently political? How 
far does heavy metal play a political role? Or have something political 
to say?  How far is politics enmeshed in the production and consumption 
of heavy metal? How and by what means is politics mediated by 
gatekeepers? We reflect on the capacity of heavy metal bands, performers 
and fans to reject dominant narratives; does metal provide a conduit 
through which an alternate politics of everyday life might be possible? 
 Does metal provide the tools by which political power (in a variety of 
guises) can be held to account?  As well as political questions, we are 
also asking about epistemology: how can we know the nature of politics 
in heavy metal? (if it exists?)



Papers are invited that address any aspect of the broad conference theme 
and a selection have the opportunity for consideration for publication a 
special issue of Metal Music Studies



The International Society of Metal Studies (ISMMS) is pleased to support 
this event at Bournemouth. It is yet another opportunity for scholars to 
engage with this growing movement. We encourage conference delegates to 
look out for information on how to join ISMMS and how to access our 
journal Metal Music Studies, published by Intellect.





Conference organisers:

Dr Heather Savigny;  Dr Julia Round; Dr Tasos Theofilou; Ian Marsland

Proposals addressing the broad conference theme should be sent by the 
1st March 2016 to: 
(metalpoliticsbournemouth /at/ gmail.com)<mailto:(metalpoliticsbournemouth /at/ gmail.com)>



The conference is free to register



Proposals must include:

An abstract of 500 words;
A brief author bio of 150 words;
Contact details of author/s





Dr Heather Savigny
Associate Professor in Politics & Gender
Head of Research CMC
Faculty of Media and Communication
Bournemouth University
Poole
BH12 5BB

PSA Elected Trustee www.psa.ac.uk<http://www.psa.ac.uk/>
Book review editor British Politics 
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/bp/index.html
Co-Convenor Women’s Academic Network
Staff page http://staffprofiles.bournemouth.ac.uk/display/hsavigny
CMC http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/cmc/

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