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Conference: Heavy Metal and Global Premodernity
February 24, 2022 - February 26, 2022
Heavy Metal and Global Premodernity
An interdisciplinary online conference hosted by the Department of Classical Studies at Brandeis University
Organizers: Charlotte Naylor Davis and Jeremy J. Swist
February 24th-26th, 2022, via Zoom
In this conference we aim to gather investigators and artists to critically examine how heavy metal music and its culture (or scenes) have interacted with, been inspired by, and commented on global premodernity. We wish to seize the moment when the study of heavy metal music and the study of the reception of classical, religious, and historical texts and artifacts in popular culture have risen to prominence.
While heavy metal in Europe and North America has obviously been seen to interact with western religious symbolism and draw on classical icons, the metal scenes elsewhere—especially those in the majority world—draw on a diverse range of imagery, folk tales, and indigenous history to tell their stories and inspire their work. This conference aims to create a wider view of the place of premodern histories and musical traditions within heavy metal.
One of the joys of heavy metal music for many fans is the breadth of this now half-century-old, global counterculture. Our aim is to create interdisciplinary dialogue between those working on the interaction between popular culture and traditional/historical narratives and culture by using heavy metal music as a central focus.
The conference will consist of papers related to metal’s reception of the history and culture of any period, people, and place from premodern and precolonial worlds. We define global premodernity as human culture of any period roughly prior to 1600 CE, and we have chosen this delineation to be inclusive of texts, traditions, and narratives outside of the traditional study of classics or biblical studies which often ignores the rich cultural history of the majority world and narratives outside standard eurocentric education.
Contact email: metalpremodernity@gmail.com.
*details about registration TBC*