Sociolinguistic and Sociocultural Lived Experiences
in the Metal Music Battlefield
This research project seeks to understand the lived experiences of older adults engaging in extreme metal communities around the world, specifically their relationships when attending extreme metal shows, and how they exercise and celebrate their cultural and linguistic identities. Our main goal is to understand who they are, where they are coming from, the reasons behind their preferences for extreme metal, and reasons to keep attending and staying in this scene after a long time.
WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE OLDEST METAL HEAD ON THE PLANET
We use community-based research infused with creative collaborative inquiry (CCI) based on critical narrative storytelling, artifact collection, and photo voice. With this approach, we hope to generate data and insights to foster communication and understanding to promote social change among underrepresented groups.
We consider how social diversity acknowledging not only race, class, and gender but also age is important for older adults as they become part of the cultural fabric in societal communities of practice. We would like to have a better understanding of the motivations of older adult communities for attending extreme metal festivals, exploring their experiences, and examining the social dynamics within this community.
We have used the word seniors in the title for the promotion of this research, the preferred word for these underrepresented communities is older adults.
Extreme metal is mainly referred to: Black Metal, Death Metal, Brutal Death Metal, Blackened Death Metal, Grind Core, Grind Noise and other aggressive, fast, heavy subgenres of Metal Music sonically and lyrically.