1st Global Conference
Monday 3rd November – Wednesday 5th November 2008
Salzburg, Austria

It is about time, that with a growing critical interest in the music and culture of heavy metal, a conference be held to explore, critique and bang heads on what this long standing movement is about, where it is going and what it has to offer, politically socially and philosophically. Characterised by extremes, it is a music movement that has a range of lifestyles attached to it, comprising of quite disparate and radically different views amongst both fans and its progenitors. Recent publications such as Bill Irwin’s edited Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery (2007), documentary films and past texts such as Deena Weinstein’s 1991 Sociological study Heavy Metal The Music and its Culture and Keith Kahn Harris’ Metal Studies site indicate a continuous, serious interest in Heavy Metal.

Submissions are welcome on any of the following themes: Heavy Metal and:

• Origins, Definition and History
• Genres and classification. Classical music/Opera
• Culture – Subculture – Underground – Popular Culture – Fans
• Religion – anti religion – Evil – Satanism
• Politics – Nationalism – the Apolitical – Fascism
• Imagery – Iconography – Aesthetics
• Art – Design – Fashion – Performance – Theatre – Sleeve Art
• Gender Issues – Misogyny – Homo sociality – Masculinities – Deviant Sexualities
• Monsters – Madness
• Philosophical themes: Existentialism – Nihilism – Hedonism – Ethics
• Literature – Cinema – Documentaries – Soundtracks – Horror – Gothic – Anime – Cartoons
• Fashion

Papers will be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 13th June 2008. If your paper is accepted for presentation at the conference, an 8 page draft paper should be submitted by Friday 10th October 2008.

300 word abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract.

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Niall Scott
Centre for Professional ethics
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 5HE
Lancashire, U.K
Email

Rob Fisher
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Priory House, Wroslyn Road
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
Email

The conference is part of a larger series of ongoing conferences entitled Critical Issues, which aim to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.

All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. We aim to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore innovative and challenging routes of intellectual and academic exploration. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers will be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume.

For further details about the project please visit: www.inter-disciplinary.net/ci/mmp/mmp.html

For further details about the conference pleaser visit: www.inter-disciplinary.net/ci/mmp/mmp1/cfp.html