Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Vail, Gabrielle

Keywords

Black Metal, Norway, Ethnicity

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

This thesis investigates the complex social phenomenon of ethnicity manifesting in the artwork of Norwegian black metal albums. Black metal is a genre of heavy metal that developed during the 1980's. After 1990, the development of black metal began to make great strides in Norway, birthing the genre of "Norwegian black metal" and its resultant scene. This small scene quickly became infamous for the violent acts, including arson and murder, that were carried out by some of its members. To analyze this phenomenon, I identified symbols using the album artwork, which generated six major themes (and one miscellaneous theme) that I then organized into a typology. Using these archaeological methods, I explore the effects that style creates to better understand contemporary material culture. Additionally, this thesis investigates the marking of Norwegian black metal as an ethnic rather than a nationalistic site of differentiation and resistance.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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