Public defence of doctoral thesis with Douglas Mattsson

Douglas Mattsson defends his thesis ”To Praise Disgrace: Islamic Semiotic Resources in Turkish Black Metal”.

Subject: The Study of Religions
Research area: Historical Studies
Graduate School: Baltic and East European Graduate School (BEEGS)
External reviewer: Titus Hjelm, professor, Helsinki University
Language: English

Abstract:
Since its inception in the late 1980s, the Turkish black metal scene has gone through significant changes. Whereas earlier black metal bands in Turkey avoided references to Islam in their cultural production, this is no longer the case. Rather, during the last decade and a half, Islamic semiotic resources (ISRs) have started to become a noticeable feature of the scene’s cultural production.

A contextual understanding of the scene’s new relationship to ISRs is the primary aim of this dissertation. Through an ethnographic study combined with an analysis of cultural material and observations at numerous concerts, the present work explores when references to Islam became a part of Turkish black metal, as well as how and why they are used. In its analysis of the use of religious, and particularly Islamic, semiotic resources within Turkish black metal, this study offers new empirical and analytical insights into the genre. It investigates the meanings these resources acquire, and how scene participants navigate their black metal identities in a Muslim majority context. By investigating the intersection between Islam, popular culture, politics, apostasy, and blasphemy, this study provides new perspectives on the dynamics of contemporary Turkey.