AHSS Faculty Research Initiatives Fund Award: Extreme Metal Seniors: Sociolinguistic and sociocultural lived experiences in the battlefield

Investigating the social life of seniors mostly has been studied by social, fandom and media studies. More specifically, the collective lives of seniors engaging in extreme metal or attending extreme metal festivals have not been explored to date. Educational studies have paid little attention to the relationship between gerontology and the implications in language teaching, curriculum design or community-engaged education. Borrowing from social theory and communities of practice, this research project seeks to understand the lived experiences of seniors engaging in extreme metal communities, specifically their relationships when attending extreme metal shows and how they exercise and celebrate their cultural and linguistic identities.