PROJECT: METAL AS/IN TAIWAN

Project: Metal as/in Taiwan begins from my dissertational research on Taiwanese heavy metal music and racial politics. It investigates the intersection of Han supremacy and white supremacy through Taiwanese metal music, and how have such power been expressed through the discourse and materialization of metal music to decolonize Taiwan from the Japanese occupation and Kuomintang dictatorship. As I travel back and forward from California and Taiwan, I am inspired by my teachers and friends in the “field” to establish this applied ethnomusicological public research project to benefit the Taiwanese metal music community. As the name of this project indicates, it is about Taiwan, it is about metal music, and the “as/in“ marks its ethnomusicological nature.

As a musician-scholar, Taiwanese metal music meant a lot to my adolescences. it was my superpower to struggle through a devastated family financial crisis and recover from my trauma, It was the vehicle that transcend my naiveness and ignorance, and it is becoming my academic identity. Now, my travels around the west coast of the US and Hawaii allowed me to understand my privileges as an East Asian, especially with some manifestation of the intersection of Han supremacy and white supremacy in some occasions. As such, my dissertation research project helped my reflect on my privileges, my background, and the future of global metal music I would like to envision. It is about diversity, equality, and inclusivity.

Through Project: Metal as/in Taiwan, I humbly invite metal lovers, fans, practitioners, musicians, teachers, and scholars who are interested in contributing to documenting our experiences about Taiwanese metal music. The history is ours, and we can write it for us. The project has three parts, an music and sound archive for recorded compositions and interviews, a photo and art gallery for concerts and events, and collaborative oral history for musicians, teachers, and people who participate in Taiwanese metal music scene in any ways with their capacity. Participants will be voluntary but may receive compensation for your hard works and contributions. Also parts of the materials in this project will be added into my dissertation. As a musician-ethnographer, I will also shared my travel for conducting my dissertational research. Please free to reach out to me and join us by clicking on the button below. Let’s raise our devil’s horns and get ready to rock’n roll!