CF Chapters – Metal in Central and Eastern Europe (planned with Kohlhammer Meta/Metal)

 

We seek 5k–6k‑word chapters on glocalization, transfers, infrastructures, crises, religion/politics, NSBM/antimilitarism, war & diaspora, zines/archives, festivals/economies, and methods/meta‑questions across socialist, post‑socialist, and contemporary CEE.

Abstracts (500 words) + bio (200 words) due 31 July 2026. 

Editors: Ondřej Daniel, Peter Pichler, Jörg Scheller, Miroslav Vrzal.

Chicago style. Peer‑reviewed series; OA possible subject to funding.

 

Metal is a significant global subculture that has taken distinctive shapes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Since the 1970s, it has evolved across both sides of the former Iron Curtain—developing specific local practices while engaged in dense transnational circulation. During state socialism, metal often became controversial as a perceived Western cultural import; in some cases, fans and musicians faced surveillance or sanction. After 1989/90, the liberalization of media and markets catalyzed new infrastructures and exchanges, yet local specificities persisted—including controversial currents such as National Socialist black metal in parts of Eastern Europe. Today, CEE scenes are fully embedded in global circuits (from festivals and labels to streaming and touring), while continuing to provoke public debate around religion, politics, gender, and nationalism; contemporary conflicts—from the wars in ex‑Yugoslavia to the ongoing war in Ukraine—have profoundly marked scenes, fandoms, and diasporas.

We invite chapter proposals that theorize CEE metal as glocalization: i.e., multidirectional transfers between “West”, “East”, “North” and “South”; localization, translation and adaptation within specific socialist, post‑socialist, and contemporary contexts; and country‑ and scene‑level differences across time.

This book is planned to appear in Meta/Metal (W. Kohlhammer), a peer‑reviewed series that encourages innovative methods and welcomes English submissions. (Open‑access publication may be possible but is subject to funding; the series has published OA volumes.)

Key Themes (indicative, not exhaustive)

1) Transnational networks & transfers
 Tape‑trading, letter exchanges, zines, distro routes, touring circuits, border practices; CEE → global flows (export scenes, labels, artists) as well as West → CEE transfers.
2) Concepts & interdisciplinarity
 How can notions like glocalization, musicking, scenes, practices, infrastructures, or translation advance CEE metal research? Meta‑questions about combining methods across humanities and social sciences; how do ‘Western/Northern’ and ‘Eastern/Southern’ concepts and methodologies interact?
3) Ruptures, crises, and continuities
 Late socialism; 1989/90 transformations; wars of the 1990s; today’s poly‑crisis (economy, pandemics, platformization).
4) Political economies & infrastructures
 Clubs, cultural houses, festivals, promoters; labor, risk, insurance, and finance; platform/streaming economies.
5) Media ecologies
 Zines, specialist magazines, radio/TV, blogs, social media; archiving, digitization, and preservation.
6) Bodies, autonomy, and ecstatic practices
 Rebellion, embodiment, affect, “edge” and safety; dance/mosh practices; gendered and generational dynamics; gender roles.
7) Religion & controversy
 Secular/religious publics, church activism, censorship/sponsorship; blasphemy controversies; anti‑cult panics; transgression (e.g. Behemoth’s ‘ordo blasfemia’).
8) Politics & (anti)militarism
 Right/left mobilizations; nationalism; NSBM; antimilitarism and draft refusal historically and today.
9) War, displacement & diaspora
 Metal during “hot conflicts” (Ukraine, ex‑Yugoslavia); mourning, commemoration, veterans; diasporic scenes.
10) Place, tourism & heritage
 Scene tourism, festival geographies, memory work; retro/heritage frames; ethics of collecting and exhibiting.

Types of Contributions

  • Empirically grounded chapters (single cases or comparative) using ethnography, oral history, archival/press work, musicology, discourse analysis, scene/industry studies, digital humanities, social‑network analysis, or mixed methods.
  • Conceptual/methodological chapters that respond to “meta‑questions” of CEE metal research design and interdisciplinarity.
  • Region & period: CEE broadly construed (including, e.g., Austria, Germany, former Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Soviet Union, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania), across socialist, post‑socialist, and contemporary periods.

Submission Guidelines

  • Abstract: max. 500 words, outlining research question(s), case(s), data/materials, method(s), and expected contribution.
  • Author bio: max. 200 words (affiliation, selected publications, ORCID if available).
  • Keywords: 4–6.
  • Chapter length: 5,000–6,000 words (including notes; tables/figures/captions excluded).
  • Language: UK English
  • Style: Chicago Notes & Bibliography (footnotes + bibliography).
  • Images/AV: Authors are responsible for securing permissions; provide high‑resolution files and captions/credits.
  • Ethics: Please anonymize sensitive data where appropriate; obtain consent for interviews; handle extremist materials (e.g., NSBM) with critical context and legal/ethical care.

Timeline

  • Abstract & bio due: 31 July 2026
  • Decisions to authors: 15 September 2026
  • Full chapters due: 30 November 2026
  • Peer review & revisions: November 2026–February 2027
  • Final manuscripts to publisher: March 2027
  • Anticipated publication: Late 2027 (subject to publisher workflow)

All contributions will undergo peer review in line with Meta/Metal series procedures (editorial‑board peer review).

Please email a single PDF (file name: Surname_CEE‑Metal_Abstract.pdf) containing title, abstract, keywords, and bio to the editors:

  • Ondřej Daniel — ondrej.daniel@ff.cuni.cz
  • Peter Pichler — Peter-Pichler@gmx.at
  • Jörg Scheller — joerg.scheller@zhdk.ch
  • Miroslav Vrzal — miroslav.vrzal@mail.muni.cz