Self-expression and deviance in an authoritarian context:Young metalheads (metaljīye) in Latakia, Syria

This article addresses the politicization of the ‘metalheads’ of Latakia, Syria. More particularly, it highlights the role of a set of individual and collective practices associated with the metal musical genre — whether listening to the music or actually playing an instrument, possibly leading to the constitution of a music band — in politicization mechanisms, from 2008 to the present day. Metal music, which boomed in Syria from the 2000s, mainly in well-to-do environments, is often reduced to its dimension of protest. Based on a reflexive approach and a series of interviews, this article makes the point that in Latakia, this contestation was a rather muffled one, and associated with the elaboration of an individual narrative, through which metalheads constitute an outlet and give meaning to their place as individuals in their environment. In this process, music is both a discursive and material tool in a quest for individual achievement, and a social marker through which individuals differentiate themselves and try to escape social control. From 2008, metal practices provoke conflicting interactions, particularly with the security and intelligence services of the state. Such tensions reveal the ambiguity of the political commitment of metalheads and specify the nature of the control of the authoritarian power over the bourgeoisie that is close to it.