University Of Alberta Graduate Writing Thesis On Mosh Pits
August 28, 2011, 13 years ago
Lana Cuthbertson from the Edmonton Journal is reporting:
Landon Barrowman’s leg has been broken in three places - a metal rod holds everything together - “just because kids don’t know how to mosh.”
There is, apparently, a right way to mosh, along with unspoken rules. But as Barrowman can attest, not everyone gets it.
Now a University of Alberta graduate student has shoved her way into tightly packed, pushy crowds at heavy metal concerts all in the name of academic research.
Gabby Riches, a master’s student in the faculty of physical education, is writing her thesis on mosh pits for a degree in recreation and leisure studies.
Riches, 25, has been a heavy metal fan since she was 15. During her undergraduate degree, she decided to combine her hobby and her studies and asked one of her professors if she could do a paper on metal music and immigrant integration.
Her professor liked it, so she did another paper on women’s experiences in heavy metal. She realized she was interested in music fans, so that led her to study mosh pits for her graduate degree. Riches also runs a student group called Heavy Metal on Campus.
Read the entire report here.
