Dr Charlotte Doesburg

About

Dr Charlotte Doesburg is a Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Fellow focusing on popular music (especially metal music), identity negotiations within music, and Baltic-Finnic (minority) cultures and languages.

Her current research investigates the transnational region of Karelia, which is divided between Finland and Russia. Recent events, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland’s joining of NATO, and the increased global interest in the (sub-)Arctic region, mean that for Karelian musicians, negotiations of minority identity are anything but straightforward.

Dr Doesburg studies how identity is constructed and negotiated by Finnish and Russian Karelian metal music artists. Often, the artists have multiple identities, and these are expressed in the music. Music from the region aids in Karelian linguistic and cultural revitalisation and helps the artists to formulate their ideas on Karelian identity both lyrically and sonically.

Dr Doesburg’s previous research focused on the adaptation of Karelian Finnish folklore in Finnish popular music, especially metal. The adaptation of the folklore in popular music is strongly connected to Finnish national identity and the musicians use the folklore not only to connect to a mythical past but also to comment on modern Finnish society or to express personal problems.