January 14, 2022

From metalhead to metal researcher

Anna Rogers is a three-time graduate of the University of South Carolina. She took the graduate research she did and co-authored a book on gender in heavy metal.

As a child, she was interested in serial killers and criminology, as well as heavy metal music, thanks to time spent in her father’s record store.

Rogers combined these interests with her mother’s academic background, doing her master’s and Ph.D. research on gender rhetoric in music. With the help of sociology professor Mathieu Deflem, she turned this research into her book, Doing Gender in Heavy Metal: Perceptions on Women in a Hypermasculine Subculture. 

Now, Rogers is in her third year teaching sociology and criminal justice at the University of Georgia and using her knowledge of the intersections of gender, pop culture and deviance to impact her community.

Read the full story, written by Rose Cisneros, on the College of Arts and Sciences website.