Abstract: August 2016 celebrates the 58thyear since Michael Joseph Jackson was born. It’s a touching time for the millions of Michael Jackson fans and students around the world. It is the final column from Elizabeth.
Column by Elizabeth Amisu, MA, PGCE, editor of The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies and author of The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona, and His Artistic Afterlife.
REFERENCE AS:
Amisu, Elizabeth. “MJ Studies Today VIII (14-8-16).” The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies3, no. 1 (2016). Published electronically 14/8/16. http://michaeljacksonstudies.org/mjstudiestoday8/.
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MJ Studies Today VIII (14-8-16): Lessons in Teaching Michael Jackson
By Elizabeth Amisu
August’s ‘MJ Studies Today’ celebrates the 58th year since Michael Joseph Jackson was born. It’s a touching time for the millions of Michael Jackson fans and students around the world. So many of whom are teachers, sensitive souls who care about the world, connectivity, about kindness and honesty. All those things that don’t seem to chime so well with a cynical age.
What surprises me most to this very day is the relatively limited opportunities that there are to study Michael Jackson in a professional, academic or even general interest context. The amount of excuses why this so continue to abound and very few of them hold water. Hence, this month has been all about Michael Jackson Studieson the international stage. Who is learning about Michael Jackson? Where? Why? How can you get in on this? Why would you want to. Find out how in my recent interview with Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation.
This August The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies’ presents ‘MJ Academy’,launched in conjunction with Online Arts Education. We realized that it was about time that we started taking our words out of the pageand onto the screen. We have made sure to make this month about the dynamic and wonderful people, places and organisations that are enabling Michael Jackson’s legacy to live on through the teaching of his art internationally.
Our first project was the ‘Courses and Events’ section of the academic journal, a powerful opportunity to start collating where to study Michael Jackson; which features academics such as the wonderful Professor Marie Plasse and Dr. Tristan Cabello, and many others. We continue to forge ahead, by interviewing and including content-creators with wide and influential reach, such as Jamon Bull and Q. Gabriel Smith, with their integrity and their drive creating brand new platforms for global appreciation.
My first MJ Academy course was the Certified Michael Jackson Studies Expert Online Course, taking students through a journey of six weeks which was reigniting appreciation, joy, and hope. The students were learning things they had never expected to. Due to the unprecedented demand from teachers asking for advice I implemented the Certified Teacher of Michael Jackson Studies Online Video Course, moving forward with the new capacity provided by the digital forum.
Several new courses are to follow, providing a total of eight this year, which includes an amazing six-week course on Michael Jackson’s Visual Art, as featured in Kunstwerke von Michael Jackson. We are still uncovering pieces of the treasure that this artist left us. In addition, there is also Michael Jackson’s Dangerous Online Video Course, beginning on August 29th. It is an exciting time in the study of Michael’s work. It’s an exciting time to join the conversation.
So where to start? Any of our Free Video Series, our free online lectures, and even submitting an essayfor publication.
This is my last column for this year. I must say it has been an absolute pleasure writing every month to discuss all the comings and goings of the world of MJ Studies. Thank-you for coming on the ride. The future of MJ Studies is very bright. I hope to see you on one of my online courses, or between the pages of The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona and His Artistic Afterlife, when it is released in September.
It’s (still) all for love,
Eliza x
Elizabeth Amisu, author of The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona, and His Artistic Afterlife, holds an MA in Early Modern English Literature from King’s College London. She is co-founder and editor of The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studiesonline. For The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studiesshe has edited two publications, An Academic Companion to Michael Jackson Studies and Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation – Michael Jackson & Prince;written several articles and book reviews, most notably ”Throwing Stones To Hide Your Hands’: The Mortal Persona Of Michael Jackson‘, which has been translated into Spanish and Italian; ”The Isle is Full of Noises’: Revisiting the Peter Pan of Pop‘, available in German; ”Crack Music’: Michael Jackson’s Invincible‘, also in Italian; and ”Heard it Through the Grapevine’: Are We Losing Michael Jackson All Over Again?‘, also available in Spanish.
