We deliver primarily academic research-based content and we also provide resources for academics and teachers. We archive online content so that we can deliver researchers a referencing service. We are impartial and are not affiliated with any institution. Therefore we remain objective and balanced in our content. We provide content of a diversity which gives us perspectives of all kinds and makes very clear that we can study Michael Jackson from a wide variety of subject specialisms, from Popular Culture and Literature to African-American Heritage.
We provide a very diverse range of content, including a monthly academic podcast, essays, opinion pieces, editorials, journal issues and volumes, resources, detailed academic book reviews, exclusive authorial interviews, a monthly column which updates readers on the world of Michael Jackson Studies, which is the only one of its kind. We also provide much-needed academic publications on Michael Jackson’s artistry.
14th February 2026
Abstract: Joseph Vogel, an author well-known to Michael Jackson researchers, has produced a new book focused on the short film for Jackson’s song “Black or White.” The television premiere of the film (a.k.a. music video) in November 1991, brought howls of protests from those viewers who could not understand the “panther dance” coda. MJ Studies […]
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14th January 2026
Abstract: This month, MJ Studies Today columnist Kerry Hennigan provides a personal view of the recently upgraded version of Michael Jackson’s short film for the song “Give In To Me.” Jackson’s 1991 album Dangerous provided a wealth of material ranging from the understated anthem “Heal the World” to undeniably sensual songs like “In the Closet” […]
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14th December 2025
Abstract: This month Kerry Hennigan continues the discussion on artificial intelligence (A.I.) and its relationship to Michael Jackson’s artistic legacy. This important theme began with Karin Merx’s article “Echoes Without Presence: AI, Michael Jackson, and the Crisis of Cultural Authenticity” published here in the Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies on 18 November 2025 and […]
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14th November 2025
Abstract: This month’s MJ Studies Today continues the Halloween theme from last month. Columnist Kerry Hennigan considers the impact of the annual #ThrillerChallenge organised by Michael Jackson fans to redress what they consider a major deficiency in Billboard’s top singles chart: to get the “Thriller” single to number one across multiple formats and charts. Column […]
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14th October 2025
Abstract: This month, MJ Studies Today columnist Kerry Hennigan looks back on events she attended in past years at which Michael Jackson’s contributions to the Halloween season were celebrated. From Hollywood to Los Olivos, and all over the world, fans have enjoyed the annual reminder that Jackson is not only the King of Pop, but […]
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14th September 2025
Abstract: This month Kerry Hennigan looks at the variety of career choices and attitudes in Michael Jackson’s now-adult children, Prince, Paris and Bigi. This article was prompted by Paris Jackson’s recent comments with respect to the forthcoming biopic which purports to tell the life story of her beloved father. Paris’ opinions on officially sanctioned projects […]
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14th August 2025
Abstract: This month’s MJ Studies Today column looks at Michael Jackson’s career in the late 1980s at a time when the artist was becoming increasingly frustrated by the tabloid media’s focus on the rumours, tall stories, and fabrications about his life. This included fantastical PT Barnam-style stunts such as his supposed interest in buying the […]
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14th July 2025
Abstract: When working on new material for his 1987 album Bad, Michael Jackson wrote a song about the experience of fame, the media and the pressures of being a successful show business professional. Called, appropriately, “The Price of Fame,” a demo of the song was released in 2012 on the 25th anniversary reissue of Bad. […]
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14th June 2025 / 1 Comment on MJ Studies Today CXIV
Abstract: Many fans of Michael Jackson collect books about the pop icon, wanting to read as much as they can about his life and career. Referencing titles from her own collection, MJ Studies Today columnist Kerry Hennigan finds that biographies presenting a factual portrait of the King of Pop are a rarity. Similarly, critical analysis […]
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14th May 2025
Abstract: This month, MJ Studies Today columnist Kerry Hennigan considers the importance of Michael Jackson’s song “Stranger In Moscow” in the context of what happened to the artist that prompted him to write agonising lyrics like “Armageddon of the brain” and “here abandoned in my fame.” At a time in his life when he was […]
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Michael Jackson Academic Studies (MJAS) is dedicated to the rigorous, interdisciplinary study of Michael Jackson’s work as a unified aesthetic system. Grounded in art history, visual culture, musicology, dance studies, early modern studies and film theory, MJAS approaches Jackson not as a biographical problem to be defended or debunked, but as a major late-20th-century artist whose work reshaped the relationship between sound, image, body, and mass media.
The journal foregrounds form, lineage, and reception history, situating Jackson within global artistic traditions, from classical European aesthetics and Black diasporic performance to postmodern visual culture. By refusing reductive moral binaries and sensationalist framings, MJAS provides a scholarly space in which Jackson’s art can be interpreted with the seriousness routinely afforded to canonical figures.
Our aim is not rehabilitation, but understanding: to examine how Jackson’s work functions, why it mattered, and what it reveals about race, embodiment, modernity, and the aesthetics of popular culture.
An academic, scholarly journal, which is peer-reviewed, in which academic writing and scholarship relating to Michael Jackson can be accessed. Academic journals are one of the most wonderful ways to share academic criticism and research with interested parties. This research is presented as books, courses, events, essays, teaching resources, columns, articles, book reviews, academic podcasts and original research. In addition, we publish author interviews.
It is a little-known fact that academic, well-researched “books on Elvis Presley alone outnumber titles on Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, andMichael Jackson combined”. (Vogel, Man in the Music). Whereas an artist like Michael Jackson is incredibly visible through the media and tabloid coverage, research on his art remains comparatively small. If this continues Michael Jackson’s contributions could be written out of history in just a few decades. Therefore, this journal nurtures, fosters, protects, preserves and grows the vital research and recognition of his work.
The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies has three editors: Kerry Hennigan, Elizabeth Amisu and Karin Merx.
Podcasts are a fantastic way of getting academic ideas around Michael Jackson into the public sphere in a way that is easily accessible to listeners. Presented by the journal’s editors, it is the world’s first academic podcast which solely discusses the art of Michael Jackson as well as the broader contexts in which his music, performance and short films were created and received. Each podcast is filled to the brim with academic insights, a plethora of references from a range of academic disciplines, humor and a great deal of discussion, taking Michael Jackson’s work and the study of its reception to new heights.
MichaelJackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation is our official, original monthly/fortnightly academic podcast which focuses on the life, art and creative work of Michael Jackson. Recently, featured on the iTunes ‘New and Noteworthy’ lists, Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On: An Academic Conversation is the world’s foremost podcast on Michael Jackson in academic studies. It is available via iTunes, Android, Email, RSS, and Stitcher. Listen here.