Volume 2: Issue 4 April – June 2016

Abstract
This is Michael Jackson’s 7th anniversary and we remember him with our special 7th year, 7th album & 7th song episode. We also published an academic book review on Lorena Turner’s The Michael Jacksons: An Ethnographic Monograph. In this issue, we also introduce a new contributor Ivana Recmanová, who wrote an excellent opinion piece. Last but not least we included episode 11 of Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On.


The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies asks that you acknowledge The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies as the source of our Content; if you use material from The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies online, we request that you link directly to the stable URL provided. If you use our content offline, we ask that you credit the source as follows: “Courtesy of The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies.”


v2-i4Content

1 Editorial by karin Merx

2. Academic Book review: The Michael Jacksons: An Ethnographic Monograph by Lorena Turner
by Elizabeth Amisu

3. Episode 10 Episode 10 – MJAS Exclusive: 7 Albums, 7 Songs, 7 Years (with Dr. Joe Vogel)
by Karin Merx & Elizabeth Amisu

4. Opinion Piece: Thoughts On Michael Jackson’s Lyrics And Gender
by Ivana Recmanová


1 Editorial

The Journal Michael Jackson Academic Studies have gained more interest from academics, which resulted in new fantastic contributions. We also cooperate with the platform Online Arts Education, which enables us to develop courses on Michael Jackson’s art. In this issue, we published an academic book review on ’The Michael Jacksons: An Ethnographic Monograph by Lorena Turner. She also took part of our ongoing coverage of unique and dynamic authors who have written monographs about Michael Jackson.

Our second contribution is Episode 10 of Michael Jackson’s Dream Lives On with special guest Dr. Joseph Vogel, we discuss 7 Years, & Albums & 7 Songs.

Another excellent feature in this issue is an opinion piece by our new contributor Ivana Recmanová Thoughts On Michael Jackson’s Lyrics And Gender

We end this issue with an Interview with author and editor of the Journal Elizabeth Amisu who wrote the excellent book The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona, and His Artistic afterlife in episode 11 Author and Text: The dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson part 1.

Karin Merx


2 Academic Book review: The Michael Jacksons: An Ethnographic Monograph by Lorena Turner 
by Elizabeth Amisu

Lorena Turner’s The Michael Jacksons: An Ethnographic Monograph begins with a retrospective of Jackson’s immortalisation through memorials, ‘Michael Jackson is still the gold standard to which today’s pop music stars want to aspire’ (7). In her ‘Introduction’, Turner combines personal recollections of the aftermath of Jackson’s death with the visual interpretations which later became synonymous with the artist himself.

http://michaeljacksonstudies.org/book-review-of-the-michael-jacksons-an-ethnographic-monograph-by-lorena-turner/


3 Episode 10 Episode 10 – MJAS Exclusive: 7 Albums, 7 Songs, 7 Years (with Dr. Joe Vogel)‘
by Karin Merx & Elizabeth Amisu with guest Dr. Joseph Vogel

This tenth episode stands in the light of Michael Jackson’s anniversary, seven years after his death. In this MJAS Exclusive, Elizabeth and Karin are joined by guest, fellow academic and author, Joseph Vogel, to discuss the seventh song of the seven adult solo albums of Michael Jackson. They explore the symbolism of the number seven and the meaning of this number for Jackson personally, as well as how, after seven years Jackson’s representation has evolved in surprising ways. They also discuss how Jackson is viewed both academically and culturally.

http://michaeljacksonstudies.org/episode-10-mjas-exclusive-7-albums-7-songs-7-years/


4 Opinion Piece: Thoughts On Michael Jackson’s Lyrics And Gender‘
by Ivana Recmanová

This essay discusses a range of complex ideas around Michael Jackson’s lyrics and representations of gender, which are found therein. It uses a textual model in order to engage with tracks throughout Jackson’s career, with possible interpretations of misogynistic leanings, and then goes on to counter those arguments.

http://michaeljacksonstudies.org/oped-piece-by-ivana-recmanova-thoughts-on-michael-jacksons-lyrics-and-gender/