Michael Jackson’s artistic contributions: another perspective

Aurélie Doignon is a professional dancer and holds a doctorate in Educational Sciences from the University of Bordeaux (CeDS EA-7440). Her work is devoted to the study (from an anthropo-didactic perspective) of the knowledge, art and institutionalization processes at work in Sabar dance, through the observation of the trajectories and professionalization paths of Senegalese dancers in France and Senegal. She is currently working as a teacher-researcher at the University of Caen Normandy.
“La mise en art de la danse sabar sous le prisme anthropo-didactique”, Noesis, 2021.
Chapter in book “La rue, un espace transformatif pour les danseurs au Sénégal”, Champ social, coll. Questions de société, 2021.
“Sportivization of Dance, Artification of Sport,” Ethnography, 5-6 | 2021, https://revues.mshparisnord.fr/ethnographie/index.php?id=807Revue

Elizabeth Amisu is author of the landmark academic book, The Dangerous Philosophies of Michael Jackson: His Music, His Persona, and His Artistic Afterlife, published by Praeger in 2016. She holds an MA in Early Modern English Literature from King’s College London, in conjunction with the British Library. She completed her teacher training at the University College London Institute of Education and has eleven years’ experience teaching Creative Writing, English Literature, English Language and Film Studies. She received a First-Class BA (Drama, Film and Creative Writing) from Bucks New University and was the recipient of the award for Highest Overall Mark in the Faculty of Creativity and Culture (2008). She is cofounder and editor of The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies (http://michaeljacksonstudies.org/).

Fabio Pastore, born in 1996, recently graduated in “Communication sciences” at the University of Salerno, Italy with a thesis named “A textual journey into Michael Jackson’s songs”, completely written and presented in English.

Guillaume Deveney is a doctor in musicology. In his thesis, he works on a redefinition of the concept of musical creation, both in terms of the actors involved and the means used.
In 2011 he joined the CLEMM research group, with which he published several articles in Ontologies of creation in music  and participated in various national and international conferences. His research focuses on the practice and teaching of contemporary amplified music. He teaches as a lecturer since 2011 for the Music Sector of the University of Aix-Marseille.
He holds a DE of teacher of current amplified music, obtained in Aix-en-Provence.
He is currently in charge of the music mission for the departmental association Arts Vivants 52. He took part in the creation of the Grand Est GRABUGE contemporary music network, in which he is one of the referents of the Training and Amateur Practices Commission.

Isabelle Petitjean holds a PhD in musicology. Author of a thesis at the University of Sorbonne, on “racial dynamics in the production of Michael Jackson” and three books dedicated to the artist: Dangerous, from Mark Ryden to Michael Jackson, Pop culture and fine arts (en), Delatour France, 2015; Michael Jackson, Voice upon a Time (en), Delatour France, 2019; Michael Jackson, Black or White? Un artiste hors norme face à une industrie musicale racialisée (fr), Delatour France, 2019, she carries on her scientific research and publications independently and is a music teacher in the National Education.
https://en.isabellepetitjean.com/

Professor in “History of Art” at high school in Naples (Italy).
PhD student at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” in Naples (Italy), Department of Architecture and Industrial Design in collaboration with the Department of Arts and Cultural Heritage, ssd “L-ART 06, Cinema, Photography and Television”.
In addition to several scientific articles and conference proceedings, he has published three monographs:
− 2011 – IZZO L (2011). Michael Jackson. Analisi del fenomeno artistico, estetico e sociale.
Napoli (Italy): Albatros Edizioni, ISBN: 978-88-89752-20-3
− 2014 – IZZO L (2014). Charlie Chaplin. Il genio nel cinema. Napoli (Italy): Albatros Edizioni,
ISBN: 978-88-98815-27-2
− 2019 – IZZO L, IOSSA M (2019). Michael Jackson. La storia e l’eredità artistica. Roma (Italy):
Arcana Edizioni, ISBN: 978-88-6231-633-0

Singer-songwriter and pop teacher originally from Sainte-Lucie de Porto-Vecchio in France and established in Montreal since 2013, Mathilde Recly pursued university studies in various fields related to music creation, first in music production at the Institut Supérieur des Techniques du Son in Paris, then in digital music at the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal. At the same institution, she then completed a master’s degree in musicology under the direction of Caroline Traube and focused her research on Michael Jackson’s vocal technique as well as on the development of a teaching method for popular singing. She finally completed her training as a professional singer and vocal coach at the Krowne Vocal School of New York City. Mathilde is the founder of the “Cours de chant pop” school and a writer for the web magazine “Bible urbaine” specialized in arts and culture.

Zada Johnson has a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago and is presently associate professor and academic program coordinator of the Urban Community Studies Program at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. Johnson’s research includes African Diaspora cultures, African-American performance traditions, New Orleans parading traditions, urban culture and popular culture. Her publications include essays in the New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Journal of African-American Studies, Journal of Anthropology and Humanism, Journal of Theology and Culture as well as a chapter about Prince and Black Liberation Theology in Theology and Prince and a forthcoming chapter on Purple Rain and the Southern blues aesthetic in Prince and the Minneapolis Sound.