"Growing up in Motown, the music of Motown and the films of Motown Productions were omnipresent in my life. As long as I can remember I was a fan of the film, The Wiz. The first Broadway show I saw was The Wiz in 1983 at Detroit’s Masonic Theatre. The first play I “produced” was in third grade – and it was The Wiz. Two years later, my school, Vetal, produced a full- scale production of The Wiz in which I was a featured dancer (The “Eye” of the Tornado). This talk traces these humble beginnings as a fan-producer of The Wiz to a scholar working on a book about the film. That is, this presentation is about the ways, particularly within a socio-political environment hostile to Blackness, The Wiz provides a prism through which to place the “I” and Black joy into research. Engaging media industry studies, fandom/reception studies, and media studies, this presentation argues that neither the “I” nor Black joy compromises the rigor of academic scholarship. " -Alfred Martin

(Co-sponsorship with Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity, Department of African & African American Studies, and American Culture Studies)