JASPM Special Session “Tutti Frutti: Little Richard, Sex, Gender, and Transgression in America and Europe”
Jacob Bloomfield from the University of Konstanz, who specialises in the history of drag performances and is scheduled to be a WIAS visiting scholar this year, will share his latest research results on Little Richard as a queer pop icon. In the discussion, Professor Toshiyuki Ohwada of Keio University and Associate Professor Yuka Kanno of Doshisha University will be invited as discussants to further consider the case of Little Richard from the perspectives of their respective specialties, namely, American music history and queer visual culture.
Presentation abstract:
Tutti Frutti: Little Richard, Sex, Gender, and Transgression in America and Europe, probes how gender nonconforming, African-American recording artist Little Richard became one of the most popular musicians in the United States and Europe during the 1950s and pre-‘sexual revolution’ 1960s; a period marked by the pervasive repression of sexual and gender expression, as well as racial bigotry. Tutti Frutti argues that observers found Richard appealing because of his highly effeminate, flamboyant persona, not despite it. The project draws upon a wide range of primary sources to analyse the historical reception to Richard’s music and image, including the mainstream American and European press, the Black press, entertainment industry trade publications, the queer press, and fan magazines. Analysing reception by third-party observers sets this project apart from the small amount of pre-existing scholarship on Richard which has relied overwhelmingly on music and personal recollections by the singer himself as primary source data. In arguing that gender variance has persisted as an essential and cherished part of modern popular culture in the West, despite the controversy the practice sometimes generated, Tutti Frutti builds upon themes addressed in Jacob Bloomfield’s first monograph, Drag: A British History (University of California Press, under contract, 2023), which analyses popular renderings of British drag performance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Speakers
Guest speaker: Jacob Bloomfield (University of Konstanz)
Discussants: Toshiyuki Ohwada (Keio University), Yuka Kanno (Doshisha University)
Moderator: Amane Kasai (WIAS, Waseda University)
Date & Time
June 26, 2022（Sun.）16：00-18：00 (JST)
Venue
Online（Zoom Webinar）
Program
Opening remarks: Amane Kasai (Chair)
Lecture: Jacob Bloomfield
Break
Discussion 1: Toshiyuki Ohwada
Discussion 2: Yuka Kanno
Closing remarks: Amane Kasai
Prospected Audience
Students, Faculty and Staff, Researchers, General Participants
Organizer
JASPM (The Japanese Association for the Study of Popular Music)
Co-Organizer
Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS)
Registration
Prior registration is required.
Please register form here.
Poster
