Overview
Masayoshi Yamada is a historian of the modern United States whose interdisciplinary research spans American studies, Black studies, and popular music studies. His research examines the intersection of music and social change, emphasizing the political potential of the listening public. Drawing upon a wide array of sources produced by jazz listeners—including fan mail, fan club bulletins, fan magazines, personal journals, autobiographical accounts, and financial records—Masa’s book project on the history of jazz fandom explores how music enthusiasts transformed the social space of music listening into a site for advancing racial and gender justice in different places throughout the twentieth century.
Masa previously served as a University of California President’s and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Cruz, a Visiting Assistant Professor at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Temple University, Japan Campus. He holds a PhD in History from UCLA, an M.A. in American Studies from Doshisha University, and a B.A. in History from Ritsumeikan University.