“A portal to think about history and politics”: New course in Beyoncé studies launched at Yale

Students at one of America’s most prestigious universities – Yale - can soon enroll on a course devoted to Beyoncé.

The course is called Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition History, Culture, Theory & Politics through Music, and will examine the ex-Destiny’s Child singer from her 2013 self-titled album to this year’s Cowboy Carter as a lens to study Black history, intellectual thought and performance.

Speaking to the Yale Daily News, Daphne Brooks, professor of African American Studies and Music, highlighted the recent US election as a prime opportunity to recognise and study Beyoncé’s contributions to US culture.

Beyoncé - Formation (Official Video) - YouTube

Watch On

She said: “The number of breakthroughs and innovations she’s executed and the way she’s interwoven history and politics and really granular engagements with Black cultural life into her performance aesthetics and her utilisation of her voice as a portal to think about history and politics - there’s just no one like her.”

It’s easy to mock all this. But there aren’t any barriers to studying currently-active artists who work in other media – just think of the recent novels or poetry one studies at English GCSE. Why should music be any different?

Of course, there have been a number of university classes dedicated to pop stars in recent years. As befitting her current standing as a globe-conquering phenomenon, Taylor Swift is the subject of many. You can study the Psychology Of Taylor Swift at Arizona State University. There’s a course titled the Taylor Swift Songbook at the University of Texas and one called Artistry and Entrepreneurship: Taylor’s Version at University College Berkeley.

Kanye West is a fascinating study that could keep psychology students debating well beyond closing time and indeed there is a course on him at Montreal’s Concordia University, entitled Kanye vs Ye: Genius By Design. Meanwhile it was announced earlier this year that Stanford University were launching an online course on the music and culture of the Grateful Dead.

The only puzzle is why, some seventy years after the birth of rock n’ roll, modern music is only just now becoming accepted as a legitimate area for academic study? And how come this wave of music-related courses hasn’t - yet - reached the UK?