Sheâ€™s not a teacher, but BeyoncĂ© can teach you something. Or at least thatâ€™s what Kevin Allred, a doctoral student and lecturer in Rutgersâ€™ Department of Womenâ€™s and Gender Studies, Â is betting on with his new course â€śPoliticizing BeyoncĂ©.â€ť
Wondering how the heck the singer that mused â€śwho needs a degree when youâ€™re schooling life?â€ť fits into to political curriculum? Â Allred explained to Rutgerâ€™s Focus publication: Â â€śThis isnâ€™t a course about BeyoncĂ©â€™s political engagement or how many times she performed during President Obamaâ€™s inauguration weekend. Rather, the performerâ€™s music and career are used as lenses to explore American race, gender, and sexual politics.â€ť
During the semester students will examine Beyâ€™s music videos and lyrics alongside works from womenâ€™s rights activists and authors including Alice Walker, Bell Hooks, Toni Morrison and even abolitionist Sojourner Truth. Â Allred will challenge his class to ponder a range of topics, including whether Beyâ€™s racy performances are empowering or stereotypical and the extent of her control over her own aesthetic and her alter ego, Sasha Fierce.
â€śItâ€™s important to shift students away from simply being consumers of media toward thinking more critically about what theyâ€™re engaging on a regular basis,â€ť Allred said. â€śWhen students donâ€™t respond to theory or dense readings, itâ€™s often easier to see things play out in the world around them.â€ť
Beyâ€™s other half, Jay-Z, has, been the subject of a popular Georgetown University course, “Sociology of Hip-Hop: Jay-Z,â€ť taught by Michael Erick Dyson.
At least thatâ€™s one way for the Carters to get into a college classroom.