A university in Denmark is offering a course based on Beyonce’s life.<\/p>\n
According to television station\u00a0TV2, around 75 students have signed up.<\/p>\n
There’s reportedly so much interest in the University of Copenhagen course – called Beyonce, Gender and Race – that it’s had to move to a bigger lecture theatre.<\/p>\n
Professor Erik Steinskog told the Danish broadcaster that he’d be presenting the singer’s lyrics, videos and performances to students.<\/p>\n
He says it’s designed to be an academic course where arts and cultural studies undergraduates can pick up credits towards their degree.<\/p>\n
“We will analyse her songs and music videos,” he says. “There will be a focus on gender, sexuality and race.<\/p>\n
“One of the goals is to introduce black feminist thought, which is not very well known in Scandinavia.<\/p>\n
“Beyonce is important in understanding the world we live in. [She] is one of the biggest pop artists today, which makes her important in an analysis of contemporary times.”<\/p>\n
The University of Copenhagen’s magazine,\u00a0Uniavisen, says the Beyonce class is now full.<\/p>\n
Prof Steinskog admits he’s a big fan of the singer and says she’s a good indicator of where pop music is heading.<\/p>\n
“She’s a controversial feminist, which is crucial. She makes us consider what it means to be a feminist – or what it can mean, but her feminism is addressed to a non-academic audience.<\/p>\n
“It is hard not to be impressed. She is extremely good at what she does. Life is too short to work with music I don’t like.”<\/p>\n
It’s not the first Beyonce university course.<\/p>\n
Rutgers University in the US state of New Jersey launched a class\u00a0called Politicising Beyonce\u00a0through its Department of Women’s and Gender Studies in 2014.<\/p>\n
Rutgers also had a class about the theology of Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics.<\/p>\n
Georgetown University also had a class called The Sociology of Hip-Hop: The Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z, focusing on Beyonce’s rapper husband.<\/p>\n
In the UK, a module in Harry Potter and the age of illusion was offered by Durham University.<\/p>\n
Prof Steinskog told the BBC that he’s surprised by all the attention the course has got.<\/p>\n
“I am taking the discussion from the US to Europe. It makes it possible to discuss theoretical issues and say, ‘Do they look different from a European perspective? What do you think about when you think about race?’<\/p>\n
“In the 80s, especially in the late 80s, probably more in the US, there were classes about Madonna – so why is this surprising to the media when we do it now?”<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC Newsbeat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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