Yale University is set to launch a new academic course dedicated to one of pop music's most influential icons, Beyoncé. The course, titled Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition History, Culture, Theory & Politics through Music, will delve into her artistic legacy, examining her work from the 2013 self-titled album to her latest release, Cowboy Carter (2024).
Students will explore Beyoncé’s cultural impact through screenings of her visual albums, discussions of scholarly analyses, and playlist-making activities that trace connections between her music and the Black artists who paved the way.
Speaking to the Yale Daily News, Daphne Brooks, a professor of African American Studies and Music, emphasized the unique opportunity to examine Beyoncé’s contributions during a pivotal moment in American cultural history.
“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,” Brooks explained.
Yale’s decision reflects a growing trend of pop culture courses in higher education. Taylor Swift has been the focus of several classes in recent years, from Psychology of Taylor Swift at Arizona State University to UC Berkeley’s analysis of her business acumen. Kanye West, too, has inspired a class at Concordia University, while The Grateful Dead was the subject of a Stanford University online course earlier this year.
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