Explore racial and gender dynamics through Beyoncé's course at Yale
Yale University will offer a new course in 2025 on the cultural legacy of pop icon Beyoncé, who has a record 99 Grammy nominations. Titled Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition, Culture, Theory & Politics Through Music, the course will delve into her impact from her 2013 self-titled album to this year's genre-defying Cowboy Carter. The curriculum will analyze how Beyoncé has leveraged her platform as a singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur to highlight social and political ideologies.
Course to use Beyoncé's work as 'portal' for learning
The one-credit course will be taught by Daphne Brooks, a professor in Yale University's African American Studies department. It will use Beyoncé's diverse body of work, including live performance footage, as a "portal" for students to learn about Black intellectuals ranging from Frederick Douglass to Toni Morrison. "We're going to be taking seriously the ways in which the critical work...resonates with Beyoncé's music," Brooks said.
Beyoncé's music: A tool for social and political engagement
Brooks credits Beyoncé with using her music to "spectacularly elevate awareness of and engagement with grassroots, social, political ideologies and movements." This includes the Black Lives Matter movement and Black feminist commentary. She highlighted how Beyoncé has invited grassroots activists to participate in her long-form multimedia album projects since 2013, telling a story about "race and gender and sexuality in the context of the 400-year-plus history of African-American subjugation."
Brooks's previous experience and expectations for new course
Brooks has taught a similar class on Black women in popular music culture at Princeton University before, where she noticed students were particularly interested in the section dedicated to Beyoncé. She expects her upcoming course at Yale to be especially popular but plans to keep the class size relatively small. However, students shouldn't expect a personal appearance from Queen Bey herself during the course.
