The ABC's Of Beyonce? Rutgers University Offers 'Politicizing Beyonce' Course
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Beyoncé taking center stage at the GRAMMYs is one thing, but in a classroom?
Apparently, Sasha Fierce is making her mark at Rutgers.
A course called "Feminist Perspectives: Politicizing Beyoncé," is being offered at the New Brunswick, N.J. university and taught by PhD student Kevin Allred.
Allred is a doctoral student and lecturer in the school's Department of Women's and Gender Studies. He told the Rutgers Today newspaper the idea for the course stemmed from his four semesters teaching Women's Studies 101.
"This isn't a course about Beyoncé's political engagement or how many times she performed during President Obama's inauguration weekend," Allred said. "Rather, the performer's music and career are used as lenses to explore American race, gender, and sexual politics."
Allred, who created the course in 2010, pairs Beyoncé's music videos and lyrics with readings from the Black feminist canon, including the writings of bell hooks, Alice Walker, and even abolitionist Sojourner Truth, according to RT.
Allred told the paper he welcomes conversation about the course, especially from naysayers.
"It's important to shift students away from simply being consumers of media toward thinking more critically about what they're engaging on a regular basis," Allred said.
A similar course on Beyoncé's rap-mogul hubby, "The Sociology of Hip-Hop: The Theodicy of Jay-Z," is being taught at Georgetown University.
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