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The class, which is called “Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition, History, Culture, Theory & Politics through Music,” will focus on using the "Single Ladies" singer's work as a lens to study Black history, performance, and intellectual thought, according to Yale Daily News, an independent student newspaper.
Professor Daphne Brooks will lead the class.
The Yale course centers around Beyoncé’s groundbreaking albums since 2013, including “Lemonade” and up to 2024's "Cowboy Carter,” focusing on her role in shaping Black cultural identity.
"2013 was really such a watershed moment in which she articulated her beliefs in Black feminism,” Brooks explained to the newspaper, noting Beyoncé's references to Black feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s words in “Flawless.”
The course will incorporate readings from scholars like Hortense Spillers and Cedric Robinson and include screenings of Beyoncé’s visual albums. Students will also work with Yale’s Beinecke Library archives and create playlists that connect Beyoncé's music to her influences.
Brooks also discussed the 43-year-old singer's work and cultural impact while teaching a class at Princeton University called “Black Women in Popular Music Culture," but Beyoncé was a smaller part of a much larger discussion.
“Those classes were always overenrolled,” Brooks said in the piece. “And there was so much energy around the focus on Beyoncé, even though it was a class that starts in the late 19th century and moves through the present day. I always thought I should come back to focusing on her and centering her work pedagogically at some point.”
Beyoncé was nominated last week for 11 Grammy Awards for her latest album "Cowboy Carter."
The Houston, Texas, born singer and mogul has won 32 Grammys, the most in history, and been nominated 99 times during her 20-plus year career, which is also a record.
Click here to read the Yale Daily News article.
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