Yale University introduces course on Beyonce’s political and cultural impact

Published

9 months ago

November 12, 2024

admin

A course dedicated to studying Beyonce is coming to Yale University, allowing students to dig deeper into the “artistic genius” of the global superstar.

Titled Beyonce Makes History: Black Radical Tradition History, Culture, Theory & Politics Through Music, it will kick off next spring.

According to a description of the module, which is offered through the humanities and arts department, it will focus on her work from her self-titled album in 2013 to her current album, Cowboy Carter.

The country album received 11 Grammy nominations on Friday, after being roundly snubbed at this year’s Country Music Association Awards. Its recognition has made Beyonce the most Grammy-nominated artist in history, with 99 nods in total.

Yale’s pop culture-inspired course will also analyse Beyonce’s performance politics and concert films, using it as a lens through which to examine black intellectual thought and activism.

By looking at the 43-year-old singer’s midcareer repertoire, the course will explore scholarly works and cultural texts across black feminist theory, philosophy and anthropology, as well as art history, performance studies and musicology, the course description says.

The class will be taught by writer and black studies scholar Daphne Brooks, who co-founded Yale’s Black Sound & the Archive Working Group, a community of faculty and students working to “explore the untapped variety of black sound archives.”

Brooks told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News that the course has been in the works for years, following on from a previous class she taught at Princeton University titled Black Women And Popular Music Culture.

Ms Brooks said this will be her first opportunity to devote an entire lecture course to Beyonce’s work.

‘Unprecedented experimentations with the album form’

She told NBC via email: “I’m looking forward to exploring her body of work and considering how, among other things, historical memory, black feminist politics, black liberation politics and philosophies course through the last decade of her performance repertoire as well as the ways that her unprecedented experimentations with the album form, itself, have provided her with the platform to mobilize these themes.”

The course adds Yale to a string of universities that have created courses inspired by the singer over the past decade.

In the early 2010s, Rutgers University introduced Politicising Beyonce, and the University of Illinois at Chicago added Beyonce: Critical Feminist Perspectives and US Black Womanhood.

Cornell University has also offered versions of its Beyonce Nation course, which studies her career trajectory as well as her impact on political activism and feminism.

Other universities to have offered similar Beyonce-themed courses include the University of Texas at San Antonio, California Polytechnic State University, and Arizona State University.

The cultural impact of fellow celebrities including Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga has also been embraced by university courses.

In 2010, the University Of South Carolina introduced a module, Lady Gaga And The Sociology Of The Fame, as part of their sociology course.

In the wake of Swift’s re-recording of earlier albums, and her record-breaking Eras Tour, multiple colleges – including the University of Ghent in Belgium, Harvard University, UC Berkeley and the University of Florida – also began introducing courses tailored to the study of her lyricism and pop superstardom.

Entertainment

Ex-Superman Dean Cain to join ICE ‘ASAP’ to ‘save America’

Published

1 hour ago

August 7, 2025

admin

Ex-Superman Dean Cain to join ICE 'ASAP' to 'save America'

Dean Cain has been branded the “worst superman ever” as he announced he will join the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “ASAP”.

The 59-year-old, who was cast as Superman in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, announced he had joined the team amid the federal agency’s unprecedented immigration raids.

He told Fox News on Wednesday his recruitment video on Instagram had gone viral and since then, “I have spoken with some of the officials over at ICE and I will be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP”.

“You can defend your homeland and get great benefits,” he said in the Instagram post where he appealed for his followers to join ICE.

Speaking with the Superman theme song in the background, he said “hundreds of thousands of criminals” had been arrested since US President Donald Trump took office.

He then told his followers they would get a series of benefits if they joined ICE, including a $50,000 (£37,407) signing bonus and student loan repayment.

“If you want to help save America ICE is arresting the worst of the worst and removing them from America’s streets,” he said, before adding: “I voted for that.”

ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Mr Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.

Cain’s post on Instagram received some backlash, with one user commenting: “Worst superman ever”.

Another said: “Shame on you Dean – that’s the most un-Superman thing you could possibly advocate.”

One fan turned against him and said: “Until I saw this I was such a fan. What a sad human being you must be.”

Entertainment

Anna Friel: Pensioner who stalked Marcella star for nearly three years to be sentenced next month

Published

2 hours ago

August 7, 2025

admin

Anna Friel: Pensioner who stalked Marcella star for nearly three years to be sentenced next month

A man who stalked actress Anna Friel for nearly three years is to be sentenced next month.

Phil Appleton, 71, sent numerous messages, visited the actress’s home address several times and left “unwanted” gifts between January 2022 and December last year, Reading Crown Court previously heard.

The defendant, described online as an actor and retired pilot, admitted stalking under Section 2A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 earlier this week.

Appleton was due to be sentenced on Thursday but judge Alan Blake adjourned the hearing until 18 September for a pre-sentence report to be carried out.

The court heard the pensioner, from Windsor in Berkshire, has been in custody for six months and has spent time in a mental health facility.

Granted conditional bail, he was told he must not contact Ms Friel or enter the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and is to co-operate with those conducting the pre-sentence report.

Friel, 49, rose to fame with her role as Beth Jordache in Channel 4 soap opera Brookside.

She achieved international renown in 2007, starring as Charlotte “Chuck” Charles in the ABC comedy series Pushing Daisies.

In 2017, she won the International Emmy for Best Actress for her role as the title character in the ITV and Netflix mystery drama series Marcella

Entertainment

Oasis gig at Murrayfield in Edinburgh beats Taylor Swift for most ‘ground-shaking’ concert

Published

3 hours ago

August 7, 2025

admin

Oasis gig at Murrayfield in Edinburgh beats Taylor Swift for most 'ground-shaking' concert

Oasis provided the most “ground-shaking” performance at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium when they last performed there in 2009, according to analysis of seismic data.

The Gallagher brothers’ last Scottish gig has topped the chart for the most powerful seismic concert at the venue in the past 20 years, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said.

Oasis’ June 2009 gig beat the Red Hot Chili Peppers in June 2004, Kings of Leon in June 2011 and Taylor Swift in June 2024 – when measuring the peak earthshaking power of each event.

The measurements were taken from a seismic monitoring station, some 4km from the venue.

At peak power of 215.06kW, the Oasis gig was more than twice as powerful as the next strongest one by the Red Hot Chili Peppers at 106.87kW.

Murrayfield Stadium’s most seismic concerts:

• Oasis: 17 June 2009, 215.06kW
• Red Hot Chili Peppers: 14 June 2004, 106.87kW
• Kings of Leon: 26 June 2011, 96.18kW
• Taylor Swift: 8 June 2024, 82.56kW
• Foo Fighters: 8 September 2015, 78.65kW
• Harry Styles: 26 May 2023, 65.38kW
• Beyonce: 20 May 2023, 29.31kW
• Robbie Williams: 31 May 2025, 14.18kW
• Bon Jovi: 22 June 2011, 13.20kW
• Spice Girls: 8 June 2019, 10.63kW
• One Direction: 3 June 2014, 6.82kW

The rankings were revealed ahead of Oasis’ return to the Scottish capital this weekend as part of their comeback tour.

The power output is not related to the volume of the band or the crowd; rather, it is the movement of fans jumping and dancing in time to the music, with the height of the jumping and weight of the crowd also potential factors.

BGS seismologist Callum Harrison said: “In 2009, seismic signals generated by Oasis fans were consistent with a crowd energy of 215kW at its peak – enough to power around 30 of the scooters featured on the iconic Be Here Now album cover.

“Our network of sensors around the country is sensitive enough to pick up ground movement from a source miles away that may not be detectable to humans – and precise enough to register exact timestamps for when the events occur.

“The peak energy reading was recorded around 8.30pm on that June evening back in 2009, which correlates to the time the band first took the stage and performed Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, which couldn’t be more fitting in terms of topping our seismic music chart.”

The BGS keeps an archive of continuous ground motion recordings from seismic sensors around the country, dating back several decades.

Mr Harrison said: “Improving our understanding of historical earthquakes is an important part of BGS research in trying to understand and mitigate the seismic risk around the country.”

Oasis will take to Murrayfield’s stage on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday, so there is potential for another “shakermaker”.

Mr Harrison said it is “certainly possible” the band could top their 2009 gig, adding: “We’ll just have to wait and see.

“The main contributing factors are going to be how energetic the crowd is. If they’re jumping along with the music, how high or how fast are they jumping?”