Beyoncé degree introduced in the US
Rutgers University in the US has recently announced that they will be offering a degree in the politics of Beyoncé.
The class uses Ms Knowles’ career to explore American race, gender and sexual politics. Students will also analyse her lyrics alongside readings from black feminists.
Unconventional courses are not a first at American universities. The prestigious Berkeley University, part of the University of California system, offers a module that uses philosophy to analyse hit show ‘The Simpsons’.
Meanwhile the University of Baltimore offers a whole degree in Zombie Studies, and a range of US universities offer courses in underwater basket weaving.
UK universities have their fair share of unusual subjects too. Warwick’s neighbour Coventry University hosts a degree in Parapsychology, a course which questions the existence of ghosts, haunted houses and life after death.
Durham University has made headlines for their Harry Potter module, while a 12-week course at Staffordshire University allows undergraduates to study David Beckham’s changing hairstyles and sex symbol status.
Other options range from Heriot-Watt’s course in brewing and distilling to the Central school of speech and drama’s highly competitive puppetry course.
Amy Guest, first-year Theatre and Performance undergraduate commented: “Some of these courses may be more relevant when you put them into a contemporary context, especially things like the sociology aspect of it is what is relevant today.”
Emily Stevenson, first-year Literature student was positive about the idea of studying Harry Potter: “It might seem like quite an easy module to do if you really love the book and it is quite interesting to study it in a broader context.”
Stephen Perry, second-year Medical Microbiology and Virology student, however, said: “Most of these degrees have no real-life use and sound to me like a waste of money.”
Comments (6)
They could also be Lewisian attainable worlds, they could also be states of a pc, they could also be moments in time, they could also be
pebbles, they may be fruitcakes. https://math-problem-solver.com/ .
Maclaurin and Dyke say that a concept is naturalistic
iff it has observable consequences.
The most absurd thing about this is that Beyonce doesn’t write her lyrics so studying them is not a window into her psyche. She has songwriters who write in her voice and she pretends the songs reflect her existence. It’s such artifice and her entire persona is such artifice that I can’t imagine how any authentic study can be done.
Wow awkward. Not only is this published like a month after everyone else published it, but it gets all the facts wrong.
It’s not a degree, it’s a single course.
It’s Rutgers State University, not University of New Jersey.
New Jersey? Well, no wonder.
..
You know? I think in a country where people can afford to introduce a “Beyonce degree”, it’s rather hard to complain about the economy.