Higher-Learning :: Georgetown Offers New Course on Beyonce, Nicki Minaj & Lady Gaga

The Women’s Studies department at Georgetown University is offering a special course to students in their advanced special topics segment. Next semester, “Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Nicki Minaj: Gender and Spectacular Consumption” will be available for students to take as an elective.

According to American Studies professor Jeremy McCune, who created the class, it will examine pop culture’s consumption with the three megastars through looking at their clothes, fashion, and performances. He explained,

“The goal of this course is to look at the repertoire and work of these folks … and figure out how it is that we can have a discussion about these women as spectacular. The invention of the Internet and the web has created a circulation of these courses and their syllabi in a way that makes them — once again — spectacular, and they’ve become spectacles. I think that it’s important that education stay both fun, critical and political. This trio of women seem to be entering into a historic moment where we’re seeing much more experimental performances. Much more abstraction, much more play with gender, and we’re also seeing some moments where there are clear articulations of a feminist theory within the work.”

Emma O’Hara, a junior English major, is thrilled that this course will be offered:

“I love Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé, so I just thought it was a really cool offering. It’s interesting, especially with Lady Gaga, drag and the way she portrays herself… It helps a lot of people feel comfortable with themselves.”

This isn’t Georgetown’s first time to introduce a course that focuses on popular music figures. Last semester, they introduced a course called “Sociology of Hip-Hop: Jay-Z,” taught by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. Rutgers University also introduced a course this semester called “Politicizing Beyonce”.

It seems like incorporating pop culture into the classroom is becoming more common and popular. Do you think that these courses will be helpful (or harmful) to our futures of tomorrow?

[DiamondBackOnline]

– @Stunn_ing
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