Nowadays, not only
are singers listened to on the radio, read about in the headlines and followed
on social media, but they are more frequently becoming the subjects of
university courses. For the latest in pop-star studies, the University of
Austin at Texas is offering a course titled ”Beyoncé Feminism, Rihanna
Womanism” for it’s spring 2015 semester.
According to the university website, students who enroll in the class should
expect more than just an endless loop of “Crazy in Love” or “Umbrella.”
The course will focus on “how the lyrics, music videos, and actions of these
women express various aspects of black feminism such as violence, economic
opportunity, sexuality, standards of beauty, and creative self-expression.” As
associate professor Natasha Tinsely, who works in the Department of African and
African Diaspora Studies at the University of Austin at Texas, sums it up: she
hopes that the course will shed light on the role black feminism plays in
popular culture as well as everyday life.
In the wake of the
current culture’s fixation on “girl power” – with Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, Sophia
Amorouso’s #GirlBoss crusade, and celebrities like Lena Dunham at the forefront
of the movement – it’s no surprise that celebrity figures are being used as
models to examine the movement.
According to Kevin
Allred, the professor of “Feminist
Perspectives: Politicizing Beyoncé” at Rutgers University, featuring
celebrities in course material, like Beyoncé and Rihanna in this case, is a
strategic way to draw students in.
“It’s a way to
speak to the students in something they’re already familiar with,” Allred tells
Yahoo Style. “So if professors use pop-culture figures, it makes it easier for
students to engage with the material. And it may get them interested in the
course while hopefully introducing them to a whole group of writers, history or
something they weren’t already aware of.”
So what, exactly,
does “Beyoncé Feminism” and “Rihanna Womanism” mean? For one, feminism and
womanism are merely different inflections of the same word. Allred suggests
that “Beyoncé Feminism” will entail positioning the artist in conversation with
US black feminism, while “Rihanna Womanism, ”(which comes from the term coined
by author Alice Walker in the 1980’s) may explore themes of feminism
experienced by Caribbean women.
Skyla Sale, an
English major at the University of Austin at Texas is excited about the
prospects of taking the course and thinks it’s interesting and progressive of
the university to include Beyoncé and Rihanna in the curriculum. Sophomore Bria
Benjamin is also hoping to enroll. “Even though the title is sensational, when
you look at what it’s about, I’m excited about the course because it involves a
sect of feminism that is often forgotten about and put aside,” Benjamin tells
Yahoo Style. “It’s important to remember that black feminism and conventional
feminism differ. This class is all about the cross section of gender and race
in terms of feminism.”
While Beyoncé is a
sensible choice – she declared that “girls run the world” in 2011, named her
world tour “The Mrs. Carter Show,” and actually called herself a “modern-day
feminist” last April in an interview with Vogue U.K. – the reason behind using
Rihanna as a model for feminism is not as clear. She stood her ground during
the notorious domestic violence case with Chris Brown and is known for her bold
persona and lyrics, but the artist has yet to publicly embrace the
f-word.
“It’s too limiting
to say who is or isn’t the perfect version of a feminist,” Alfred says. “And if
Beyoncé is claiming herself as a feminist we need to accept it, listen to it,
and investigate it.”
Still some have
voiced their contempt with using certain pop-stars as the faces of the feminist
movement including singer Annie Lennox, who recently dismissed Beyoncé as a
feminist in an interview with NPR. She referred to the star as “feminist lite,”
disapproving of her “overt sexuality thrusts.” But Allred disagrees. The
professor suggests that as the times change, society’s classification of what
feminism means and how universities teach about the topic should too.
“As feminism
revolutionizes, women are become more open sexually and this doesn’t negate the
fact that women shouldn’t get paid or treated equally. Just because a women is
embracing her sexually doesn’t mean politics should be any different,” Alfred
says.
This isn’t the
first time a university featured a female pop star-centric seminar. Skidmore
College offered “The Sociology of Miley Cyrus,” this summer while students at
the University of Virginia recently signed up for a course, “GaGa for Gaga:
Sex, Gender and Identity.”
Source: Yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment