A Rutgers University professor has compared the work of pop star Beyoncé to award-winning Color Purple author Alice Walker and civil rights icon Sojourner Truth in a new class. Clutch Magazine reports that the class will be learning about how Beyoncé embodies her music and pushes boundaries:
For years now, academics have been studying the influence of pop culture on our lives. Classes about the blues, rock n’ roll, and hip hop have sprung up across the country and are now staples on university campuses. But a new course aiming to study the “Politicizing” of superstar Beyonce Knowles is causing quite a stir.
While it’s hard to deny Beyonce’s strangle-hold on pop culture during the last decade, Rutgers University lecturer Kevin Allred is turning a critical eye to the singer’s work. Comparing Bey’s music along side the writings of Alice Walker and Sojourner Truth, the course covers such topics as, “Beyoncé’s control over her own aesthetic, whether her often half-naked body is empowered or stereotypical, and her more racy performances as her alter ego, ‘Sasha Fierce.’”
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