Yale class to examine Beyoncé’s political, cultural impact

Yale University is offering a full course dedicated to Beyoncé and her impact on politics and culture, following a trend among schools that are carving out credits to study specific pop stars.

The spring 2025 course is called “Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition History, Culture, Theory & Politics through Music” and will be taught by professor Daphne Brooks. 

“This class centers the 2010s and 2020s’ sonic and visual repertoire of Beyonce Knowles-Carter (from 2013’s self-titled album through 2024’s ‘Cowboy Carter’) as the portal through which to rigorously examine key interdisciplinary works of Black intellectual thought and grassroots activist practices across the centuries,” the course description reads.  

The class centered on the 32-time Grammy winner builds on a course Brooks taught at Princeton called “Black Women in Popular Music Culture.” 

“[This class] seemed good to teach because [Beyoncé] is just so ripe for teaching at this moment in time,” Brooks told the Yale Daily News. “The number of breakthroughs and innovations she’s executed and the way she’s interwoven history and politics and really granular engagements with Black cultural life into her performance aesthetics and her utilization of her voice as a portal to think about history and politics — there’s just no one like her.” 

Beyoncé’s recent appearance at a rally for Vice President Harris on the campaign trail threw her back in the political spotlight the splash release of “Cowboy Carter” earlier in the year.

On Friday, she became the most-nominated artist in Grammy Awards history.

The class will focus on Beyoncé’s later work, including “Lemonade,” “Renaissance” and “Cowboy Carter.” 

Multiple other universities have also offered courses solely dedicated to Beyoncé due to her impact on the culture.  

“In short, this is a class that traces the relationship between Beyonce’s artistic genius and Black intellectual practice,” the class description concludes.