Beyoncé is coming to the Ivy League.
Yale University announced that a course on Beyoncé’s carried will be offered at the institution, the Associated Press reports.
The course is titled “Beyoncé Makes History: Black Radical Tradition, Culture, Theory & Politics Through Music.” In the one-credit class, students will engage “the period from her 2013 self-titled album through this year’s genre-defying “Cowboy Carter.” The course will also explore the Houston native’s “engagement in social and political ideologies.”
Dr. Daphne Brooks, Professor of African American Studies at Yale, has been tapped to teach the course. She will use footage of her live performances and books from Black historical figures.
“We’re going to be taking seriously the ways in which the critical work, the intellectual work of some of our greatest thinkers in American culture resonates with Beyoncé’s music. And thinking about the ways in which we can apply their philosophies to her work.” Also how it has sometimes been at odds with the “Black radical intellectual tradition,” Brooks said.
Brooks says Beyoncé artistry can “spectacularly elevate awareness of and engagement with grassroots, social, political ideologies and movements”
“Can you think of any other pop musician who’s invited an array of grassroots activists to participate in these long-form multimedia album projects that she’s given us since 2013,” asked Brooks. She noted how Beyoncé has also tried to tell a story through her music about “race and gender and sexuality in the context of the 400-year-plus history of African-American subjugation.”
“She’s a fascinating artist because of historical memory, as I often refer to it. Also, the kind of impulse to be an archive of that historical memory. It’s just all over her work,” Brooks said. “And you just don’t see that with any other artist.”
The only issue with the course is that it’s not taking place when Queen Bey is out on tour.
“It’s too bad because if she were on tour, I would definitely try to take the class to see her,” Brooks said.
After more than two decades, Beyoncé is still going strong. At the 2025 Grammy Awards nominations, received 11 nods. She is up for Record, Song, and Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter.
She is now the most-nominated artist in Grammy history.
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