New class offered on Beyonce at Virginia Tech
In the midst of course request and planning schedules for the upcoming semester, student buzz has risen about a new class with an unexpected focus: Beyonce.
Professor Petra Rivera-Rideau, who has worked in the Africana Studies department at Tech for three years, will be offering “Theorizing Beyonce” for the first time in spring 2015.
“My idea came from two places,” said Rivera-Rideau, who also teaches introduction and graduate-level Africana courses. “First, there are some Beyonce courses at other universities. There are other universities and courses that use one particular person as a focal point, like Duke has a class on Michael Jackson and Georgetown has one on Jay Z. I was always interested in teaching a course like that.”
In addition to being influenced by other academics, Professor Rivera-Rideau also gained inspiration from her students.
“In my intro course, one of the assignments students have to do is write a paper where they look at some sort of representation of race in popular culture,” Rivera-Rideau said. “I often have students pick Beyonce and I realized a lot of my students were using Beyonce’s work to think about the issues and theories we were dealing with.”
“Theorizing Beyonce,” technically listed as AFST 4354: Issues in Africana Studies, will center around the famous singer in an effort to discuss greater race and gender issues.
“It’s a Beyonce class, but Beyonce is our entrance point for much bigger discussions about historical and contemporary cultural politics,” Rivera-Rideau said. “It’s not like we’re going to sit around and watch music videos and just talk about how awesome she is. We’re using her to think about very rigorous and complicated ideas, like representation, race and gender in the United States.”
According to Rivera-Rideau, Beyonce’s status as a pop icon makes her valuable for students to investigate on several levels.
“She’s such an attractive and difficult figure for people to analyze, because she’s complicated and often contradictory,” Rivera-Rideau said. “In some ways, she might be reinforcing certain stereotypes, and at the same time she might be expressing new possibilities of imagining race and gender in different ways.”
While the format of the class will consist mainly of lectures, Rivera-Rideau places significance on student interaction and discussion.
“I learn a lot from my students and their opinions, criticisms and analyses of the materials that we do in my classes,” Rivera-Rideau said. “Particularly for this kind of class, it’s important for students to be engaged, participating and talking. The whole point of the class is to use Beyonce’s work and representations of Beyonce to think about how these theories about race, gender and popular culture work.”
By analyzing a figure of pop culture, Rivera-Rideau wants to tie academic texts to everyday encounters.
“We read classic, historic and theoretical texts and then use popular culture to explain or see how those ideas are manifested in our current society,” Rivera-Rideau said. “This opens a space for students to be able to make their own critiques. They can make those connections and also think critically about what they’re reading and what they’re consuming in popular culture.”
Professor Rivera-Rideau hopes the course, which has no prerequisites, will have a variety of students — in both year and major.
In this light, she believes the class will provide useful skills and context, even for those not pursuing Africana studies.
“You will read different things and create an argument formed by these theories,” Rivera-Rideau said. “That’s the skill I want my students, not only in this class, to take away: the ability to think critically about what’s going on around you and how to communicate it. No matter what you do in your life, you’re going to have to do that.”
Olivia Hassell, a sophomore marketing major, looks forward to taking the class in the spring.
“I am 100 percent signing up for the course,” said Hassell, who took Rivera-Rideau’s Intro to Africana Studies class. “(We) both share an incredible appreciation for Queen B. I think Professor Rivera-Rideau is going to show the class all the shades of Beyonce.”
Professor Rivera-Rideau’s own personal appreciation influences her passion for the course.
“Yes, I’m a big fan of Beyonce,” Rivera-Rideau said. “I have all her records, but I’m also very critical of some of the things she does. But that’s why I want to teach the class. You have to teach what you love.”
Professor Petra Rivera-Rideau, who has worked in the Africana Studies department at Tech for three years, will be offering “Theorizing Beyonce” for the first time in spring 2015.
“My idea came from two places,” said Rivera-Rideau, who also teaches introduction and graduate-level Africana courses. “First, there are some Beyonce courses at other universities. There are other universities and courses that use one particular person as a focal point, like Duke has a class on Michael Jackson and Georgetown has one on Jay Z. I was always interested in teaching a course like that.”
In addition to being influenced by other academics, Professor Rivera-Rideau also gained inspiration from her students.
“In my intro course, one of the assignments students have to do is write a paper where they look at some sort of representation of race in popular culture,” Rivera-Rideau said. “I often have students pick Beyonce and I realized a lot of my students were using Beyonce’s work to think about the issues and theories we were dealing with.”
“Theorizing Beyonce,” technically listed as AFST 4354: Issues in Africana Studies, will center around the famous singer in an effort to discuss greater race and gender issues.
“It’s a Beyonce class, but Beyonce is our entrance point for much bigger discussions about historical and contemporary cultural politics,” Rivera-Rideau said. “It’s not like we’re going to sit around and watch music videos and just talk about how awesome she is. We’re using her to think about very rigorous and complicated ideas, like representation, race and gender in the United States.”
According to Rivera-Rideau, Beyonce’s status as a pop icon makes her valuable for students to investigate on several levels.
“She’s such an attractive and difficult figure for people to analyze, because she’s complicated and often contradictory,” Rivera-Rideau said. “In some ways, she might be reinforcing certain stereotypes, and at the same time she might be expressing new possibilities of imagining race and gender in different ways.”
While the format of the class will consist mainly of lectures, Rivera-Rideau places significance on student interaction and discussion.
“I learn a lot from my students and their opinions, criticisms and analyses of the materials that we do in my classes,” Rivera-Rideau said. “Particularly for this kind of class, it’s important for students to be engaged, participating and talking. The whole point of the class is to use Beyonce’s work and representations of Beyonce to think about how these theories about race, gender and popular culture work.”
By analyzing a figure of pop culture, Rivera-Rideau wants to tie academic texts to everyday encounters.
“We read classic, historic and theoretical texts and then use popular culture to explain or see how those ideas are manifested in our current society,” Rivera-Rideau said. “This opens a space for students to be able to make their own critiques. They can make those connections and also think critically about what they’re reading and what they’re consuming in popular culture.”
Professor Rivera-Rideau hopes the course, which has no prerequisites, will have a variety of students — in both year and major.
In this light, she believes the class will provide useful skills and context, even for those not pursuing Africana studies.
“You will read different things and create an argument formed by these theories,” Rivera-Rideau said. “That’s the skill I want my students, not only in this class, to take away: the ability to think critically about what’s going on around you and how to communicate it. No matter what you do in your life, you’re going to have to do that.”
Olivia Hassell, a sophomore marketing major, looks forward to taking the class in the spring.
“I am 100 percent signing up for the course,” said Hassell, who took Rivera-Rideau’s Intro to Africana Studies class. “(We) both share an incredible appreciation for Queen B. I think Professor Rivera-Rideau is going to show the class all the shades of Beyonce.”
Professor Rivera-Rideau’s own personal appreciation influences her passion for the course.
“Yes, I’m a big fan of Beyonce,” Rivera-Rideau said. “I have all her records, but I’m also very critical of some of the things she does. But that’s why I want to teach the class. You have to teach what you love.”
