Literature: Taylor's Version, Swift is now a course at Ghent University in Belgium

Imagine attending classes where your favorite pop star is the subject of study. Instead of focusing on calculus, you'd be analysing Taylor Swift's lyrics.

Elly McCausland's course syllabus at Ghent University is like a star-studded lineup of English literature, featuring renowned names such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Charlotte Brontë, and William Shakespeare. But what's truly causing a buzz is the unexpected addition of a prolific writer: Taylor Swift, the singer-songwriter.

All Swifties, get ready to shake it off but in literature!

McCausland, an assistant professor at the Belgian university, shared her excitement about the course's popularity. 

What

• The unique elective, centred on Taylor Swift, is a first of its kind in Europe. 
• McCausland came up with the idea after repeatedly noticing striking similarities between Swift's song lyrics and the English literature she's been studying for a long time.

• In Swift's song The Great War, Elly McCausland noticed similarities with how Sylvia Plath boldly talked about war and conflict to express her pain in the poem Daddy.
• Similarly, in Mad Woman, she addresses patriarchy and mental health, which reminded her of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story The Yellow Wallpaper.
• Starting in the fall, the upcoming course, titled "Literature: Taylor's Version", will explore these parallels.  

• It will use Swift's work as a starting point to explore a wide range of topics, spanning from writings of the 14th century to Margaret Atwood's interpretation of The Tempest.

McCausland isn't the first to introduce Swift in a university setting. In 2022, New York University's Clive Davis Institute led the way with a course exploring the "appeal and aversions" of the pop icon.

Get ready to take notes as we explore 8 similar college courses dedicated entirely to our favorite pop stars.

1. Lana Del Rey

New York University's Clive Davis Institute rolled out a fun course centred around Lana Del Rey in the fall of 2022. The course aimed to explore how the alt-pop star relates to feminism and connects with social justice movements.

Described as "Topics in Recorded Music: Lana Del Rey", the course delved into the artist's impact.

With eight acclaimed albums and six Grammy nominations, Lana Del Rey introduced a unique blend of sad core, dreamy pop, and baroque elements that transformed the musical landscape beyond the 2010s. 

The course highlighted Del Rey's captivating visuals and her themes of mental health and troubled love stories. 

2. Kanye West

Back in 2015, Georgia State University initiated a course centred on Kanye West, which was followed by another one in 2017 at Washington University in St Louis. 

Jump ahead five years, and Concordia University in Montreal introduced "Kanye vs Ye: Genius by Design", bringing the study of Kanye West to Canada.

Rapper and professor Yassin "Narcy" Alsalman, who taught the course, shared on Instagram that it provided an opportunity to invite remarkable guests to the university and explore the world through the perspective of one of the most influential artists of our time. 

3. Miley Cyrus

In 2014, Skidmore College in New York introduced a sociology class dedicated to Miley Cyrus, titled "The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender, and Media".

The instructor of the course, Professor Carolyn Chernoff, highlighted that discussions about female pop stars and their bodies involve factors like class, gender, sexuality, and race.

4. Drake and The Weekend

Guess where two of Toronto's biggest artists had a whole college class dedicated to them? Right in Toronto itself! Canada's X University (also known as Ryerson University) introduced an exciting course named "Deconstructing Drake and The Weeknd" in the fall of 2021. 

The goal was to delve into the Canadian music scene, highlighting the representation and infrastructure challenges that led both artists to develop their careers in the US rather than their home country.

The professor of the course, Dalton Higgins, enthusiastically declared on Instagram, "It's time to give our Canadian rap & R&B icons the recognition they deserve, whether it's through academia or other means." 

5. Beyoncé

When Beyoncé dropped her acclaimed album "Lemonade" in 2016, it felt like a game-changer for scholars' perspectives on the 28-time Grammy winner. 

During that fall, Dr Rachel Fedock taught a course at Arizona State University that cleverly linked Beyoncé's work with scholars like Gloria Jean Watkins (AKA bell hooks). 

The following year, Erik Steinskog led a course titled "Beyoncé, Gender and Race" at the University of Copenhagen.

The Queen Bey theme continued at the University of Texas at San Antonio and California Polytechnic State University. 

Kinitra Brooks, who organised a seminar on "Lemonade" at UT, even secured a grant from the University of Michigan to compile her teachings into a reader/syllabus.

6. Rihanna 

Rihanna was a significant part of a class taught at the University of Texas Austin titled "Beyoncé Feminism, Rihanna Womanism". 

This course, led by associate professor Dr Omise'eke Tinsley, examined how both these icons aligned with Black feminist principles.

7. Harry Styles

In July 2022, Texas State University introduced a class centred on Harry Styles and the broader phenomenon of idolising celebrities. 

The course's description stated, "This class delves into British artist Harry Styles and the broader European pop culture landscape. It explores the evolution of modern celebrity in terms of gender, sexuality, race, class, national and global influences, media, fashion, fan communities, internet culture, and consumerism."

8. Lady Gaga

In the spring of 2011, the University of South Carolina presented a class named "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame".

The course, instructed by professor and self-proclaimed Little Monster Mathieu Deflem, who also authored a book with the same title, had a focus on Gaga as a social phenomenon rather than as an individual.

The class took a sociological perspective, analysing various aspects of her music, videos, fashion, and more, as per BBC News.

Education just became interesting and groovy with our pop stars. Would you apply to these courses?