Taylor Swift, the main character, a cultural icon, is included in “textbooks” at many of the world’s leading universities.
A series of courses in which Taylor Swift is the main character are opened at many of the world’s leading universities.
Taylor Swift once shared that if it wasn’t because she was a famous superstar, creating hits and winning the Grammy Album of the Year award three times, she would have returned to her desk. In an interview with GQ in 2015, she said: “I would have gone to college and maybe gone into business, where words and ideas come first.” .
Today, although Taylor Swift may be too famous to take college courses, her music and “self” have become the subject of study at many top universities in the United States. From Harvard to the University of Texas and Stanford, courses on Taylor Swift have become an integral part of the curriculum, spanning a decade.
Taylor Swift’s song is included in “textbooks”
Taylor Swift performs on “The Eras Tour” in Nashville on May 5. Photo: Page Six.
Some schools, such as the University of Arizona, have created psychology courses based on Taylor Swift’s songs. At the University of Florida, honors students will learn about the role of women in popular music, starting with Taylor Swift and extending to Dolly Parton and Aretha Franklin.
At UC Berkeley, Taylor Swift has inspired a business course on the artistic soul, focusing on how she builds her personal image and the time she spends owning her work. The instructor also uses the “Lover” singer’s work to compare Western classics, from Shakespeare to Yeats, in English classes.
Taylor Swift has become a major academic inspiration, even putting her name on courses to attract students’ attention. “Taylor gives us the opportunity to talk about topics that are inherently difficult to convince people about,” said Elizabeth Scala, professor of medieval history and culture at the University of Texas at Austin. She even uses Swift’s songbook as one of the main academic texts in her literary studies course.
Taylor Swift’s appeal to students has made classes interesting and engaging. Instructors know how to engage students by contextualizing a famous woman like Time’s 2023 “Person of the Year.”
Instructors like Katherine Jeng at Rice University have created courses like “Miss Americana: The Evolution and Lyrics of Taylor Swift,” not only to learn about Taylor Swift but also to discuss the criticism she encountered. must throughout your career. Such conversations also encourage students to freely express their opinions about Taylor Swift, including her pro-LGBTQ and non-political opinions.
According to CNN, these courses are not just about learning about Taylor Swift but also about understanding the powerful cultural influence of leading female artists like Swift. This helps students take Taylor Swift seriously, not only as a music star, but also as a cultural icon, conveying profound values and messages through her music.