Kanye West has been the subject of academic study in college classrooms before, and once again the superstar will be the focus of students at Washington University. The course, “Politics of Kanye West: Black Genius and Sonic Aesthetics,” at the St. Louis, Mo. institution already has a waiting list.The St. Louis-Dispatch reports:
Seventy-five students are registered for the course on the controversy magnet, and there was a waiting list to get in.
Georgia State University offered a course on West in 2015, and one at the University of Missouri in 2014 focused on West and Jay-Z. Dr. Jeffrey McCune, an associate professor in the African and African-American Studies and the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies departments, helms this course on the rapper, producer and fashion designer.
McCune promises the course isn’t an excuse to fawn over West’s music, nor will it be a weekly exercise in West bashing. Highlights from the artist’s life last year include a lauded album, “The Life of Pablo,” and a public breakdown followed by a stint in rehab.
McCune sees the course as a “good way to get students to connect issues of politics, race, gender, sexuality and culture.”
McCune’s course will be taught twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the latter day serving as a listening session with occasional guests. Below is a sampling of course topics courtesy of the Dispatch.
• “Who is Kanye West and Why Is He in the Flashing Lights?”
• “Touch the Sky, When the Aspirant Turns Genius”
• “Father Stretch My Hands, or How Hip-Hop Takes Us to Church”
• “Love Lock Down, or Hip-Hop’s Queer Love Languages”
• “I Love Kanye, or How Critique Slips Into Hate”