After becoming the namesake of a new millipede species last month, Taylor Swift is expanding her academic domain from natural sciences to the arts and humanities: the English department at Queen's University has announced plans to run a cultural studies course on the singer-songwriter's literary legacy for the Fall 2022 semester.
Titled "Taylor Swift's Literary Legacy (Taylor's Version)," the course at Queen's is going hone in on close-reading Swift's oeuvre from a literary perspective, and it's believed to be the first of its kind to exist in Canada.
The topic of this particular undergraduate course within the English department — Cultural Studies: Theory into Practice — varies based on the instructor. Swiftian scholar and English PhD student Meghan Burry pitched her version in January, just around the time the Damon Albarn co-writing debacle was taking place and Swift was forced to defend her songwriting online.
"I think she has struggled to be taken seriously," Burry, founding member of the Queen's University Taylor Swift society, told The Toronto Star, "and I think it is overdue for a literary course on her." The academic's own doctoral research focuses on perceptions of "fallen women" in 19th century literature, which she says can easily lend itself to examining how a transgressive woman like Swift has been depicted in the media and how her public perception has evolved over nearly two decades in the music industry.
"What Taylor Swift Fans know as Easter eggs, literary scholars know as literary devices and it's what we're trying to teach in these undergraduate English courses," Burry said, referencing the artist's notorious knack for dropping as many cryptic hints as possible, leaving Swifties reading into her every move and developing elaborate fan theories to interpret the slightest detail. You know, like how your high school English teacher said that the author decided to make the curtains blue to represent the protagonist's profound sadness.
Burry added: "[Swift's] lyrics, her work, her career has academic value — and I'm really thrilled to be exploring that further."
The ENGL 294 course will take place on-campus at Queen's University in Kingston, ON, this fall. Registration opens this summer, and with only 75 spots available, there's reason to suspect that there will be a waitlist.
As previously reported, Rolling Stone staff writer Brittany Spanos taught a course on Swift at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music this past Winter 2022 semester, which reportedly outlined the evolution of the pop star's career to lead into discussions of the exploitation of youth and girlhood in the entertainment industry.
Meanwhile, the University of New Brunswick embraced Swift in its own way, starring in the music video for Ed Sheeran collaboration "The Joker and the Queen" last year.
Titled "Taylor Swift's Literary Legacy (Taylor's Version)," the course at Queen's is going hone in on close-reading Swift's oeuvre from a literary perspective, and it's believed to be the first of its kind to exist in Canada.
The topic of this particular undergraduate course within the English department — Cultural Studies: Theory into Practice — varies based on the instructor. Swiftian scholar and English PhD student Meghan Burry pitched her version in January, just around the time the Damon Albarn co-writing debacle was taking place and Swift was forced to defend her songwriting online.
"I think she has struggled to be taken seriously," Burry, founding member of the Queen's University Taylor Swift society, told The Toronto Star, "and I think it is overdue for a literary course on her." The academic's own doctoral research focuses on perceptions of "fallen women" in 19th century literature, which she says can easily lend itself to examining how a transgressive woman like Swift has been depicted in the media and how her public perception has evolved over nearly two decades in the music industry.
"What Taylor Swift Fans know as Easter eggs, literary scholars know as literary devices and it's what we're trying to teach in these undergraduate English courses," Burry said, referencing the artist's notorious knack for dropping as many cryptic hints as possible, leaving Swifties reading into her every move and developing elaborate fan theories to interpret the slightest detail. You know, like how your high school English teacher said that the author decided to make the curtains blue to represent the protagonist's profound sadness.
Burry added: "[Swift's] lyrics, her work, her career has academic value — and I'm really thrilled to be exploring that further."
The ENGL 294 course will take place on-campus at Queen's University in Kingston, ON, this fall. Registration opens this summer, and with only 75 spots available, there's reason to suspect that there will be a waitlist.
As previously reported, Rolling Stone staff writer Brittany Spanos taught a course on Swift at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music this past Winter 2022 semester, which reportedly outlined the evolution of the pop star's career to lead into discussions of the exploitation of youth and girlhood in the entertainment industry.
Meanwhile, the University of New Brunswick embraced Swift in its own way, starring in the music video for Ed Sheeran collaboration "The Joker and the Queen" last year.
