Kanye West’s Encounter With Taylor Swift at the VMAs to Be Examined by College Students
Who hasn’t watched Kanye West and wondered: What does it all mean? His bizarre quotes, all those feuds, and his plans to run for president are often mystifying.
Seventy-five students at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., will get closer to the answer this semester as they examine West in a new course, “Politics of Kanye West: Black Genius and Sonic Aesthetics.” The 14-week course will explore topics including West’s genius, his haters, and the way he and hip-hop music intersect with race, sexuality, and politics. One section will be dedicated to West’s infamous encounter with Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Lectures are once a week, and there also are weekly listening parties.
Related: What the What? Kanye West Meets With President-Elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in NYC
Dr. Jeffrey McCune, an associate professor at the university who’s working on a book titled On Kanye West, is teaching the course. The class is a “good way to get students to connect issues of politics, race, gender, sexuality and culture,” McCune told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Many people spend a lot of time talking about Kanye as a controversial and somewhat hot-headed figure,” says McCune, who teaches in the African and African-American Studies and the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies departments. “They’re very interested in Kanye West as a source of personality. Throughout his career, he has always interested me — his sense of black excellence, his belief that we have within us the capacity for greatness. I know for Kanye that has translated as narcissism and arrogance.”
Related: Kanye West’s Complicated History With Presidents
Still, McCune adds, the rapper and designer is undeniably important.
“What better time than now to take seriously Kanye West as a cultural icon? I’m always interested in how he’s pushing whatever boundaries.”
West has inspired courses before, including Georgia State University’s 2016 class “Kanye vs. Everybody” and a deep dive into the poetry found in West’s songs in 2014. In 2013, a University of Missouri professor with a background in literature began offering a course examining West and Jay Z. Jay’s wife, Beyoncé (“Politicizing Beyoncé”), as well as Miley Cyrus (“The Sociology of Miley Cyrus”) and Lady Gaga (“Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame”), are some of the other celebs who have been studied in college classrooms, undoubtedly disappointing many parents.
When it comes to West, let’s hope that someone reports back on what they learn.
