Swifties may now enroll in a new course offered by this prestigious college, which was announced earlier this year. However, there's more to the program than just listening to songs like "Bad Blood" and "Blank Space" on repeat, as fans have discovered.
Students who complete the course will receive extra credit "for their deep dives into Swift's lyrics, music, and influence, dissecting her catalog and reading a host of authors Burt finds relevant to understanding Swift's artistry." The course will be taught by Professor Stephanie Burt, a devoted Swiftie herself.
The course is set to start next year.
Although the pop music-based course was still a secret before, an internet leaker has posted what appears to be the official syllabus on social media.
According to a portion of the description allegedly given to learners: "We will learn how to study fan culture, celebrity culture, adolescence, adulthood, and appropriation; how to think about white texts, Southern texts, transatlantic texts, and queer subtexts."
The leaker alludes to some of Swift's popular songs and says, "We will learn how to think about illicit affairs, and hoaxes, champagne problems, and incomplete closure."
It also mentioned that there are "no prerequisites" and that it is open to all Harvard undergraduates.
The first class, which begins on January 22, 2024, will outline what students can anticipate from the extremely specialized course.
The next classes will then research Swift's albums over the years, beginning with Taylor Swift, her debut album, and ending with Midnights, her album from 2022.
After this course had been leaked on social media, there were controversial opinions about whether or not this course needed to be taught in an educational system.
Yeah… I don’t think highly of college degrees anymore, especially the supposedly “prestigious” colleges, one said.
Queer subtexts' I wanna take the class so bad, wrote one person.
SIGN ME UP!!!! the second exclaimed.
This world is headed down the toilet in double time, someone expressed.
While other countries are studying engineering and advances in modern sciences, the good ‘ol U.S. of A thinks learning about an over-rated non-talented so-called singer is more important… that’s America, folks! another commented.
Wait this is a fantastic list, a different Swifite wrote.
How educational is this?!?! What about something for a person to be a productive person in society? This is definitely not it. This is a joke!! someone wrote.
Prior to the leak, Professor Burt discussed the course with The Crimson, the student publication at Harvard University.
He said, "We are lucky to be living in a time when one of our major artists is also one of the most famous people on the planet." Why don't you provide a course on that subject?
