We’re This Much Closer to Majoring in Beyoncé

Since the release of Lemonade in April, we’ve all been studying the way Beyoncé manages to create award-winning music, tell a compelling story and own the zeitgeist in one fell swoop. Now, a lucky handful of people can literally become experts in Queen Bey.

The University of Texas at San Antonio is offering a course called “Black Women, Beyoncé, and Popular Culture” that will “explore the theoretical, historical, and literary frameworks of black feminism, which feature prominently in Lemonade,” the professor, Dr. Kinitra D. Brooks, writes in the syllabus. “We will use Lemonade as a starting point to examine the sociocultural issues that are most prominent in black womanhood through black feminist theory, literature, music, and film,” Brooks adds.

The class will also incorporate Toni Morrison’s Sula, among other litearture. As a final project, students will make their own three-minute films. Brooks also notes that being a Beyoncé fan is not a pre-requisite:”I was appreciative to Beyoncé because she got so many folks who wouldn’t normally be interested in black feminism, in West African religious practices, involved in those topics,” the professor told Mic in an interview.

“You do not have to be the smartest, most well read student in the university. You do not have to be the best writer. You do not have to be a member of the Beyhive,” the syllabus reads. “I simply ask that you are willing to be uncomfortable—to have your thoughts and ideas challenged—and then to work/read/write your way through that uncomfortability in order to become a stronger critical thinker.”

Sign us up—we’re ready to have feminist textbooks in our bags, swag.

[h/t AJC.com]