Queer/Popular/Music

Catalog description

Queer theory is a scholarly field that might be applied to the study of popular music to illuminate how queerness shapes and is shaped by popular culture. This scholarly field emerged out of LBTQ and queer studies to destabilize normative categories of gender (male/female), sexuality (heterosexual/homosexual), and their power relations that have structured American society. Even though queer identities, experiences, and lives have become more accepted in contemporary culture, queer performers still remain largely marginalized in popular music. However, queer performers and queer performances have always been central to popular music and culture, contributing to the destabilization of systematic gender and sexuality norms. This course will explore the relationship between queer theory and popular music, as we consider ways that the spectrum of queer identities has been articulated, constructed, performed, and consumed within popular music and society at large. In addition to introducing students to foundational texts in queer theory and identity studies, we will critically consider how the lives, performance, music, and reception of selected musical figures have contributed to the conversation of queer identity and sexuality in popular culture—from the blues of the 1920s to trap music of the contemporary era. While the class will focus on specific eras of popular music and selected artists, each class will concentrate on a topic that considers queer theories, reading practices, and performances to explore the myriad ways queer identities are central to and impacted by popular culture and society at large. We will also consider how queer identities in and out of popular music are mediated by culture and societal norms, and how these identities are further impacted by race, class, gender, and religion. Bessie Smith, Rosetta Tharpe, Billy Strayhorn, Little Richard,…