Scholars, students to discuss Beyoncé and black feminism

Beyoncé Knowles performs on Good Morning America. Photo: Wikipedia Commons

The University of Illinois at Chicago gender and women’s studies program will present “Who Run the Classroom?: Scholars & Students Discuss Black Feminism & Beyoncé,” a community classroom event on the pop icon’s connection to contemporary issues of class, race, gender and sexuality. The event is titled after a song lyric, “Who run the world?”

WHEN:

March 18
5:30 – 8 p.m.

WHERE:

UIC Lecture Center A1
805 S. Morgan St.
(located directly west of UIC Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted St.)

DETAILS:

Jennifer Richardson, UIC

Jennifer Richardson, UIC research assistant professor of gender and women’s studies, and Kevin Allred, doctoral candidate at Rutgers University, will discuss how they each utilize the music and career of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter to explore issues of black feminist theory with their students.

Allred, a scholar of black feminism, pop culture and U.S. politics, began teaching “Politicizing Beyoncé: Black Feminism, U.S. Politics, & Queen Bey” at Rutgers in 2010. His course has been the subject of media coverage from outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, Rolling Stone, the Washington Post and National Public Radio.

Kevin Allred, Rutgers

Richardson is teaching a UIC spring semester course “Beyoncé: Critical Feminist Perspectives of U.S. Black Womanhood,” which examines the artist’s music and career and her attempt to position herself as a feminist and queer figure, along with larger issues of representation of African American women in the media.

Students will join Richardson and Allred in discussion and present work from their midterm projects that offers critical analysis of the artist’s work.

Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, email uic.gws@gmail.com or call (312) 996-2441.