{"id":76647,"date":"2024-03-25T12:05:41","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T16:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/03\/25\/urgency-and-realness-inside-the-human-rights-campaigns-beyonce-inspired-renaissance-syllabus\/"},"modified":"2024-03-25T12:05:41","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T16:05:41","slug":"urgency-and-realness-inside-the-human-rights-campaigns-beyonce-inspired-renaissance-syllabus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2024\/03\/25\/urgency-and-realness-inside-the-human-rights-campaigns-beyonce-inspired-renaissance-syllabus\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Urgency and Realness\u2019: Inside the Human Rights Campaign\u2019s Beyonc\u00e9-Inspired \u2018Renaissance\u2019 Syllabus"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tIt may be Cowboy Carter<\/em> week, but the silvery disco ball strobe lights of Renaissance<\/em> \u2014 the first act of Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s presently unfolding trilogy \u2014 continue to illuminate the world. On Monday (March 26), the Human Rights Campaign debuted Renaissance: A Queer Syllabus<\/a><\/em>, a sprawling collection of academic articles, essays, films and other pieces of media rooted in Black queer and feminist studies and directly inspired by each track on Queen Bey\u2019s Billboard 200-topping dance album.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"THE<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Are You Really Coming to Help Us?\u2019: How the Beyonc\u00e9-Sponsored Equality Ball Prioritized Black\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tCurated by Justin Calhoun, Leslie Hall and Chauna Lawson of the HRC\u2019s HBCU program, the syllabus will serve as an educational resource designed to honor, analyze and celebrate the joy, resilience, innovation and legacy of the Black queer community. The syllabus will be shared with nearly 30 historically Black colleges and universities, including Howard University, North Carolina A&T University, Prairie View A&M University and Shaw University.<\/p>\n

\n\tReleased in the summer of 2022, Renaissance<\/em> was and continues to be a bonafide cultural phenomenon. A lovingly researched ode to the Black queer roots of dance music filtered through her intensely personal relationship with her late Uncle Johnny, the album captivated fans around the world and shined a much-needed light on the unsung movers and shakers of Black queer art and culture. The album won four Grammys \u2014 including a historic win<\/a> for best dance\/electronic album \u2014 housed a pair of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits in \u201cBreak My Soul\u201d (No. 1) and \u201cCuff It\u201d (No. 6) and spawned a record-breaking stadium tour<\/a> and accompanying box office-topping documentary concert film.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the economic impact<\/a> of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s silver fashion aesthetic to career boosts<\/a> given to Black queer icons such as Kevin Aviance, Ts Madison and Honey Dijon, Renaissance<\/em> proved itself to be much more than a standard LP. The HRC understood that there was a chance to make a real impact across education and activism through the lens of the record.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are ways that we can embed the impact of her lyrics into real life. It was serendipitous for this to happen,\u201d said Hall, director of the HRC\u2019s HBCU Program. \u201cAll the anti-DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] laws were being introduced in the same states that she was doing concerts in. So, what would it look like for us to put our best thinking together to put articles, books, and movies to all of the songs on her album?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn May 15, 2023 \u2014 just three shows into the Renaissance World Tour \u2014 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill<\/a> banning DEI initiatives in public colleges. A month later (June 14, 2023), the governor of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s home state of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed a bill<\/a> prohibiting DEI offices and the hiring of DEI staff at public higher education institutions.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe juxtaposition of rising anti-queer sentiments and Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Renaissance<\/em> era anchors the syllabus\u2019 arrangement. The syllabus begins with a brief statement summarizing and reiterating the HRC\u2019s June 2023 LGBTQ+ State of Emergency statement, which they declared \u201cfor the first time following an unprecedented and dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping state houses.\u201d The final pages of the syllabus contain both a reprint of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s statement<\/a> in memory of O\u2019Shea Sibley \u2014 a young Black queer man who was murdered in Brooklyn back in July 2023 for simply voguing to Renaissance<\/em> -\u2014and an additional statement from the HRC denouncing hate crimes.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Hayley<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tMusicians Who\u2019ve Spoken Out Against Recent Anti-LGBTQ Bills: Hayley Williams, Lizzo, Ariana Grande\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\t\u201cI think when you preface something [with] a state of emergency, you get the lay of the land and how important [the] syllabus is,\u201d said Calhoun, an HBCU program manager at HRC. \u201cIt brings a sense of urgency and realness to what\u2019s actually happening to queer youth, especially black Queer Youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCalhoun \u2014 alongside Hall and Lawson \u2014 began work on the syllabus in October 2023, dividing the album\u2019s 16-song tracklist into different themes and building hubs of additional secondary resources that expound on said themes. Despite Calhoun\u2019s initial concerns that breaking up the tracklist would \u201close the flow\u201d of the album \u2014 Renaissance<\/em> is intentionally mixed and sequenced to emulate a seamless DJ set \u2014 he ultimately agreed that the approach helped the syllabus feel more like a lesson plan.<\/p>\n

\n\tSix themes anchor the syllabus, ranging from \u201cintersectionality and inclusivity\u201d to \u201csocial justice and activism.\u201d Fan favorite tracks like \u201cAlien Superstar\u201d and \u201cThique\u201d rope in the origins of the body positivity moment and iconic speeches from Barbara Ann Teer (including the one sampled on \u201cSuperstar\u201d) under the umbrella of \u201cempowerment and self-acceptance.\u201d \u201cEnergy,\u201d the song behind the infamous \u201cmute challenge,\u201d gets new readings by interloping essays from bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins. Even less-famed tracks like \u201cMove\u201d (with Grace Jones & Tems) \u2014 which is paired with fascinating readings on the effects of colonialism on pre-colonial Africa and African perspectives on trans identity \u2014 get in on the scholarly fun.<\/p>\n

\n\tNaturally, \u201cHeated,\u201d a song that had an intense, immediate impact on Renaissance<\/em> listeners with deep ties to the ballroom scene, served as the crux of the syllabus, according to Calhoun. \u201cIt was the model child for how a section of the syllabus should look,\u201d he explains. \u201cThere was so much to unpack in \u2018Heated.\u2019 You have Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Uncle Johnny, a Black gay man [living] during the AIDS epidemic \u2014 that lead to us [compiling different resources] about how we lost a generation of black gay men who were visionaries and people who paved the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe syllabus is a thorough resource, one that continues the HRC\u2019s connection with Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Renaissance<\/em> era. On Aug. 27, 2023, the HRC, with support from Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s BeyGOOD Foundation, mounted the Equality Ball<\/a> in Las Vegas, NV \u2013 an event that doubled as actual ball complete with a \u201cBring It Like Beyonc\u00e9\u201d category and an educational resource pushing voter registration and sexual health awareness.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough Parkwood Entertainment, Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s production company, did not authorize or give \u201cdirect sign off\u201d on the syllabus (Billboard<\/em> reached out to representatives at Parkwood for comment), creating the resource was \u201ca seamless process,\u201d according to Calhoun. <\/strong>\u201cWe knew amongst the team which authors and which folks to go to for certain things, I don\u2019t think any of us did many Google searches,\u201d said Hall. \u201cWe knew where to go to connect the right [resources] to one of her songs [and] build a course out of it. It is really a testament to well-read, well-learned people. I feel obligated to say that because we don\u2019t talk about ourselves like that. We\u2019re smart. It would take folks with Howard degrees to put something like this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom Pauli Murray and C. Riley Snorton to Audre Lorde and Sonya Renee Taylor, HRC\u2019s new syllabus continues Renaissance\u2019<\/em>s mission of highlighting, amplifying and re-centering Black and queer voices. Of course, this syllabus is far from the first piece of Beyonc\u00e9-inspired coursework in higher education. Following the release of the Grammy winner\u2019s culture-shifting album Lemonade<\/em> in 2016, a slew of Beyonc\u00e9-themed classes debuted across higher education institutions \u2014 including the University of Copenhagen, Rutgers University, Arizona State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Hall, the rise of courses tackling social constructs through the lens of pop culture is only a good thing. \u201cWe\u2019re in a powder keg right now, and it\u2019s gonna pop around election time,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have to get information to folks in younger generations. We need them to be connected to what\u2019s really happening and a way to do that is through music and culture.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tNonetheless, Hall and his colleagues aren\u2019t oblivious to the fact that Renaissance<\/em> exists in an intrinsically capitalistic context. \u201c[It\u2019s] something I grapple with so much,\u201d notes Calhoun. \u201cI had a teacher who once said that capitalism is the current structure and we have to live under it. This is how life operates. What is Beyonc\u00e9 going to do to stop a capitalist structure? I just don\u2019t feel like we\u2019re at a point in the movement where we know what we want [people like her] to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile there may be no current plans for a Cowboy Carter<\/em> syllabus \u2014 \u201cbeing from the Mississippi Delta, that would be dope, but it depends on Beyonc\u00e9,\u201d quipped Calhoun \u2014 the HRC\u2019s Renaissance<\/em> syllabus is the ultimate proof that the Renaissance is, in fact, not over.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve made a course that adds to scholarship about Black queer futures and specifically ballroom and uplifting history that\u2019s not as popular in academia,\u201d says Calhoun. \u201cIt really adds to the academic cannon of Black queer scholarship in a way we haven\u2019t seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may be Cowboy Carter week, but the silvery disco ball strobe lights of Renaissance \u2014 the first act of Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s presently unfolding trilogy \u2014 continue to illuminate the world. On Monday (March 26), the Human Rights Campaign debuted Renaissance: A Queer Syllabus, a sprawling collection of academic articles, essays, films and other pieces of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}