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Texas State University will offer a Harry Styles class next spring : NPR


Harry Styles performs at a small table concert in 2020. He will soon be the subject of a course at Texas State University.

Maximum positioner / NPR


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Maximum positioner / NPR


Harry Styles performs at a small table concert in 2020. He will soon be the subject of a course at Texas State University.

Maximum positioner / NPR

A new college history course at Texas State University will focus on Harry styles and celebrity culture. Starting next spring, about 20 lucky college students will be learning how – like a pop star very famous put it – “it’s not like it was.”

Louie Dean Valencia, a professor of digital history and a longtime Styles fan, Announcement on Twitter last weekend that the university’s honors college approved his course, “Harry Styles and Celebrity Culture: Identity, the Internet, and European Pop Culture,” for the spring of next year. 2023.

That post has since garnered over 10,000 likes, inspired news coverage from media around the world, and prompted Valencia to estimate hundreds of messages.

He then tweeted. “I want students to not only learn about contemporary history, but also be able to use difficult skills! Like how to manage a social media campaign!”

One driver for the course says it will focus on popular European Style and culture to better understand the cultural and political developments of modern celebrity, covering a wide range of topics including gender and sexuality , internet culture, media, class and consumerism. Students will practice evaluating sources, sharpening their auditory and visual analysis, and learn technical skills like audio editing as they work on their final project, a podcast.

Valencia’s own work mainly focuses on countercultures, especially the anti-fascist and anti-fascist youth cultures of 20th-century Europe. But he had to pause his research. themselves – most recently a comparative history of HIV/AIDS across European cities – as the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Valencia told NPR in a phone interview that he has started two new projects during the summer of 2020: learning the electric guitar and writing a book about how the world has changed over the past decade. Styles’ prism. Two years later, he’s made measurable progress.

“As my guitar instructor jokingly said, if you record it for me and then speed it up twice, it’s almost like a normal song,” Valencia said, laughing. “As far as the book goes, it’s very close to completion.”

He ends the book with a chapter comparing scenes and experiences at different Styles’ concerts, and there are still a few more chapters left on his calendar – one in Madrid next week, three in Austin. in the fall. Plus, Valencia says he might have to add another chapter on last week’s events, adding that “it’s probably going to be a bit of a meta eventually.”

The research Valencia has done for his book – as well as his personal fondness for One Direction and Styles – has helped him shape the direction (no pun intended) of the class. . But as he explains, the process of planning, developing, and getting approval isn’t simple.

Valencia poses for a selfie at the Victoria and Albert museum in London, where an exhibition showcases the colorful cardigan that inspired a fever during the pandemic.

Louie Dean Valencia


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Louie Dean Valencia


Valencia poses for a selfie at the Victoria and Albert museum in London, where an exhibition showcases the colorful cardigan that inspired a fever during the pandemic.

Louie Dean Valencia

He hatched and developed the idea during the pandemic

Valencia eagerly talks about Styles’ love of music and the role it plays in his personal and professional life.

He is doing his PhD. from 2010 to 2016, the exact years that One-way was active (not to mention a worldwide craze). As a historian of fascism often working with dark documents, Valencia says he appreciates the band’s uplifting music and relaxed environment at their concerts. Valencia then took up a one-year teaching position at Harvard in 2017 – just as Styles’ solo career was flourishing.

“Once I got my own feet, seeing how he grew as an artist, as someone who wanted to be taken seriously, maybe, in a world that doesn’t necessarily feel like feels like welcoming… I think when he got his start as a solo artist, that especially resonated with me in so many ways,” he recalls.

Valencia was teaching in the State of Texas for several years during the pandemic. First, he taught completely remotely and then in a masked, socially distanced classroom, which he said makes connecting with students difficult. He found that talking more openly and passionately about his interests – specifically his appreciation for Style – at the beginning or end of the session helped to push those boundaries. .

“Whenever I do, students open up to their own interests in music, which sometimes overlap with mine, and a lot of times we’ve had really good conversations about topics. theme in his music,” he said, pointing to Styles’ performance and activism.

It’s not unprecedented for universities to offer courses in contemporary music icons: Some have created classes around Beyoncéa University of South Carolina professor taught a sociology class about Lady Gaga and New York University’s Clive Davis Institute recently introduced a class on Taylor Swift (who received a Honorary Doctorate college fine arts earlier this spring).

Valencia approached the honorary college rector in the fall of 2021 with an idea for a class, and wrote what eventually became a 23-page proposal over the winter break. It was a long process and seven months later, the course was officially on the books.

Now, Valencia is listening to the scores of people excited about the class. People of all ages wanted to enroll, some wanted to follow the discussions online, others even wanted him to include their fan poetry in the syllabus.

Valencia estimates he’s received nearly a thousand emails and texts in the past week, and says he’s “astonished” at the positive response. In fact, between responding to media requests and reading messages, he wasn’t quite able to respond to them.

“I’m really trying to think about how to answer all these questions in a way that shows the love people have shown in their messages,” he said. Or, as Styles likes to say, be nice to everyone.

Students will study historical records and podcast production

Classes are open to undergraduates in the school’s honors college, but are not limited to history majors.

Popular classes often select students through a lottery system, and Valencia humbly says he thinks that might be the case with this system.

Once students get the grade they want, what exactly will they spend the next 15 weeks studying?

Valencia says that in order to stick to the facts, they only look at things that Styles herself has put in the public record. These include his music, films and productions, interviews and musical and literary influences he has discussed in the past, from Susan Sontag to Haruki Murakami to Alain de Botton.

The course will primarily proceed in chronological order, with topics changing by date. Of course, Valencia adds, they will check out One Direction and Styles solo albums in order.

Valencia visits Styles’ hometown in Holmes Chapel, England.

Louie Dean Valencia


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Louie Dean Valencia


Valencia visits Styles’ hometown in Holmes Chapel, England.

Louie Dean Valencia

He says he’s particularly excited to teach a history class that focuses on recent events, which is relatively rare in the field. Plus, he notes, young freshmen might not even remember some of the moments and trends that the class will cover during its 12 years.

“I think a class like this has the benefit of really exploring the changes that have happened over the last 12 years and helping to put that into context for students in a way that complements other classes in the history department. Historically, this type of perspective gives other possible perspectives Valencia said.

Students will talk about how things like Brexit affect Styles tours and products, as well as social issues Styles has spoken out about, including the Black Lives Matter movement and gun control. .

Valencia says that in addition to participation scores, students will be assessed as they complete the increments of their podcast, like research, script writing, audio editing, and peer reviews.

He envisions the end product as a series of podcast episodes that are distinct enough to cover a wide range of topics, yet cohesive enough to be packaged into a single series and released online to a wider audience. .

Classes are limited to 20, at least for now

Valencia plans to meet with university officials to think about a number of ways the demand can be met. He estimates it will probably take another six months to develop an online version of the class that people have been asking about.

“I don’t think anyone wants another online class,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, the plot changed!” ”

In any case, he hopes to offer this class as many times as the university will give him.

And to answer another question on everyone’s mind: No, Styles herself isn’t scheduled to make a guest appearance – at least not yet. Valencia said he enjoyed it, but didn’t know how to get in touch with the star’s team.

Without a famous guest star, what are his other dreams for the class? Valencia says he has a big one, although admits it sounds a bit cheesy:

“I love that students leave class with the sense of narcissism that many Harry fans have when they leave his performances,” he said. “And also think that maybe now they have the tools to do something in the world.”





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