The Genius of Taylor Swift: Exploring Pop Stardom with Stephanie Burt at URI's Humanities Lecture Series
Stephanie Burt, a Harvard University professor and poetry expert, will delve into the artistry and celebrity of pop superstar Taylor Swift during the University of Rhode Island’s Humanities and Popular Culture/Counterculture lecture series. Burt's talk, titled "The Genius of Taylor Swift: A Crash Course on the Pop Superstar," will take place on Thursday, March 26, at 4 p.m. at the Robert J. Higgins Welcome Center on the Kingston Campus. The lecture series, hosted by the URI Center for the Humanities, covers a wide range of topics and is co-sponsored by various departments and grants. Burt will analyze Swift's body of work and the community she has cultivated through her art.
The presentation by Burt is part of URI's annual Spring Humanities Festival and will be livestreamed for those who register. Burt, a prolific writer with nine published books, including critical works on poetry and poetry collections, will also sign copies of her latest book, "Taylor's Version," which delves into Swift's creations and enduring songs. Attendees are invited to arrive early to make friendship bracelets, a tradition among Swift's fans, and witness the presentation of the Center for the Humanities' Student Excellence Awards to two deserving URI students.
Claire McCullough, a senior majoring in French, will receive the undergraduate award, while Molly McDonagh, a graduate student majoring in history, will be honored with the graduate award. McCullough's research focuses on preserving the Mississippi Gulf Coast French dialect through oral history projects, while McDonagh's interests span from tattoo culture to the Black Death in Medieval Europe. The lecture series will conclude with a discussion on Shakespeare by Jeffrey Wilson, a Shakespeare scholar at Harvard, on Thursday, April 23, wrapping up a year of engaging and diverse topics.