Here’s how you can sit in at UP’s Taylor Swift class online
This one's for you, Pinoy Swifties and pop culture lovers!
If you’re interested in the Taylor Swift course being offered by the University of the Philippines, you’d be happy to know you can sit in at one of its sessions.
Cherish Aileen Brillon of the UP College of Mass Communication told PhilSTAR L!fe that the free class “will talk about the intersection of celebrity and politics—and what it means for democracy.”
“We will be coming from the Miss Americana as a jump-off point for discussion,” the professor said.
You may register for the meeting here. It will take place via Zoom on May 8 at 1:30 p.m.
Can’t make it to the given schedule? Brillon said there will also be a roundtable discussion with Filo Swifties on May 16 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the CMC Auditorium.
Open to the public, the roundtable chat “will delve deeper into the connection between Taylor Swift and her Filipino fans including their politics and participation in civic activities.” Details on the registration process are yet to be finalized.
A Swiftie Con, which Brillon described as a “creative culmination of the class,” will also be held on June 7 at the CMC Grounds.
“Puwedeng performance or exhibit, etc., as long as it's an application of what the students learned in class,” she explained. Further details are yet to be disclosed.
The Taylor Swift course in UP was announced early this year.
According to Brillon, the elective under BA Broadcast Media Arts and Studies “focuses on the conception, construction, and the performance of Taylor Swift as a celebrity and how she can be used to explain our and, of course, media’s relationship with class, politics, gender, race, and fantasies of success and mobility.”
Through the offering, Brillon said she’s interested in "how Filipinos have appropriated Swift not only as transnational icon but also as a signifier of an emerging type of local fandom activism."
Before this, courses on Swift have likewise been offered in several universities like Stanford University, New York University (where she also has an honorary Doctor of Arts), Harvard University, University of Texas, and Ghent University in Belgium.