Imagine you are in college and you see a new course being offered about the rapper and singer Bad Bunny. Would you enroll? If so, what topics do you think the course might cover? What would you be most excited to learn? Why do you think the college is offering it in the first place?
If you would not enroll in the Bad Bunny course, is there another cultural figure alive today, such as an athlete, artist, musician, business executive or scientist, that you would be interested in taking a class on instead?
In “Bad Bunny (the College Course) Heads to the Ivy League,” Alex Vadukul writes about an upcoming course at Yale University devoted to Bad Bunny, who is a Puerto Rican superstar:
Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga are among a handful of living pop artists who have amassed enough cultural clout to result in college classes being taught about them. At 31, the global superstar Bad Bunny is about to have (at least) his third, as Yale University plans to offer a course about him this fall.
The Yale course, “Bad Bunny: Musical Aesthetics and Politics,” was conceived by Albert Laguna, an associate professor of American studies and ethnicity, race and migration. The Yale Daily News was the first to report on the new course, saying that Professor Laguna was inspired to create the class by Bad Bunny’s latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” which the artist has described as his “most Puerto Rican album ever.”
Bad Bunny was raised in the coastal town of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, and has risen over the past decade to become a megastar of reggaeton and Latin trap, helping launch Spanish-language music into the contemporary pop mainstream. He has since netted three chart-topping Billboard albums, headlined at Coachella and become one of the most streamed artists in the world. But his new album, which was recorded in Puerto Rico, is a soulful ode to his roots and homeland, where he was born as Benito Martínez Ocasio.
The Yale course intends to use the album to study the Puerto Rican diaspora, Caribbean politics and culture, colonialism and musical genres that Bad Bunny has experimented with, such as salsa, bomba and plena.
In a phone interview, Professor Laguna described an experience with Bad Bunny’s new album during a trip to New Orleans, which inspired him to design the class.
“I was walking around New Orleans listening to it, connecting with the Caribbean feel of the city in neighborhoods like the French Quarter, which can feel a bit like San Juan, and I just became struck by everything this album is doing,” Professor Laguna said. “You have all these creative ways he’s addressing Puerto Rico’s colonial past and present in it and the current challenges the island faces. It’s all over the album. And he’s engaging these issues in music that’s joyful.”
About his justification for teaching the class, Professor Laguna said:
“I think we often mistakenly believe that to study culture we have to study the past, but that couldn’t be more wrong,” he said. “Bad Bunny is interesting for many reasons, and it’s important for students to understand him in regards to the Puerto Rican diaspora, but he’s also a global star, which isn’t new. Music from the Hispanophone Caribbean has shaped the world before, and Bad Bunny is a link in a longer chain.”
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
What, if anything, surprises you about what you read? Did you already know that people such as Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny had entire college courses dedicated to them? Did you know that professors were able to design new courses on topics that perhaps had not been studied before?
What do you think about courses that are dedicated to a single, living cultural figure, like Professor Laguna’s course on Bad Bunny? Do you believe there is value in these classes, or, as some intellectuals say, are they “lacking rigor”? Would you want to take Professor Laguna’s class or one like it?
Who is someone living today that you think should be studied in school? Perhaps the person is well known, or maybe the person isn’t a household name but has made significant contributions to a specific field, such as an inventor or engineer. Why do you think that person is worthy of study? If you were designing this course, what topics would it cover, and why?
Professor Laguna is quoted as saying, “I think we often mistakenly believe that to study culture we have to study the past, but that couldn’t be more wrong.” What do you think about that statement? Do you think a person or event should “stand the test of time” before scholars start to research, write about and perhaps teach about the topic? Or is it just as worthwhile to explore a person or event’s significance while witnessing it firsthand?
Imagine you have been asked to make a prediction about future college course offerings. What events that have happened in your lifetime or people you have witnessed do remarkable things do you think will be studied? Why do you think that?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
