SAN MARCOS, Texas — A new Texas State University class seems to be a sign of the Harry Styles-obsessed times.
Louie Dean Valencia, a Texas State associate professor of digital history, will teach a spring 2023 class called "Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity" out of the school's Honors College.
A description of the class said it "focuses on British musician Harry Styles and popular European culture to understand the cultural and political development of the modern celebrity." Students will touch on topics such as race, class, internet culture, fan culture, consumerism and fashion throughout the course.
In a reply to a commenter on his tweet, Valencia clarified that the class will not center on Styles' personal life but "only his art and public activism and the film, literature, philosophy, music he has acknowledged as influential."
The course will help students gain credit regarding honors studies, history, diversity studies and popular culture studies requirements, among others.
In addition to teaching, Valencia is also the coordinator of the Center for Public History at the university. He previously taught at Harvard University and was a Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Museum of the City of New York.
According to the university, his work focuses on contemporary Europe, the history of fascism/antifascism, youth and queer studies, collective memory, and digital culture and methods.
Styles recently announced a 5-night residency at the new Moody Center in Austin. He'll be performing Sept. 25 through Oct. 2.
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