Academia’s fascination with Taylor Swift is spreading to Australia. The University of Melbourne will host a three-day conference on the American superstar from February 11 to 13, 2024, just days before the Australian leg of the singer’s world tour.
As reported by guardian, this conference is organized by academics from seven institutions in Australia and New Zealand. Called “Swiftposium,” a pun on symposium, the university presents it as follows:
“An academic conference for scholars to engage in critical dialogue about Taylor Swift’s popularity and its far-reaching consequences on a wide range of topics including gender, fan communities, popular culture, literature, economics, the music industry, and more” .
Call for trials
Organizers called on scholars from all backgrounds to submit essays. Topics were suggested, using Taylor Swift lyrics as titles: “When my depression works the night shift: Taylor Swift and the perception of mental health”; “If I were a man, then I would be The Man: Taylor Swift, gender and sexuality”; “This city screams your name: the impact of international tours and large-scale events, particularly those involving Taylor Swift, on urban landscapes and the cultural identity of cities.”
The event is co-organized by Jennifer Beckett, PhD and professor of communication at the University of Melbourne: “These types of cultural icons represent a very valuable topic of analysis when they have so much influence,” she says.
Global phenomenon
In fact, universities around the world are beginning to investigate the case of Taylor Swift. New York University began in early 2022 with the announcement of a course that analyzes its economic, cultural and media impact. Europe is not left out: the University of Ghent in Belgium announced in August the launch of a course reserved for master’s students in Language and Literature, whose objective will be to establish the link between the texts of the author-composer and those of great classic English authors .
Because Taylor Swift’s success, while it has only grown since her debut in 2006, has reached stratospheric heights in recent years. In addition to her albums, which inevitably occupy the first place in the ranking after her release, the world tour The tour of the ages which he currently claims has been consolidated as a cultural phenomenon and is on its way to becoming the most lucrative in history.
The demand for tickets was such that the Ticketmaster site suffered several fiascos around the world and, in particular, in France. According to the professional magazine dedicated to the performing arts poll star, each concert generates $13 million in revenue, which would bring the total to about $1.9 billion. Never has an artist or group crossed the symbolic billion-dollar threshold with a tour.
Source: BFM TV
