May 27, 2026
The course is titled “American Requiem: Beyoncé, Benefits and the Gap Between Promise and Delivery”
A new course at Harvard Kennedy School is using Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter as a lens to examine gaps in America’s public policy system, highlighting how pop culture continues to shape academic conversations around race, inequality, and government services.
The course, titled “American Requiem: Beyoncé, Benefits and the Gap Between Promise and Delivery,” was developed by adjunct lecturer Ayushi Roy and focuses on how federal aid programs often fail the communities they are intended to support. According to the university, the class draws connections between themes explored in Beyoncé’s 2024 album and shortcomings in social safety-net programs such as Medicaid and SNAP.
Roy said the class encourages students to analyze the disconnect between government policy intentions and the lived experiences of marginalized Americans. The curriculum reportedly uses the album’s exploration of overlooked Black contributions to country music as a framework for broader discussions about systemic inequities and institutional erasure.
“She frames the album as a conversation about the erasure of African American people from country music. But after seeing Beyoncé perform, you realize that she’s actually making a commentary about Black erasure from ‘country,’ the body politic, not country as a genre of music, and that really inspired me.”
The course is being offered through Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during a time when colleges across the country are increasingly incorporating contemporary music, film, and media into public policy and social science coursework. Beyoncé’s album, which won Album of the Year at the 2025 Grammy Awards, has already generated extensive academic and cultural discussion surrounding race, Americana, and representation in country music.
Roy collaborated with historian Trey Walk while reshaping the course, according to reports. Together, they designed lessons examining how bureaucratic systems can unintentionally exclude vulnerable communities despite promises of equity and access.
The class reflects a growing trend among universities using modern cultural touchstones to engage students in conversations about public policy, technology, and social justice. Harvard officials said the course aims to help future policymakers better understand how government programs function in practice, not just in theory.
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