World's first university course on the work of Harry Styles is coming to Texas State University

Over the weekend Dr. Louie Dean Valencia, the Professor of Digital History at Texas State University, announced on Twitter that a new course about the work of Harry Styles would be coming to the university in spring next year. Valencia wrote, "It's official, official. I'm teaching the world's first ever university course on the work of #HarryStyles is happening Spring 2023 at Texas State University."

The course is titled Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity: Identity, the Internet and European Pop Culture, and will, according to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, cover Styles' music in One Direction and solo, his film roles, and the "cultural and political development of the modern celebrity in terms of gender and sexuality, race, class, fashion and more".

It's official, official. I'm teaching the world's first ever university course on the work of #HarryStyles is happening Spring 2023 at @TXST University (see description).

This is what tenure looks like. Let's gooooo! pic.twitter.com/1z3vMZoxRV

— Louie Dean Valencia (@BurntCitrus) July 16, 2022

Valencia said, "I’ve always wanted to teach a history class that is both fun, but also covers a period that students have lived through and relate to. By studying the art, activism, consumerism and fandom around Harry Styles, I think we’ll be able to get to some very relevant contemporary issues. I think it’s so important for young people to see what is important to them reflected in their curriculum."

"This class came out of research that I started when locked at home during the summer of 2020 listening to Harry’s music," Valencia added. "When I couldn’t travel to do my regular research, I started researching Harry—focusing on his art, the ways masculinity has changed in the last decade, celebrity culture and the internet."