As soon as Joy Bostic heard Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy award-winning album DAMN., she knew she had to develop a class around it. It became the basis for her well-received “Religion and Popular Culture” course. Though the standard course registration timing had passed, she listed the course online as an option for students. By the next morning, she received a call from the department assistant asking if she wanted to put a cap on registrations; nearly 50 students had already signed up. In the fall 2017 course, Bostic and her students examined the religious aspects of Lamar’s work. The course became a new take on similar concepts she had discussed in another of her popular classes, one exploring singer-songwriter Beyoncé’s Lemonade album, which was first offered in spring 2017 and is being taught again this semester.

5 questions with… Associate Professor Joy Bostic, teacher of “Religion and Popular Culture” course