Professor Rhonda Gray
she/her/hers
rgray@rcc.mass.edu
Roxbury Community College
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Beyonce's Formation Music Video
These ebooks discuss Beyonce in relation to music and culture.
Ain't I a Diva?: Beyoncé and the Power of Pop Culture Pedagogy by 
Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics by 
Gender and Pop Culture by Popular and scholarly articles critiquing Beyonce's "Formation" video:
Bertens, Laura M. F.. "“Okay ladies, now let’s get in formation!”: Music Videos and the Construction of Cultural Memory" Open Cultural Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2017, pp. 88-98. https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2017-0009
Harris, Brandon. "Here's the Problem with Beyonce's 'Formation' Video." IndieWire, 13 Feb. 2016, https://www.indiewire.com/2016/02/heres-the-problem-with-beyonces-formation-video-22050/.
hooks, bell. "Beyoncé's Lemonade is Capitalist Money-Making at Its Best." The Guardian, 11 May 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/11/capitalism-of-beyonce-lemonade-album
Lewis, Shantrelle. "'Formation' Exploits New Orleans' Trauma." Slate, 10 Feb. 2016, https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/02/beyonces-formation-exploits-new-orleans-trauma.html.
Macpherson, Alex. "Beyoncé's Formation Review – A Rallying Cry That Couldn't be More Timely." The Guardian, 8 Feb. 2016, www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/feb/08/beyonce-formation-review-super-bowl-rallying-cry-black-consciousness.
McFadden, Syreeta. "Beyoncé's Formation Reclaims Black America's Narrative from the Margins." The Guardian, 8 Feb. 2016, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/08/beyonce-formation-black-american-narrative-the-margins.
For a general biography of Beyonce, see this encyclopedia entry:
"Beyoncé." Newsmakers, vol. 3, Gale, 2009. Gale In Context: Biography, https://link-gale-com.ezproxyrcc.helmlib.org/apps/doc/K1618004905/BIC?u=mlin_b_roxbury&sid=BIC&xid=1363811d.
In 2019, the journal Popular Music and Society dedicated an entire issue to examining Beyoncé's societal impact. Browse the articles in this issue by clicking here.
Popular articles debating Beyonce's approach to feminism:
Rankine, Claudia. "Claudia Rankine on How Beyoncé Became an Icon." Harper's Bazaar, 3 Sept. 2021, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a37378121/claudia-rankine-beyonce-essay-september-2021/.
Cooper, Brittney. "On bell, Beyonce, and Bullshit." Crunk Feminist Collective, 20 May 2014, www.crunkfeministcollective.com/2014/05/20/on-bell-beyonce-and-bullshit/.
Cooper, Brittney. "The Beyoncé Wars: Should She Get to be a Feminist?" Salon, 17 Dec. 2013, www.salon.com/2013/12/17/a_deeply_personal_beyonce_debate_should_she_get_to_be_a_feminist/.
Cooper, Brittney. "Why Feminism Needed Beyonce." Cosmopolitan, 14 Feb. 2018, www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a14479794/eloquent-rage-brittney-cooper-beyonce-excerpt/.
Harris-Perry, Melissa. "MHP Roundtable: How Beyoncé's Coachella Performance Changed the Game Forever." Elle, 17 Apr. 2018, www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a19832093/beyonce-coachella-performance-why-it-matter-melissa-harris-perry/.
