Presenters from all around the world come to Indiana University for the Taylor Swift conference

Bloomington, Indiana – The first-ever academic conference devoted exclusively to Taylor Swift took place at Indiana University. Specialists from all around the globe gathered in Bloomington to analyze every facet of the singer’s career.

“Taylor Swift the Conference Era” drew presenters from as far away as Toronto, Canada, and Exeter, England, to discuss everything from Swift’s musical composition and lyricism to her fan base.

“When we talk about Taylor Swift, we’re talking about so much more than Taylor Swift,” said Amelia Morris, a presenter. “We’re talking about femininity, masculinity, gender, sexuality, capitalism, and the mainstream narrative doesn’t like to recognize the way that things that teen girls like have this cultural impact.”

Amelia Morris traveled from Exeter, England, to give a presentation on the topic of fan culture’s centrality in pop culture and how Swift followers use her songs and popstar-related chats as an escape.

“I basically argue that we can look at the fandom as tools of escapism and girls, predominately girls and young women, understanding their own identity through swift lyrics,” said Morris.

While pursuing her doctorate in biology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Catherine Bruno attended this IU conference to learn more about Swift’s contributions to the humanities and arts.

“From the academic lens, it’s been very interesting to see how the arts and humanities view Taylor. How much work they actually are [doing] studying her,” Bruno said. “This afternoon, we were able to look at just her literary impact, her musical impact, how you can relate her to classical composers, classical writers as well.”

The seminar included Taylor Swift’s celebrity, feminism, and storytelling in addition to her marketing and economics.