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Skidmore College Offers a Sociology Course on Miley Cyrus

Students at the New York school will study race, gender and class through the "lens" of the pop star's persona.

Beginning this summer, the life and times of Miley Cyrus will be the focus of a college sociology course, Complex reports.

Skidmore College, a private liberal arts school in New York, is offering up the Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender, and Media, which looks at how Cyrus has transformed herself "from Disney Tween to twerking machine," according to a flier about the course. 

The class will be taught by visiting sociology professor Carolyn ChernoffUsing Cyrus as "the lens through which to explore," the course will tackle "core issues of intersectionality theory, looking at race, class, and gender, as well as taking a feminist critique of the media."

Chernoff has apparently found lots of sociological ground to cover as it relates to the "Wrecking Ball" singer. Subjects to be discussed in class include the rise and fall of the Disney princess; transitions to adulthood; what happens to a Disney star as they age (see Justin Timberlake); and bisexuality, queerness and the female body.

Skidmore isn't the only institution of learning to use female pop culture figures as a subject of study. Rutger's University offers a course called Politicizing Beyoncé, which uses examples of the superstar's music and career to look at race, gender and sexual politics. 

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(Photo: Phillip Chin/Getty Images)

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