In the winter semester 2025/26, Professor Dr Christoph Jacke gave a lecture entitled "Cultural Drag: Pop, Stars and Diversities: Playful Amateurs and Professionals in Exclusion, Inclusion and Transformation". Part of the lecture series"UPB for Future - the Sustainability Lecture" at Paderborn University.
Abstract of the lecture: Whether on the smartphone, in the concert arena or in music media and media music: stars and celebrities of pop music cultures radiate towards you in the truest sense of the word. The productions of Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Anohni and Rammstein are worlds apart. The UN Sustainable Development Goals call for reducing inequality, utilising opportunities and strengthening representation. Nothing could be more obvious than to look for traces of masculinity, femininity and diversity in star cultures. How do these famous and popular figures sometimes regressively solidify categories of gender, sometimes progressively make them porous or even dissolve them? My contribution will be dedicated to these movements and figures of stagnation, transformation, inclusion and exclusion and thus discuss pop music cultures as a fundamentally heterogeneous, dynamic social area in which intermediate states and drags can become mainstream. Selected case studies will be used to discuss some stars and their images, pictures and sounds.