The #PurpleSyllabus presents essential topics, readings, and multimedia related to Prince. Prince’s impact and influence spreads across nearly all aspects of society and culture. This syllabus presents works written by scholars and journalists across diverse topics. Our hope is that this syllabus will serve as a resource for teachers and curriculum designers looking to infuse their classrooms and courses with Prince content.
Created by Prince fans affiliated with the University of Minnesota Libraries in conjunction with the Prince From Minneapolis Symposium.
Do you have any suggestions or comments? We welcome your feedback.
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Panel 1
Scholarly Books and Articles
News/Popular Media Articles
- Bream, J. (2015, March 6). The real story behind Prince’s junior high basketball photo. Minneapolis Star Tribune. Retrieved from: http://www.startribune.com/the-real-story-behind-prince-s-junior-high-basketball-photo/295046261/
- Levy, J., Browne, D., Doyle, P., & Greene, A. (2016). 1958-2016 Prince. (Cover story). Rolling Stone, (1261), 40-50. Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/prince-remembering-the-rock-star-funk-lord-provocateur-genius-20160504
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Rushin, Steve. (2016, May 4). Why Minneapolis Loved Prince, and He Loved His Hometown. Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/4314125/prince-minneapolis-hometown/
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Tevlin, J. (2004 March 13). The quiet one: A high school classmate recalls the Artist as a young man. Minneapolis Star Tribune. Retreived from: http://www.startribune.com/the-quiet-one-a-high-school-classmate-recalls-the-artist-as-a-young-man/11527586/
Other
Purple Map
View a map of Minnesota locations meaningful and important to the life and development of Prince.
Panel 2
Scholarly Articles/Books
Scholarly Articles
- Jeffries, J., & Cochran, S. (2017). Studying Prince: An Introduction. Journal of African American Studies, 21(3), 293-295. doi:10.1007/s12111-017-9374-4
- Johnson, Z. (2017). Teaching Prince as Critical Pedagogy: an Autoethnography. Journal of African American Studies, 21(3), 337-352. doi:10.1007/s12111-017-9365-5
- Guion Peoples, D. (2017). Nothing Compares to You: Prince and the Theory of Optimal Distinctiveness. Journal of African American Studies, 21(3), 443-460. doi:10.1007/s12111-017-9369-1
- Holland, N. (2017). Prince: a postmodern icon. Journal of African American Studies. 21(3), 320-336. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-017-9363-7
Books
- Draper, J. (2011) Prince: Chaos, Disorder, and Revolution. New York: Backbeat Books.
- McInnis, C. L. (2007). The lyrics of Prince Rogers Nelson/[icon symbol]: A literary look at a creative, musical poet, philosopher, and storyteller. Jackson, Miss: Psychedelic Literature.
- Shahidi. A. (2017) Prince : a private view. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
- Tudahl, Duane (2018). Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions : 1983 and 1984. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
- Vogel, J. (2018). This thing called life: Race, sex, religion, and the creative revolution of Prince. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Walsh, Jim (2017). Gold experience : Following Prince in the ’90s. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press.
News/Popular Media Articles
- Keeton, K. (2017). The Electric Life of Prince Rogers Nelson. Journal of African American Studies, 21(3), 528-532.
- Kalogerakis, George, & Talley, Andre Leon (1992). Fresh Prince. Vogue, 182(1), 160.
- Minnesota Public Radio (2003, November 21). Prince voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved from: https://archive.mpr.org/stories/2003/11/21/prince-voted-into-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of
- Palmer, C. (2016). Dancers recall Prince as a hard-working ‘darling’ in tights and ballet slippers. Minneapolis Star Tribune. May 25, 2017.
- Plunket, R. (1993, September 12). The Joffrey and Prince: An odd couple. (rock star writes 13 songs for new ballet “Billboards”). The New York Times, p. H24.
- Prince, Dean, L., Moulton, C., Sappington, M., Pucci, P., Baird, C., Migdoll, H., … Radiotelevisão Portuguesa. (1994). Billboards: The Joffrey’s rock ballet. New York, NY: Thirteen/WNET.
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2004). Prince. Category: Performers. Retrieved from https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/prince
Prince and Film
Prince and Performance
- Dean, P. (2002). MHS Collections: Punk FunkRock Pop. Minnesota History, 58(1) 29–39.
- Hawkins, S. (1992). Prince: Harmonic analysis of ‘anna stesia’. Popular Music, 11(3), 325.
- Helmreich, S., & McMurray, P. (2017). Tape, Prince, and the Studio: Interview with Susan Rogers 23 May 2016, Cambridge, MA. Twentieth-Century Music, 14(1), 135-147. doi:10.1017/S1478572217000111
- McInnis, C L. (2007). The Lyrics of Prince Rogers Nelson/[icon Symbol]: A Literary Look at a Creative, Musical Poet, Philosopher, and Storyteller. Jackson, Miss: Psychedelic Literature.
- Preve, F. (2016). The Paisley Farfisa. Keyboard, 42(7), 36.
- Raftery, Brian (2009, July). The Oral History of Purple Rain. Spin. Retrieved from https://www.spin.com/2016/04/prince-the-oral-history-of-purple-rain-brian-raftery/
- Schoenfeld, N. (2016). Growing with the artist: Roy Bennett and Prince. Projection, Lights & Staging News, 17(4), 43.
New to the music of Prince? Prince released nearly 40 albums in his lifetime. Discover and familiarize yourself with his most popular and arguably his most important works, with suggestions and commentary from Prince scholar Anil Dash.
Panel 7
Scholarly Articles
- Chaney, C. (2017) Prince Rogers Nelson: from “Dirty Mind” to Devout Jehovah’s Witness. Journal of African American Studies, 21(3), 425–442. https://doi-org/10.1007/s12111-017-9380-6
- Lewis-Giggetts, T. (2017) When Faith and Music Intersect: the Spiritual Evolution of a Musical Genius. Journal of African American Studies, 21(3), 533–539. https://doi-org/10.1007/s12111-017-9379-z
- Till, R. (2010). Pop stars and idolatry: an investigation of the worship of popular music icons, and the music and cult of Prince, Journal of Beliefs & Values, 31(1), 69-80, DOI: 10.1080/13617671003666761
News/Popular Media Articles
Journals
The Purple Syllabus is produced by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Services