Major Requirements
Majors in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies will take ten courses in (or cross-listed with) CRES, including:
- One Gateways Course
- One Frameworks Course
- Three Intermediate Courses in focus track (chosen fall of Junior year)
- At least one Advanced Seminar or equivalent project
- Four Electives (excluding Gateways)
- At least two electives must be outside of the U.S./North American context (Indigenous/Native nations count as non-U.S.)
Minor Requirements
Minors in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies take six courses in (or cross-listed with) CRES, including:
- One Gateways Course
- One Frameworks Course
- One Intermediate Course
- One Advanced Seminar or equivalent project
- Two electives (excluding Gateways)
- At least one elective must be outside the U.S./ North American context (Indigenous/Native nations count as non-U.S.)
Course Categories
Gateways courses provide a broad introduction to core concepts of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies in order to demonstrate the relevance of race and ethnicity in academic inquiry.
Frameworks courses are centered on one or more theoretical traditions or methodologies applicable to multiple tracks.
Intermediate courses focus on a particular topic relevant to the study of race, racialization, and ethnicity from any disciplinary perspective.
Advanced Seminar and Capstone courses foster students' ability to facilitate critical discussions informed by leading research in the field.
Curricular Tracks
Social Change and Transformation
Courses on this track will:
- Interrogate racialization as a process driven by shifting power differentials
- Understand race and ethnicity as mutable formations shaping and shaped by sociopolitical and economic forces
- Focus on how change agents operate in specific geographic and historic contexts
Race and Intersectionality
Courses on this track will:
- Define and explore theories of intersectionality and race/ethnicity
- Attend to the multiplicity of subjectivities in the formation of coalition/affinity groups
- Understand the transient and situational nature of identity and power
Transnational Approaches
Courses on this track will:
- Question the limits of national identities and boundaries as the basis of inquiry
- Compare across regions defined by geography, by empire, or by time
- Consider transnational flows and counterflows of people, products and ideas
Representations and Cultural Expressions
Courses on this track will:
- Explore how individuals use cultural forms for self-expression in a context of competing cultural milieu
- Consider how groups or individuals activate creative forms to intervene in problematic racial or ethnic representation that reify systemic power differentials
- Study how groups or individuals resist disempowerment by creating and/or reproducing strategically chosen cultural forms