Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies Major - Academics

What You’ll Study in the Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies

Study race and ethnicity across academic borders and boundaries with a comparative race and ethnicity studies (CRES) major at Reed. Combine focused study in anthropology, dance, English, history, music, religion, sociology, or theatre with comparative interdisciplinary work on race and ethnicity. Learn to interrogate the categories of race and ethnicity—together, in relation to each other, and as emerging out of separate politics of difference and otherness.

Roadmap to the Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies BA at Reed

Develop a range of analytical skills to study race and ethnicity, as well as the ability to recognize, analyze, and compare key theoretical frameworks in your home department. Your degree culminates in the completion of your senior thesis, for which you engage in original research.

Year One

Determine Your Direction

Begin to explore both CRES-foundational and CRES-designated courses across departments. Consider taking courses like South Asian Women Writers (English), Latin American Popular Music (music), or Migration Histories in the British Imperial World (history) to discover your home department. And, of course, take Humanities 110, our yearlong, first-year course in which you study perspectives from the past and present while strengthening your critical thinking and writing skills.

Discover Humanities 110

Year Two

Broaden Your Perspectives

Learn to interrogate the categories of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ as you continue to work your way through CRES requirements. Take CRES foundational courses to develop proficiency with theories and methods for studying race and ethnicity within given disciplines. Apply those theories and methods in CRES designated courses to expand your expertise and hone your focus. Attend CRES events, including guest speaker events, to further expand your perspective on comparative race and ethnicity studies.

Propose a course plan to the CRES committee and your advisor in your department of concentration.

Explore CRES-Designated Classes

Year Three

Demonstrate Your Knowledge

Continue your exploration of comparative race and ethnicity studies by enrolling in advanced CRES courses, such as Black Queer Diaspora and Race and Transnational China. Take CRES 300, which you must pass along with the junior qualifying exam of your home department in order to graduate as a CRES major.

Take a semester abroad! CRES students who are interested in study abroad programs start planning options in their first or second year to ensure junior qualifying exams and all desired courses can still be completed on time.

Browse Study Abroad Programs

Year Four

Present Your Work

Submit your proposal for a thesis focused on comparative race and ethnicity studies to the CRES committee. Work closely with your assigned thesis adviser to conduct research and complete your senior thesis.

In this final year of study at Reed, CRES majors have developed the skills and knowledge to analyze race and ethnicity from interdisciplinary perspectives. You will possess distinct expertise at the intersection of CRES and your home department, which you may further develop through independent study or continuing education beyond Reed.

Explore Grant and Fellowship Opportunities

Why Study Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies at Reed?

A Commitment to CRES Across Departments

Race and ethnicity significantly impact identities, communities, and power structures. Understanding how and why can strengthen your understanding of any discipline, which is why Reed faculty in anthropology, dance, linguistics, literature, history, music, religion, sociology, and theatre have incorporated CRES into their teachings. By majoring in CRES, students can focus on classes that explicitly study the intersections of race and ethnicity within a focused discipline. With a wide variety of CRES designated courses and events, Reed encourages learning from a spectrum of perspectives and expertise to further develop your own.

Embrace Community With Our CRES Colloquium

CRES majors, faculty, visiting speakers, and students from across departments are invited to attend monthly events related to comparative race and ethnicity studies. These events are an opportunity to share and learn from a variety of perspectives, to expand upon the offerings available through formal classes, and to encourage a sense of community among those who are interested in better understanding race and ethnicity. CRES colloquium events encourage thoughtful dialogue and consideration, not only for the study of CRES, but also in nurturing a more inclusive, anti-racist environment here at Reed.

Our Comparative Race & Ethnicity Study Courses

CRES course catalog

Two gospel albums lie on a table, one of The Sweet Chariot Singers and the other of The Herman Stevens Singers.

Music 150 - The Cultural Study of Music

Take a critical approach to the study of music as a cultural phenomenon. Delve into the way music and other sounds contribute to struggles over sameness, difference, belonging, and exclusion, and develop a critical vocabulary to engage with these struggles.

Cover of the book Jews Across the Americas, co-edited by Reed Professor Laura Leibman. The cover art is a line drawing of people on a boat carrying trees.

English 303 - Jews across the Americas

Examine American Jewish experiences in South America, North America, and the Caribbean. Study Jewish life from the early colonial era to the present through a variety of literary genres, including poetry, fiction, and graphic novels. Learn methods of American studies and digital humanities, and focus on how to read literature in the context of primary historical sources and material culture.

A reference shelf in the library. A red book is pulled halfway out, with a title that reads Race in America.

History 383 - Race and Oral Histories in the United States

Gain insights into the different lived experiences of individuals and communities in the past and present through a number of different texts—oral histories, autobiographies, and testimonies. Encounter sources that use oral histories as a method to gain insight into the impact of race and ethnicity on society, culminating in your own oral history project.

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Reed students protest in 2019. They are holding signs that say "Black Power" and "Remember."

Reed Students Fought For Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies

CRES was brought into being through a Black-led multi-racial coalition of students and faculty who demanded a dedicated course of study to critically engage with issues of race and ethnicity. It is the legacy of a long history of protests that challenged institutional racism at Reed, including the 1968 protests that led to the short-lived Black Studies program; Diversify Reed in 2014–2015; and Reedies Against Racism in 2016–2018. The CRES committee has called on Reed College as a whole to create a strategic plan to guide anti-racism and anti-imperialist futures at Reed and beyond.

Black Lives Matter and Supporting Statements at Reed