The program in comparative race and ethnicity studies (CRES) is intended for students who wish to combine focused study in anthropology, dance, history, music, sociology, or theatre with comparative interdivisional work on race and ethnicity. Six courses of study are available, each concentrating in a home department with an emphasis on the comparative study of race and ethnicity across borders and boundaries, augmented with cross-disciplinary requirements in CRES. CRES majors will be identified with their home department as CRES–anthropology, CRES–dance, CRES–history, CRES–music, CRES–theatre, or CRES–sociology. An annually updated list of CRES-approved courses and committee members is available on the CRES website: reed.edu/cres.
Admission to the Major
To be admitted to the CRES program, students must obtain signatures of their home department adviser and the CRES committee chair on their declaration of major form. Students should use this opportunity to discuss their proposed course of study with a CRES committee member, ensuring that CRES courses will be offered in the semesters proposed and that all of the major requirements will be met. Note that in some departments only certain pairs of courses may be combined to satisfy CRES major requirements; please see reed.edu/cres/courses.html for a list of CRES courses and qualifying pairs.
Requirements for the Major
A. Common CRES Core Requirements
1. Disciplinary CRES courses: One pair from each group (I and II) outside the home department.
CRES Disciplinary Group I
a. Two dance units, including at least one CRES–dance unit.
b. Two literature units, including at least one CRES–literature unit.
c. Two music units, including at least one CRES–music unit.
d. Two theatre units, including at least one CRES–theatre unit.
CRES Disciplinary Group II
e. Anthropology 211 and one CRES–anthropology unit.
f. Two history units, including at least one CRES–history unit.
g. Two linguistics units, including at least one CRES–linguistics unit.
h. Two religion units, including at least one CRES–religion unit.
i. Sociology 211 and one CRES–sociology unit.
2. CRES interdisciplinary requirement (one unit): CRES 300.
3. CRES thesis: CRES 470.
B. Home Department Requirements
Students must fulfill the following course requirements for their respective home departments (disciplinary CRES requirements can count towards home department requirements):
CRES–anthropology major:
1. Seven units of anthropology, including Anthropology 211 and at least one 400-level course; these seven units must include at least two area courses and three CRES–anthropology courses.
2. CRES Disciplinary Group II must be satisfied in a second HSS department.
3. Proficiency in a foreign language (see below).
CRES–dance major:
1. Six units in dance, including Dance 201 and 211, and one unit of junior seminar in dance; these must include at least two CRES units, at least one of which is cross-listed as a CRES foundational course. Nongraded courses in dance technique (Dance 101) can be counted towards this requirement.
2. Technical proficiency: must achieve 300-level technical proficiency in one dance form and 200-level technical proficiency in a second dance form.
3. One CRES foundational course.
CRES–history major:
1. Six units of history, including History 411 or 412 (the junior seminar). Three of the courses must be CRES–history courses. In addition, the six units must include at least one unit each in United States history, European history, and the history of a region of the world other than Europe or the United States, and at least one unit will focus on the period before 1800 and one unit after 1800.
2. CRES Disciplinary Group II must be satisfied in a second HSS department.
3. Proficiency in a foreign language (see below).
4. One CRES foundational course.
CRES–music major:
1. Eight units of music, including Theory (Music 211 and 312), Music History (Music 221 and 222), Junior Seminar, and three additional one-unit courses in the department at the 200 level or above, two of which must be CRES units.
2. Technical proficiency: one unit of ensemble from among orchestra (Music 104), chorus (Music 105), collegium (Music 107), jazz ensemble (Music 108), and chamber music (Music 109), and one unit of private instruction (vocal or instrumental).
3. CRES 150 (The Cultural Study of Music).
CRES–sociology major:
1. Six units of sociology, including Sociology 211 and 311 and at least two CRES–sociology courses.
2. CRES Disciplinary Group II must be satisfied in a second HSS department.
3. Two units in a third HSS department that satisfy HSS divisional requirements.
4. One CRES foundational course (in CRES 340–349 if offered).
CRES–theatre major:
1. Seven units of theatre, including Theatre 202 and 203, one theatre history course (251, 252, or 253), Theatre 301 and 302, and two CRES–theatre courses.
2. Theatre laboratory: one unit of Theatre 100 or 201. Students are expected to have completed this requirement by the time the junior qualifying examination is taken.
3. One CRES foundational course.
C. Junior Qualifying Examination
CRES students are required to pass a junior qualifying exam. See reed.edu/cres/qual.html for details.
D. Thesis
Students must complete a thesis with a focus on comparative race and ethnicity. The CRES committee will designate one additional member of the orals board according to the recommendation of the thesis adviser.
Proficiency in a Foreign Language
Proficiency in a non-English language is demonstrated by successful completion of secondary education in that language, successful completion of two units of college-level courses in that language at a second-year level or one unit at a higher level, successful completion of a language placement examination approved by the committee, or approval of the committee. It is required for CRES–anthropology and CRES–history majors and is strongly recommended for others.
Strongly Recommended: Comparative Study
CRES explicitly focuses on the comparative study of race and ethnicity across borders and boundaries. Consequently, the committee strongly recommends as many of the following as possible:
1. Proficiency in a foreign language.
2. At least one CRES foundational unit.
3. One or more CRES courses with an explicit comparative/transnational element.
4. Study abroad.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 150 - The Cultural Study of Music
See Music 150 for description.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 261 - Dancing Latin/x America
See Dance 241 for description.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 270 - Race and Identity in American Theatre
See Theatre 270 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 277 - Race, Place, and Performance
See Theatre 277 for description.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 300 - Junior Seminar
Full course for one semester. This course for CRES majors explores the way race and ethnicity can be analyzed from interdisciplinary perspectives, considering categories of “race” and “ethnicity” a) both together and in relation to each other, and b) as designating or emerging out of separate politics of difference and otherness. Course topics may change from year to year. Prerequisites: junior or senior standing, and completion of or concurrent enrollment in the CRES disciplinary courses requirement. Conference.
Race and Modernity
Full course for one semester. This course explores aspects of the political, philosophical, and anthropological debates that have emerged around race through a focus on the concept of modernity. It will look in particular at articulations of modernity and race following interlinked lines of inquiry. We will 1) examine the different ways that the subject of modernity has been imagined and articulated, 2) see what attributes and experiences have qualified that subject as properly human and rational, 3) understand where identity has been recognized as coming from, culturally and materially, and 4) explore where cosmopolitan loyalties have emerged in demands to see and act beyond the boundaries of immediate particularity. We pursue these inquiries in order to examine the histories of our multicultural present—a period that can be defined by the end of European hegemony in the world of ideas. We re-read some of the “canonical texts” of modern philosophy, social theory, and literarature against the grain to understand the racial (and intersectional gendered, sexualized, and classed) characteristics of modern subjects and the forms of knowledge they produce and affirm. Prerequisite for anthropology credit: Anthropology 211. Prerequisite for CRES credit: junior standing and completion of or concurrent enrollment in the CRES disciplinary courses requirement. Conference, Cross-listed as Anthropology 443 for 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 342 - Sociology of Asian America
See Sociology 342 for description.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 343 - Sociology of Race and Racism
See Sociology 343 for description.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 344 - Race, Group Mobilization, and Institutions
See Sociology 344 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 348 - Race, Economy, Public Policy
See Sociology 348 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 359 - Music and the Black Freedom Struggle, 1865–1965
See Music 360 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 363 - African Diaspora Dance Studies
See Dance 363 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 365 - Contemporary Global Dance
See Dance 365 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 384 - Race and the Politics of Decolonization
See History 334 for description.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 385 - Defining and Defying Difference: Race, Ethnicity, and Empire
See History 315 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 388 - Race and Ethnicity in the Andes
See History 388 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 389 - Race and the Law in American History
See History 369 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 396 - Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity
See Anthropology 396 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 398 - Race and Migration
See Anthropology 398 for description.
Not offered 2019–20.