College Catalog Archives

The program in comparative race and ethnicity studies (CRES) is intended for students who wish to combine focused study in anthropology, dance, English, history, music, sociology, or theatre with comparative interdivisional work on race and ethnicity. Seven 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-English, CRES–history, CRES–music, CRES–theatre, or CRES–sociology.

The CRES committee approves courses across the college as CRES foundational or CRES designated. CRES-foundational courses treat specific categories of race and ethnicity as the central object of inquiry and teach approaches (including theories and methods) to the study of race and/or ethnicity within given disciplines. CRES-foundational courses are designed to provide foundational training for the CRES major, and are cross-listed in both the department and CRES. CRES-designated courses examine questions of race and ethnicity for half of the semester or more. Topics might include the history and politics of racial and ethnic categories; the construction of race and ethnicity in social, economic, and cultural organization; and the experiences of marginalized and oppressed peoples. An annually updated list of CRES-foundational courses, CRES-designated courses, and CRES 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 (two units): CRES 300 and one additional CRES-foundational course (numbered 100-469).
3. CRES thesis: CRES 470.

B. Home Department Requirements
Students must fulfill the following course requirements for their respective home departments (except where noted, CRES core and interdisciplinary requirements in section A above do not count toward home department requirements):

CRES–anthropology major:
1. Seven units of anthropology, including Anthropology 211 and at least one unit of a 400-level course; these seven units must include at least two units of area courses and three CRES–anthropology units.
2. CRES Disciplinary Group II must be satisfied in a second history and social sciences 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. For students with advanced dance experience, Dance 311 may be substituted for Dance 211. Up to two units in nongraded courses in dance technique (Dance 101) may be counted toward this requirement.
2. Technical proficiency: 300-level technical proficiency in one dance form and 200-level technical proficiency in a second dance form.

CRES–English major:
1. Six units of English, including English 301 (junior seminar). Three of the courses must be CRES-English courses. In addition, the six units must include two 200-level courses in different genres and two units of pre-1900 literature, one of which must be pre-1700.
2. CRES Disciplinary Group I must be satisfied with two literature units outside English.
3. Two units in literature not in translation (may be met by fulfilling CRES Disciplinary Group I requirement above).
4. One unit in the Arts division.

CRES–history major:
1. Six units of history, including History 411 or 412 (the junior seminar). Three units must be from 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 focused on the period before 1800 and one unit after 1800.
2. Proficiency in a foreign language (see below).
3. CRES Disciplinary Group II must be satisfied in a second history and social sciences department.

CRES–music major:
1. Eight units of music, including theory (Music 210 and 310), 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-music 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. The CRES foundational course required in the core requirements above must be CRES 150 (The Cultural Study of Music).

CRESsociology major:
1. Six units of sociology, including Sociology 211 and 311 and at least two units of CRESsociology courses.
2. CRES Disciplinary Group II must be satisfied in a second history and social sciences department.
3. Two units in a third history and social sciences department that satisfy history and social science divisional requirements.
4. One CRES foundational course required in core requirements above, preferably taken in sociology when offered (CRES 340–349).

CRES–theatre major:
1. Seven units of theatre, including Theatre 202 and 204 or 205, one unit of a theatre history course (251, 252, or 253), Theatre 301 and 302, and two CRES–theatre units.
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.

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 CRESanthropology and CREShistory 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. One or more units of CRES courses with an explicit comparative/transnational element.
3. Study abroad.

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 150 - The Cultural Study of Music

See Music 150 for description.

Music 150 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 261 - Dancing Latin/x America

See Dance 241 for description.

Dance 241 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 270 - Race and Identity in American Theatre

See Theatre 270 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Theatre 270 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 276 - Community-Based Performance

See Theatre 276 for description.

Theatre 276 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 284 - Latinx History in the United States

See History 284 for description.

History 284 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 286 - Histories of Immigration and Migration in the United States

See History 286 for description.

History 286 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. 

Caste and Race
Full course for one semester. This course examines caste and race together across three axes: as enduring but shifting forms of social hierarchy, as grounds of political mobilization, and as potent metaphors for each other. Drawing on historical, sociological, and anthropological work from South Asia, the Caribbean, and the United States, we will examine the incorporation and transformation of these forms of hierarchy through imperialism, settler-colonialism, capitalist development, and democratic politics. We will also trace a parallel history, through which observers and activists have sought to think caste in terms of race and race in terms of caste, from European colonists to twentieth-century anti-caste activists in India and anti-racist activists in the United States. We ask what these forms of comparison have made visible and what they have erased, what solidarities and politics they have enabled, and what the stakes have been of refusing to think of them together. Prerequisite for anthropology credit: Anthropology 211. Prerequisite for CRES credit: completion of any CRES disciplinary course. Conference. Cross-listed as Anthropology 371 for 2021–22.

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 330 - Modernity and Memory in the Indian Ocean

See English 370 for description. 

English 370 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 342 - Sociology of Asian America

See Sociology 342 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Sociology 342 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 343 - Sociology of Race and Racism

See Sociology 343 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Sociology 343 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 348 - Race, Economy, Public Policy

See Sociology 348 for description.

Sociology 348 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 359 - Music and the Black Freedom Struggle, 1865–1965

See Music 360 for description. 

Not offered 2021–22.

Music 360 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 363 - African Diaspora Dance Studies

See Dance 363 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Dance 363 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 365 - Contemporary Global Dance

See Dance 365 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Dance 365 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 381 - Race and Ethnicity in the U.S. since 1865

See History 381 for description.

History 381 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 383 - Race and Oral Histories in the United States

See History 383 for description.

History 383 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 384 - Race and the Politics of Decolonization

See History 334 for description.

History 334 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 385 - Defining and Defying Difference: Race, Ethnicity, and Empire

See History 315 for description. 

Not offered 2021–22.

History 315 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 388 - Race and Ethnicity in the Andes

See History 388 for description.

History 388 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 389 - Race and the Law in American History

See History 369 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

History 369 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 390 - African Technoscience

See Anthropology 300 for description.

Anthropology 300 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 392 - African Pasts, African Futures

See Anthropology 343 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Anthropology 343 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 393 - Race and Transnational China

See Anthropology 363 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Anthropology 363 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 395 - Black Queer Diaspora

See Anthropology 345 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Anthropology 345 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 396 - #CentralAmericanTwitter: Continuity and Rupture in Central American Indigenous Histories

See Anthropology 306 for description.

Anthropology 306 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 397 - Black, Indian, and Other in Brazil

See Anthropology 366 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Anthropology 366 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 398 - Race and Migration

See Anthropology 398 for description.

Not offered 2021–22.

Anthropology 398 Description

Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 470 - Thesis

Two unit yearlong course; one unit per semester.