Courses
In a CRES class, you might discuss migration, colonialism, indigeneity, the structures and infrastructures of inequality, lived experiences, power, and the history of how race, ethnicity, and indigeneity have been studied. In all cases, CRES courses include discussion of oppression and marginalization, as well as how people have analyzed their worlds, built knowledge, community, and resistance.
The kinds of questions people in CRES study include: How do we locate dance in cross-cultural contexts? What is the effect of Deuteronomy on the ethnic formation of its various communities of reception? In what ways did music articulate the stakes of the Black freedom struggle and the meanings of freedom? What has historically been the role of the law and the courts in the construction of racial categories and the production of racial inequality in the United States?
Required CRES Courses
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; the course may be repeated for credit when topics vary. Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing and completion of or concurrent enrollment in the CRES disciplinary courses requirement.
Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies 470 - Thesis
Full course for one year.
What makes a course a CRES course?
As of Fall 2022, in order for courses to be approved as CRES foundational or CRES designated, they must clearly indicate in the course description how they meet these criteria.
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 in CRES.
For a list of all CRES foundational courses, see the . For a list of all CRES foundational courses taught this year, go to the and select "CRES" under Subject.
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.
Courses Fall 2025 - Spring 2026
Fall 2025
- DANC 112/CRES 162 - Introduction to Contemporary Dance - Cross Cultural Contexts
- DANC 211 - Afro-Contemporary Dance
- DANC 260 - Dances of Bali, Indonesia
- GER 355/ENG 355/LIT346 - 20th Century Jewish Literature
- HIST 205 - The 20th Century Middle East Through Music
- HIST 369/CRES 389 - Race and Law in American History
- MUS 150/CRES 150 - The Cultural Study of Music
- MUS 221 - Form and Listening
- MUS 254/CRES 254 - Africa and Black Music
- REL 151 - Introduction to Judaism
- REL 226/CRES 226 - Islam in America
- REL 364 - Religion in the US-Mexico Borderlands
- RUS 325/LIT 360 - Soviet World Literature
- SOC 326 - Science and Social Difference
Spring 2026
- ANTH 343/CRES 392 - African Pasts, African Futures
- ANTH 371/CRES 300/CRES 391 - Race and Caste (CRES Junior Seminar)
- DANC 362 - Dance Ecologies
- ENG 370 - The Palestinians
- HIST 303 - History of the Sahara
- HIST 315/CRES 385 - Race, Ethnicity, and Empire
- MUS 355 - Black Women's Music
- REL 354/CRES 324 - Bible, Race, and Empire
- RUS 367/LIT 367 - Central Asia & The Caucasus
- SOC 280 - Social Movements
- SPAN 386/LIT 396 - Decolonial Theory & Practice
Past CRES Courses
This list represents CRES courses that have been offered in the past, and shows the range of faculty expertise and offerings in our program.
Group I
Dance:
- Dance 241 - Dancing Latin/x America
- Dance 260 - Dances of Bali, Indonesia
- Dance 351 - Dance Traditions of Southeast Asia
- Dance 362 - Dance Ethnography (J-Sem) {Prereq: Dance 201 or consent of instructor}
- Dance 363 - African Diaspora Dance Studies (J-Sem) {Prereq: Dance 201 or consent of instructor}
- Dance 365 - Contemporary Global Dance (J-Sem) {Prereq: Dance 201 or consent of instructor}
Literature:
- Chinese 327 - Chinese Inhumanities: Construction of the Other in Chinese Literature
- English 205 - Decolonization & the Novel in Africa
- English 205 - South Asian Women Writers
- English 333 - Postcolonial Hauntings {Prereq: 2 Eng/Consent}
- English 333 - Place, Space, and Memory in Modern Fiction {Prereq: 2 Eng/Consent}
- English 356 - Studies in African American Literature {Prereq: 2 Eng/Consent}
- English 370 - Modernity and Memory in the Indian Ocean {Prereq: 2 Eng/Consent}
- French 366 - Introduction to Haitian Lit {Prereq: French 210 or placement}
- French 368 - Mind in the World: Cognitive Approaches to North African/Diaspora Literature {Prereq: French 210 or placement}
- German 358 - Representing Genocide
- Russian 325 - Multicultural Russia
- Russian 365 - Ukraine and Russian Literature
Music:
- Music 142 - Latin American Popular Music
- Music 150 - Cultural Study of Music
- Music 221 - Music History I: Unexpected Encounters in Early Modern Europe
- Music 249 - Race, Sexuality, and Empire on the Operatic Stage
- Music 254 - Africa and Black Music
- Music 266 - The Music of Duke Ellington
- Music 360 - Music and the Black Freedom Struggle
Group II
Anthropology:
- Anthropology 300 - African Technoscience
- Anthropology 343 - African Pasts, African Futures
- Anthropology 345 - Black Queer Diaspora
- Anthropology 355 - Anthropology of Colonialism
- Anthropology 362 - Gender and Ethnicity in China and Tibet
- Anthropology 363 - Race and Transnational China
- Anthropology 371 - Race and Caste
- Anthropology 379 - Critical Interventions in American Indian Studies
- Anthropology 387 - African Bodies: Medicine, Labor, Modernity
- Anthropology 398 - Race and Migration
- Anthropology 443 - Race and Modernity
History:
- History 256 - Migration Histories in the British Imperial World
- History 315 - Defining and Defying Difference: Race, Ethnicity, and Empire
- History 334 - Race, Politics, Decolonization
- History 340 - Empire & Identity in Modern Europe
- History 367 - Sources and Methods in Early African American History
- History 369 - Race and the Law in American History
- History 375 - Hannah Arendt and the Origins of Totalitarianism
- History 388 - Race and Ethnicity in the Andes
Religion:
- Religion 215 - Religion, Ethnicity, and Race
- Religion 226 - Islam in America
- Religion 327 - Erasure and Location of Muslims in "Western" Humanities
- Religion 335 - South Asian Religious Nationalisms {Prereq: Religion 131 or 132 or consent}
- Religion 351 - Bible and Ethnicity: Deuteronomy and Mestizaje
- Religion 354 - Bible, Race, and Empire
Sociology:
- Sociology 280 - Social Movements
- Sociology 326 - Science and Social Difference
- Sociology 348 - Race, Economy, Public Policy
- Sociology 362 - Contemporary Culture & Inequality
Additional CRES courses
Some departments offer CRES designated courses, but since these departments are not affiliated they are not guaranteed to be taught every other year and do not automatically satisfy CRES Disciplinary Group I or II requirements. Students may petition the committee to have them satisfy those requirements if these courses are aligned with their overall program of study.
- Economics 364 - Economics of Population, Gender, and Race
- Political Science 371 - Identity Politics
- Psychology 325 - Stereotyping and Prejudice