Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Course Highlights
CRES 101 Introduction to Race and Ethnic Studies
This course will introduce students to key theories and debates within the field of race and ethnic studies. Students will analyze definitions of race and ethnicity, both inside and outside of the United States; cultural practices of resistance; various theories central to race and ethnic studies; the intersection of race with other forms of difference such as gender, class, and sexuality; and the connections between social justice and community engagement in ethnic studies. Students will read a variety of academic and cultural texts which illustrate the interdisciplinary scope in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. Students will explore the course topics and issues through readings, discussions, lectures, films, short stories, and music.
CRES 280 Fashioning Race
This course will examine the interplay between fashion, dress, adornment and race in the United States. In particular, we will examine how clothing, make-up, jewelry and other types of bodily adornment have been used by individuals and in communities of Color as a means of identity formation, community building, and resistance to racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and dominant narratives in the United States.
CRES 280 Introduction to Asian American Studies
Introduction to Asian American Studies grounds its examination of “Asian American” from historical and contemporary interdisciplinary scholarship in the field while also taking seriously the material impacts of white supremacy, settler colonialism, heteropatriarchy, and US imperialism vis-à-vis the everyday lives of Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Asian Americans. The course introduces the political formation of Asian American as a bridge to understand race, war, memory, collective healing, grassroots organizing, labor, and resistance as relics to be explored. Analyzing the racialization of Asian American(s), its tethering with other groups and each moment’s historically specific contextual holds, the course pursues an intellectual, transnational, and feminist inquiry into the meaning of rights, solidarity, and justice in today’s iteration of anti-Asian hate while providing an overview of key works, theories, and practices emergent in the field.
CRES 302 Race, Resistance and Resilience
This course will examine the dual roles of resistance and resilience in historical and contemporary struggles for social change and social justice centered around race and racial inequity. Throughout the semester, we will focus on understanding, comparing, and contrasting core ideological frameworks present in social justice organizing to interpret their strengths, weaknesses and overall impact on achieving racial equity and justice. We will also consider the tactics used in various movements, again considering their utility and impact as well as how they have been replicated and modified. Finally, we will consider the possibilities of methods of resistance that did not necessarily arise as part of a social movement, but contributed to the well-being and survival of individuals and communities of Color.
CRES 380 Hip Hop Feminisms
This course links feminism, rap music, and hip-hop culture. We will explore the work of women in hip-hop, images of women, and feminist critiques of rap music and hip-hop culture. We will also work on locating a space of praxis--where theory meets practice-- that uses hip-hop, rap and feminism to propose ways of addressing social inequalities. With this in mind, one goal of this course is to move beyond discussion to a space of critique linked to change. Taking current controversies and rap music’s dominant presence in US media and memory into consideration, we will use rap as a springboard into a consideration of pressing social, cultural, and political issues such as sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism, classism, and heterosexism. Given hip-hop’s media influence both in the US and globally, and the current growth of Hip-Hop Studies as a field, this course will also examine knowledge-making and the role that gender plays in what constitutes knowledge in the field of Hip-Hop Studies.
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