Courses

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.

The First-Year Seminar (FYS) introduces new Gonzaga students to the University, the Core Curriculum, and Gonzaga’s Jesuit mission and heritage. While the seminars will be taught by faculty with expertise in particular disciplines, topics will be addressed in a way that illustrates approaches and methods of different academic disciplines. The seminar format of the course highlights the participatory character of university life, emphasizing that learning is an active, collegial process.

This course will focus on the historical and contemporary popular culture representations of race in the United States. In particular, we will examine stereotypes, archetypes, and caricatures of People of Color in the U.S., in order to better understand the historical roots of these images as well as their pervasiveness in contemporary representation. We will also examine the impact of these representations, discussing how stereotypes and archetypes both shape and reflect structural inequalities.

This course will examine the historical and contemporary relationship among race, ethnicity, power, and space in the U.S. We will explore issues such as segregation, sub/urban planning, housing, imperialism, immigration, policing and incarceration, and others in order to better understand how race, racism, and discrimination shape the physical layout of the nation-state and the lived experiences of People of Color.

This course is an introduction to U.S. Latina/o/x Studies and provides an understanding of the trajectory of the field of U.S. Latina/o/x Studies as a distinct academic discipline often existing alongside or within the broader field of Ethnic Studies. This course centers conversations of identity formation, cultural ideologies, social movements and organizing, the development of "Latina/o/x" as a deeply complex and often problematic ethnoracial category, literature and film, and other aspects of Latina/o/x Studies.

Introduction to Asian American Studies Asian American grounds its examination of "Asian American" from interdisciplinary scholarship in the field 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, U.S. imperialism, gender, sexuality, nation, racial capitalism, memory, collective healing, grassroots organizing, labor, and resistance. Analyzing the racialization of Asian Americans, its tethering to 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 reckoning with today's iteration of anti-Asian violence while providing a general overview of key works, theories, and practices emergent in the field.

Explores material of timely, special, or unusual interest not contained in the regular course offerings.

Framed through the lens of intersectionality, or what key theorist Kimberle Crenshaw describes as “a heuristic term to focus attention on the vexed dynamics of difference and the solidarities of sameness in the context of antidiscrimination and social movement politics,” this course examines the impact of Intersectionality Theory as a major framework in the field of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. While Intersectionality Theory and its theoretical and practical antecedents are used in a variety of disciplines, it has particular centrality in CRES and the intellectual and social movements that led to the development of this field. Furthermore, Intersectionality has shaped the theoretical and methodological foci of CRES, producing both pedagogy and scholarship that centralizes a critical, multi-axis approach to racial inequity.

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.

This course will examine Latina/o/x identity, experience, history, and cultural productions as they intersect with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, and queer identities. In this course, we will explore how race/ethnicity, immigration experiences, and cultural identity shape queerness and vice versa. Using an intersectional framework, we will also consider how queer Latinas/os/xs have been elided in queer histories of the United States, as well as how their active presence in shaping these movements.

Whose children are children? Who is a parent? Whose culture is worth reproducing? Who should be the “next generation?” This course examines the racialization of (re)production, parenting, and family-building with a focus on social, political, and economic ideologies and histories of racism, settler colonialism, and U.S. imperialism. We examine (re)production in capitalist frameworks where bodies of color are laboring bodies whose (re)productive capabilities (re)produce ideologies and structures of power, to their detriment. Furthermore, we consider how the (re)production of racially and ethnically marginalized communities (birthing; caring for and teaching children; community-building) is impacted by inequities in power, privilege, race, and gender that pathologize and limit the (re)productive decisions, choices, and experiences of families and communities of color.

Using a critical race and ethnic studies framework, this course takes a critical approach to the study of sexualities and race by asking us to challenge our assumptions and everyday knowledges about identities, such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability. The readings will give you an understanding and vocabulary of queer theory with a specific focus on queer of color theories as theorized by critical race scholars or scholars using a critical race framework.

Monsters retain prominence across decades in popular culture. In this class we will explore what the figure of the monster can tell us about the cultural context in which it emerges, particularly in regards to race, class, gender, ability, and sexuality. We will explore monsters literally as well as symbolically, as we work toward critical readings strategies to engage popular culture from a critical race and ethnic studies perspective.

Using a Critical Race and Ethnic Studies framework his course explores the relationship between feminisms, hip-hop culture, and rap by centering the experiences of women in hip-hop along with feminist critiques of rap and hip-hop culture. We will begin by theorizing hip-hop feminism, and then focus on particular artists to consider the specific critiques they offer around race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and size.

Selected topics in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies.

To be determined by the faculty.

The Core Integration Seminar (CIS) engages the Year Four Question: “Imagining the possible: What is our role in the world"? by offering students a culminating seminar experience in which students integrate the principles of Jesuit education, prior components of the Core, and their disciplinary expertise. Each section of the course will focus on a problem or issue raised by the contemporary world that encourages integration, collaboration, and problem solving. The topic for each section of the course will be proposed and developed by each faculty member in a way that clearly connects to the Jesuit Mission, to multiple disciplinary perspectives, and to our students’ future role in the world. The capstone course in the critical race and ethnic studies program provides an opportunity for a special kind of faculty and student conversation. Responsibility for organizing and structuring this course will rotate among CRES faculty. Topics will vary. Regardless of the text or topics, the goal will be to create a conversation in which students assume significant responsibilities. All students are expected to complete a major research project using the concepts and perspectives of CRES scholarship, and to present their work to the class and faculty evaluators. Spring.

To be determined by faculty.

Professional experience in a related field. Students must take the initiative to contact an agency or business and find a faculty member willing to supervise the internship. Fall, Spring, and Summer.

This capstone course in the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies program provides an opportunity for a special kind of faculty and student conversation. Responsibility for organizing and structuring this course will rotate among CRES faculty. Topics will vary. Regardless of the text or topics, the goal will be to create a conversation in which students assume significant responsibilities. All students are expected to complete a major research project using the concepts and perspectives of CRES scholarship, and to present their work to the class and faculty evaluators. Spring.