About the Program
The Interdepartmental Program in Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity (CSRE) offers students the opportunity to MAJOR or MINOR in either one of the following five interdisciplinary academic areas:
Asian American Studies; Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies; Comparative Studies; Jewish Studies; Native American Studies
Alternatively, one can COMPARE any of the above to receive a MAJOR or MINOR in Comparative Studies of Race & Ethnicity.
Each of our academic areas provides analytical tools for understanding how racial and ethnic categories form; how and why these categories are significant; and how they are represented and reimagined. Students can investigate the various meanings of race and ethnicity through internships, engagement with the community, and through original research.
With over 140 CCSRE faculty affiliates across the University in a wide range of schools and academic discplines, the CSRE Programs offer students a broad range of resources and interdisciplinary courses relevant to the study of race and ethnicity both in the United States and abroad. Our students may take courses in anthropology, art, communications, economics, education, feminist/gender/sexuality, history, languages, linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, political science, theater, psychology, sociology, and religion, among others. As such, our undergraduate curriculum is flexible and dynamic. Core and foundational courses provide students essential knowledge about race and ethnicity, while a rigorous and engaging set of more than 150 courses allow students to explore new passions and further examine old interests. Students can create a thematic concentration to articulate the focus of their program of study, or choose one of our existing concentrations such as: Identity, Diversity & Aesthetics (IDA); Race & Health; Education, Access & Equity; American Diversity, and more.
Why Study Race?
In the current moment, as in the past, it is essential for everyone to understand the dynamics of race and ethnicity. Such knowledge is required to participate in a diverse democracy. Across the globe, race and ethnicity are relevant to every dimension of social, political and economic life. Issues such as affordable housing; media, artistic representation, education,health care; incarceration,immigration, sexuality, religion, and economic development are concerned critically with the study of race and ethnicity.
Program in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CSRE) each provide analytical skills and cultural knowledge applicable to an array of professions, from technology and education, to law and the arts. The majors and minors prepare students to engage effectively in a diversified workplace and a globalized economy. Challenged to think critically and urged to write and research persuasively, the programs of study challenge students to learn innovative analyses and creative problem solving.CSRE, in its many manifestations, gives context to students interested in examining how race and ethnicity intersect with these and other crucial topics. So too, our focus on interdisciplinary research befits the complexity of thinking with and through race and ethnicity. With respect, seriousness and substance, students and faculty pursue rigorous intellectual questions that explore the social, historical and cultural consequences of racial and ethnic differences.
