American Studies Program
Interdisciplinary Clusters in
American Studies
Comparative Race and Ethnicity
This interdisciplinary cluster critically examines cultural, political, social and historical experiences across race and ethnicity in the United States. The distribution of courses across disciplines will encourage students to bring to bear a variety of critical perspectives to understanding racial and ethnic experiences in the US. Students focusing in this area will develop an understanding of race, power and racism in historical, social, political, class, legal, cultural and local community contexts. Five Courses are needed to complete this Cluster. For specific questions regarding this cluster, please see Jean Wu.
NOTE: Students who want to focus their coursework on one particular group can still do so, in consultation with their advisor, as an individually designed cluster.
Requirements for the Comparative Race and Ethnicity cluster
Required: At least two courses that addresses race and ethnicity comparatively. If Race in America (AMER 12) is not taken as a foundation course, it must be taken as part of this cluster. However, this course may be used for the cluster OR as a foundation requirement, not both.
| AMER 12 | Race in America |
| AMER 16 | American Identities |
| AMER 181 | Constructions of Whiteness |
| CD 164 | Cultural Diversity in Child and Family Services |
| CD 177 | Bilingual Children in US Schools |
| CH 55 | Race, Ethnicity and Health |
| ED 161 | Sociology of the School |
| ED 167 | Critical Race Theory Seminar: Issues in Urban Education |
| ENG 63 | American Fiction 1900-1950 |
| ENG 64 | American Fiction 1950-Present |
| ENG 69 | Contemporary Multiethnic literature |
| ENG 153 | American Realism |
| ENG 155 | American Women Writers |
| ENG 160 | Environmental Justice and United States Literature |
| ENG 161 | Memory for Forgetting |
| ENG 191 | Literature and the Law |
| PHIL 125 | Racism and Social Inequality |
| PS 109 | Politics of Ethnicity and American Identity |
| SOC 10 | American Society |
| SOC 110 | Racial and Ethnic Minorities |
| SOC 183 | Transnational Communities |
| SOC 187 | Children of Immigrants & Immigrant Children |
Required: At least one course that addresses race and ethnicity in a historical context. Any history course taken to fulfill the cluster requirement may not be used to fulfill the history requirement for the American Studies major.
| AMER194-01 /REL192-25 | Islam in America |
| AMER 194-06 | Bamboozled?: A Social History of African Americans and the Movies |
| AMER 194-07 | Legacies of the Civil Rights Movement |
DR/DNC 93-01/AMER194-03 |
Performing American Identities 1830's to the present |
| DR94-04/AMER194-06 | Performing America, Exploring Identity |
| EC 86 | American Economic Development in Historical Perspectives |
| HIST 35 | African American History since 1865 |
| HIST 80 | The Changing American Nation |
| HIST 82 | Colonial North America |
| HIST 84 | Antebellum and Civil War America 1815-1877 |
| HIST 88 | America and the National Pastime |
| HIST 95 | African American History to 1865 |
| HIST 99 | US Latino History |
| HIST 171 | The American South since 1865 |
| PS 188 | Topics in International Relations: Ethnicity and US Africa Policy |
| SOC70 | Immigration and American Society |
Required: At least two courses that build in-depth understanding of at least two racial or ethnic groups.
| AMER 101 |
Native American Fine Art |
| AMER 103 | Museums and Native Americans |
| AMER 131 | Active Citizenship |
| AMER 182 | Asian America |
| AMER 184 | Viewing African American Dance |
| AMER 185 | Native American Issues |
| AMER 143 | Latinos/as in US Visual Culture |
| ANTH 16 | Intro to Latino Cultures |
| ANTH 17 | Latino Music, Migration and Identity |
| ANTH 18 | Growing Up Latino |
| ANTH 115 | Native Peoples and Indigenous Rights in South America |
| ANTH 183 | Urban Borderlands |
| ANTH 185-03 | Involuntary Crossings: Disasters, Refugees, & Resettlements |
| DR 49 | Asian American Theatre and Film |
| EC 144 | Income, Inequality, Poverty, Justice |
| ED 167/AMER186 | Critical Race Theory Seminar: Issues in Urban Education |
| ED 177/CD177 | Bilingual Children in US Schools |
| ENG 91-02/AMER 188 | Slavery’s Optic Glass: First Century of Af/Amer Lit |
| ENG 154 | American Indian Writers |
| ENG 161 | Memory for Forgetting |
| ENG 168 | Home is Where the Hatred Is |
| FAH 71 | Arts of the Afro Atlantic Diaspora |
| FAH 73 | Blackness: Digesting Difference in African America |
| JS 65 | Introduction to Yiddish Culture |
| MUS 39 (formerly MUS 11) | African American Music |
| MUS 41 (formerly MUS 12) | History of Blues |
| MUS 42-01 | History of Jazz |
| MUS 72 | Gospel Choir (Update November, 2010-This course will no longer count towards this cluster for those in the class of 2014 and beyond.) |
| MUS 97 | Queer Pop |
| PSY 136 | Stereotypes, Prejudices and Discrimination |
| PSY 139 | Social Cognition: The Face of Race |
| SPN 92 | US Mexico Borderlands |
| SPN 192 | Chicano Cultures, Communities and Identities |