Race and Ethnic Relations Concentration

Overview

Race and Ethnic Relations (RER) is an interdisciplinary concentration that brings together a wide range of courses in the humanities and social sciences with a comparative critical focus on racial and ethnic formations, relations, and experiences. The RER concentrator engages with the ways race and ethnicity have been and continue to be powerful social and political forces, and how they intersect with other structures of identity formation, such as class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and legal status. The concentration allows students to compare U.S. experiences along the racial and ethnic axes with those of other racially and ethnically diverse countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, past and present.

Requirements

Students fulfilling the Race and Ethnic Relations concentration are required to take a minimum of six courses that carry the RER attribute, including at least two courses in the humanities and two courses in the social sciences. At least one course must focus on race and ethnicity within the United States, and at least one must have a non-U.S. focus.

The undergraduate concentration requirements are distributed over three components as follows:

1.    One Comparative Course that offers a comparative perspective on race and/or ethnicity.

2.    Four Elective Courses selected from both the humanities and the social sciences. At least two electives must be at the 200-level.

3.    One Advanced Seminar Course approved by the student’s adviser. 

Comparative Courses

The Comparative Courses in RER introduce students to comparative perspectives on race and/or ethnicity either within or outside the United States.

Students may select from any the following Comparative Courses to fulfill this requirement:

• ENG 276 - Ethnic America: Literature, Theory, Politics
• HIST 016 - American Race and Ethnicity
• SOC 137 - Race and Ethnicity Across Borders: Comparing the Local and Global
• SOC 252 - Race and American Society
• SOC 260 - Roots and Routes: Immigrants, Diasporas and Travel

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Elective Courses

Elective Courses in RER are intended to expose students to a breadth of disciplinary perspectives on race and/or ethnic studies. Courses carrying the RER attribute are offered in the Departments of English; Geography; History; International Development and Social Change; Language, Literature and Culture; Political Science; Psychology; Sociology; and Visual and Performing Arts.

*Always check the course grid for new RER courses each semester. Note that special topics or capstone courses in other departments may carry an RER attribute only when the topic is relevant to the RER concentration (for example, HIST 268 - Special Topics).  

Elective Courses offered within the last 2 Academic Years include:

Advanced Seminar Courses

The Advanced Seminar Course is intended to serve as a culminating research experience that allows students to synthesize the knowledge and methodologies accumulated throughout their RER experience

*Courses from the Comparative and Elective Course lists may fulfill the Advanced Seminar Course requirement with permission from the student’s adviser. Note that special topics or capstone courses in other departments may also carry an RER attribute only when the topic is relevant to the RER concentration (for example, HIST 268 - Special Topics).  Always check the course grid for new RER courses each semester.

Suggested Advanced Seminar Courses include, but are not limited to:

• ENG 275 - Fictions of Empire: Studies in Global English Literature
• PSCI 290 - U.S. - Latin American Relations - Capstone Seminar
• PSYC 225 - Research on Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation
• SOC 265 - Social Movements: Quest for Justice

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Program Faculty

María Acosta Cruz, Ph.D.
Belen Atienza, Ph.D
Parminder Bhachu, Ph.D.
Ramon Borges-Mendes, Ph.D.
Paul Burke, Ph.D.
Carol D’Lugo, Ph.D.
Mark Davidson, Ph.D.
Debórah Dwork, Ph.D.
Jody Emel, Ph.D.
Anita Hausermann Fabos, Ph.D.
Odile Ferly, Ph.D.
William J. Fisher, Ph.D.
Everett Fox, Ph.D.
Janette Greenwood, Ph.D.
Betsy P. Huang, Ph.D.
Lene Jensen, Ph.D.
Fern Johnson, Ph.D.
Esther Jones, Ph.D.
Lisa Kasmer, PhD.
Willem Klooster, Ph.D.
Sharon Krefetz, Ph.D.
Thomas Kuehne, Ph.D.
Stephen M. Levin, Ph.D.
Deborah Martin, Ph.D.
Constance Montross, Ph.D.
Ousmane Power_Greene, Ph.D.
Paul W. Posner, Ph.D.
Amy Richter, Ph.D.
Dianne Rocheleau, Ph.D.
Robert Ross, Ph.D.
Marianne Sarkis, Ph.D.
Valerie Sperling, Ph.D.
Ora Szekely, Ph.D.
Shelly Tenenbaum, Ph.D.
Jaan Valsiner, Ph.D.
Johanna Vollahrdt, Ph.D.