Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRE)

CRE 101. Introduction to Strategic Learning Tools in BWS. (1)

Provides students with basic skills for social science and humanities research, writing, note and test taking and orients students to the unique forms of research and knowledge basis specific to Black World Studies.

CRE 151. Introduction to Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. (3)

This course will introduce students to the core concepts and theories used in the critical study of race and ethnicity. It will examine historical and contemporary formations of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity to provide an understanding of how social difference is made, reinforced, and challenged in local, national, and global contexts. Topics include: theories of race and ethnicity; settler colonialism and slavery; citizenship and inequality; immigration and segregation; multiculturalism and colorblindness; decolonial and anti-racist struggles; and globalization and new racisms. IIB, IIC, IC. PA-4A. CAS-B or CAS-C.

CRE 156. Introduction to Africa. (4)

A survey of Africa's varied and complex history and culture. It focuses on African geography, environment, history, economics, politics, as well as its rich cultural heritage. It approaches the study of Africa from a comparative historical and interdisciplinary perspective as well as situates it within the context of global developments. IIIB. PA-4C. CAS-C Other Social Science.

CRE 177. Independent Studies. (0-6)

CRE 181. Introduction to Civil Rights and Social Movements. (1)

This course provides an introduction to the theories, concepts, and realities of civil rights and social justice from the perspective of the African Diaspora. The course will allow students to interrogate various social movements that have occurred both within the United States and Africa. Several specific civil rights, colonial movements, and post colonial projects will be explored as they highlight the interplay between various groups, leaders styles, and methods of building movements.

CRE 182. Human Rights & Social Movements. (1)

Looks at the interplay between human rights and social movements. Specifically, it investigates how human rights such as access to health, education, medical care, or the right to a fair trial are all intricately linked to global social movements and activism.

CRE 211. Writing with Purpose: Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Communication. (3)

This is an intermediate level course which enables students to investigate and discuss interdisciplinary practices of knowledge creation and dissemination. Students will practice a variety of writing and other communication strategies necessary for the effective dissemination of ideas to interdisciplinary audiences and the general public, and can expect to gain experience in working with a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary research, tools and methods while engaging intellectually in interdisciplinary modes of thinking, reading, listening, and speaking. PA-1C.
Cross-listed with AAA/AMS/LAS/WGS.

CRE 221. African-American History. (3)

Survey of African American History from African origins to the present. PA-3B, PA-4A. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with HST 221.

CRE 222. Race and Ethnicity in Antiquity. (3)

Relies on a variety of primary evidence to study how the Greeks and Romans defined race and ethnicity and how they defined themselves as individual peoples when they confronted cultures and peoples distinctly different from themselves. Examination of the relationship between current theories of race and ethnicity and the theories and practices of the Greeks and Romans.
Cross-listed with CLS 222.

CRE 224. Africa to 1884. (3)

Survey course focusing on the changing historiography of Africa, African ancient civilizations, the emergence and development of the Bantu and Nilotes, Eastern Africa and the Orient, early Christianity and Islam, trans-Saharan trade, the medieval Sudanic Empires, statelessness and state formation, Africa and the West between 1400 and 1800, South Africa to 1870, the Mfecane, the Sudanic Jihads, long-distance trade, and African-European relations in the 19th century. IIB. PA-3B. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with HST.

CRE 225. The Making of Modern Africa. (3)

Survey of the transformation of Africa, south of the Sahara, from the time of the scramble for, and partition of, the continent among European powers in the second half of the 19th century to the present. Emphasizes economic, social, cultural, political, and intellectual features. This is done through reading monographs, articles, and literary works (novels, plays, poems, etc.) on African experiences with colonialism, the rise and triumph of nationalism, African womanhood, popular culture and the experiences of change, and the rise and nature of post-colonial economic and political crises in the region. IIB. PA-3B. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with HST 225.

CRE 243. History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1400s to 1800s. (3)

Development of European slaving activity in the African continent in the 15th through 19th centuries. Emphasis on the activities of Portuguese, Spanish, English, French and Dutch slavers, including the Middle Passage and also the less-studied slave trade in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. Identifies the economic forces, as well as the social consequences, of the ongoing slave trade.
Cross-listed with HST 243 and LAS 243.

CRE 248. African-American Experience. (3)

Concentrates on a socio-historical analysis of the African-American experience. Purpose is to investigate and understand the interaction between race, power, privilege, institutional structures, and ideas associated with this experience in America; provides alternative perspective for viewing this experience.

CRE 265. Critical Inquiry: Penny Lecture Series. (2)

Weekly lectures given by different Black World Studies Affiliates. Credit/No Credit.
Cross-listed with SJS 265 and SOC 265.

CRE 277. Independent Studies. (0-6)

CRE 279. African Americans in Sport. (3)

Socio-historical analysis of participation of African Americans in sport and society, and examination of the role sport has played in African Americans' integration into the larger society. Investigates the way the image of African Americans has been constructed and maintained through sporting practices. Sociological theories and concepts used to examine the impact of historical events, such as Reconstruction, black migration, and World Wars, on African American involvement in sport and other institutions. IC, IIC. PA-2A, PA-4B. CAS-C.
Cross-listed with SLM 279 and SOC 279.

CRE 287. Anti-Racism Social Movements: From ideas to action. (3)

This class, rooted in the experiences of Black, Asian, Indigenous, and Hispanic/Latino people, aims to critically investigate anti-racist protest and social movements that have occurred throughout U.S. and world history.  Students will explore anti-racist, etc. practice and organizing associated with vibrant massive movements for justice and equity.  This course will see how counter narratives and social movements have adapted anti-racist vision, leadership, and practice that have challenged and transformed many of these institutions.  It will focus on the long-term social and institutional transformation that are still needed to continue this work. ADVW. PA-1C. CAS-C.
Cross-listed with SJS 287.

CRE 301. Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa. (4)

Analysis of physical and cultural features of that area south of the Sahara Desert.
Cross-listed with GEO.

CRE 325. Identity, Race, Gender, Class. (3)

Develops conceptual tools and critical perspectives that enable students to better understand and analyze the processes through which identities are constructed and experienced. Learning activities facilitate analysis of individual identities as experienced through the life cycle and across diverse cultural and subcultural contexts, and build a systematic understanding of the processes and dynamics through which identities and identity groups develop and interact. IC. PA-4B. CAS-C.
Cross-listed with ATH/LAS/WGS.

CRE 335. Arts of West Africa. (3)

This course examines the visual and performed expressions of West Africa, spanning from centuries-old archaeological sculpture to contemporary art and artists working today. Due to Africa's long and layered history with neighboring regions and global interactions, the course also addresses connections to North Africa, the trans-Saharan trade network, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Diaspora cultures and international artists who identify with West Africa. West Africa is well known for its rich artistic culture: wooden sculpture, masquerades, ritual, elaborate textiles, dress, ceramics, architecture, metalwork, multi-media installation, beadwork, festivals and many more. This course explores these artistic genres, learning about the role of art in the lives of the people who make and use it.
Cross-listed with ART.

CRE 336. African American Writing, 1746-1877. (3)

Focuses on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century African American writings, especially the slave’s narrative, a unique form of autobiographical writing that sought to expose the horrors of slavery in America, to end this institution, and to contest ideas about the inhumanity of African Americans. Pre and post Civil War African American novels continue to address problems of race, injustice, and demands for equal rights for African Americans. Attention to the traditions of black writing established by slave narratives, which laid the foundation for African American literature and cultural and artistic production. CAS-B-LIT. IC. PA-4B.
Cross-listed with ENG 336.

CRE 337. African American Writing, 1878-1945. (3)

Despite the optimism occasioned by the fall of slavery, the years covered in this course are known as the era of Jim Crow, which was not characterized by the triumphs of a newly freed people welcomed by a repentant nation. Instead, black experience at this time is marked by the rise of the KKK, the epidemic of lynching, and the introduction of segregation into American society. This course considers the issues faced by these new American citizens—former slaves historically understood to be chattel and only three-fifths human—and how they strove, in their writing, to express and shape their identity and destiny. IC. PA-4B. CAS-B-LIT.
Cross-listed with ENG.

CRE 338. African American Writing, 1946-Present. (3)

Considers the relationship among literature, freedom, and racial identity as a major preoccupation of black intellectuals and writers, from slave narratives to current post-modern and hip-hop narratives. Black writers give special attention to the significance of race in literature, but does racial identity give a writer a special task as well as perspective? Is a black writer one who happens to be black or does his/her blackness obligate and/or empower this writer to write from a black perspective? And, is this perspective inevitable given the writer’s racial experiences in this country? IC. PA-4B. CAS-B-LIT.
Cross-listed with ENG 338.

CRE 340. Internship. (0-20)

CRE 343. African-American Religions. (3)

An historical survey of the formulation and expression of African-American religions from slavery to the present, including culturally specific forms of Christianity and Islam, as well as reinventions and reinterpretations of African traditions.
Cross-listed with REL.

CRE 348. Race and Ethnic Relations. (3)

Description and analysis of emergence and trends of minority relations in the U.S. IC. PA-4B.
Prerequisite: SOC 151 or SOC 153.
Cross-listed with SOC.

CRE 362. Family Poverty. (3)

Examines definitions, theories, causes and consequences of family poverty in the U.S. Identifies the extent and degree of U.S. poverty and demographic characteristics of those who are poor or likely to become poor. Consideration given to programs that reduce poverty and/or its negative effects, including those practiced in the past, those now practiced, and those that offer promise for improving the economic and social status of those who are poor. Costs and benefits of welfare and welfare reform and strategies for preventing poverty among future generations also discussed and evaluated. IC. PA-4B.
Prerequisite: FSW 295 or SOC 262.
Cross-listed with FWS 362 and SOC 362.

CRE 370. Selected Topics/Black World Studies. (3; maximum 9)

These courses examine specific aspects of the research, theories, roles, status, and experiences associated with blacks in America and throughout the world.

CRE 377. Independent Studies. (0-6)

CRE 381. Afro-Brazilian Diaspora Through Film and Arts. (3)

A focus on questions of gender, race, class and stereotypes in the African Lusophone countries. Taught in English. CAS-B-LIT.
Prerequisite: any literature course.
Cross-listed with ENG/POR/FST.

CRE 385. Race, Science, and Disease in the Americas. (3)

Surveys a variety of debates over race and disease since the European overseas expansion to the Americas, particularly in those regions that developed plantation-based agriculture. Begins with the medical and scientific construction of ideas about race from the conquest to the eighteenth century. Places the development of racial theories of sickness and health in a broad social and political context, and, in particular, explains the medical salience of race in the settings of slavery and colonialism. Discussions will focus primarily on Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States, but will also explore the making of knowledge about race in global setting.
Cross-listed with HST/LAS.

CRE 386. Race in U.S. Society. (3)

Examines the historical contexts within which major transformations in racial practices and policies have taken place and analyzes racialized customs and behaviors in the United States across time and place. IC. PA-4B. CAS-B.
Cross-listed with HST.

CRE 401. Race and Criminal Justice. (3)

This course investigates the critical role that race plays in our criminal justice system. The course will provide a sociohistorical framework of the criminal justice system, the inequalities that are inherently part if its structure, as well as the effects those inequalities have on different racial/ethnic groups in the United States. This course will encourage debate on exactly how just is the U.S. criminal justice system for minority groups and people of color. The course will also employ a life course perspective to investigate criminal behavior from juvenile delinquents through adulthood. Students in this class should objectively view the racial differences in the criminal justice system and be encouraged to reduce the racialized justice system.
Prerequisites: CRE 151 and either CJS 211 or 281.
Cross-listed with CJS.

CRE 402. Engaged Learning Practicum. (1-6; maximum 6)

This course connects feminist theory and practice, and is designed around service learning at a practicum site. The readings explore leadership, feminist grassroots organizing, service learning and civic engagement, feminist activism, and difference and cultural competence. Students will have the opportunity to translate the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking they have learned in the classroom to actual practice, to observe and work with professionals who are addressing women's/gender issues in the field, and to reflect on their own roles as future leaders and professionals.
Prerequisites: WGS 201 or 202 or 301.
Cross-listed with WGS.

CRE 432. Feminism and the Diaspora: U.S. Women of Color. (3)

Concerns issues of language, history, geography, social-psychology, and culture for U.S. women of color (black, Asian-American, Latina, American Indian, and others). Includes works by and about women on gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and other differences. CAS-B-LIT.
Cross-listed with ENG/WGS.

CRE 437. Black Feminist Studies. (3)

Examines critical and theoretical issues in black feminism from slavery to the present. One of the central goals of the course is to study constructions of race, gender, class, and sexuality in the context of black women's thoughts and experiences. The class will read, discuss and analyze a wide variety of texts including critical essays, films, selected fiction, print and visual media.
Cross-listed with ENG/WGS.

CRE 470. Social/Political Activism. (3)

Provides students with the opportunity to explore how indigenous groups effect change in their communities.
Prerequisite: SOC 151 or SOC 153, or SOC/SJS 165, or CRE 151.
Cross-listed with DST/SJS/SOC.

CRE 477. Independent Studies. (0-6)

CRE 677. Independent Studies. (0-6)