Imagine a more just world
Born of decades of student struggle and faculty advocacy, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) is grounded in critique of the dominant forces of power and repression. At a time of growing fascism, inequality, militarization and war, CRES provides essential analyses of the social, political, cultural, and economic processes at play. Our programs prepare students to be informed and engaged citizens, ready to address the problems of the modern world.
Academic Programs
CRES Bachelor of Arts
The CRES major offers a study of race as a major ideological framework through which practices of power and domination as well as struggles for liberation and self-determination have been enacted throughout history and in the contemporary moment.
Black Studies Minor
The Black Studies minor offers students grounding in the intellectual histories, political movements, cultural expressions, and critical theories of the black diaspora, all while engaging a range of methodologies from across disciplines.
CRES Graduate Designated Emphasis
The designated emphasis (DE) is the equivalent of a “minor” for doctoral study. It will provide you with a framework for in-depth study in specialized fields in your area, and an opportunity for recognition of particular scholarly expertise.
Advising Services
CRES advisors are here to support you on your educational journey.
Research Emphases
Creative CRES
Creative CRES is an area of research, cultural production, arts practice, teaching, and social engagement that generatively blurs the distinction between “creative” and “critical” work. Stemming from our commitment to justice as a method, Creative CRES highlights the importance of arts and literary practice to struggles for racial justice.
Settler Colonialism/Empire
A through line across multiple areas of study, our faculty study how settler colonialism – the ongoing genocidal theft of Indigenous peoples’ land across the globe – is a structural aspect of racial capitalism. In CRES, we bring together Indigenous Studies, Latinx Studies, and Black Studies to trace the centrality of settler colonialism within the accumulation of profit as predicated on colonial exploitation: racialization, elimination, enslavement and incarceration.
Science Studies
By centering justice, science studies in CRES builds communities of knowledge-making that engage with queer, Indigenous, and liberatory worldviews, and indeed interrogates the relationship of technoscience to capitalism as a system that requires and produces inequality. A Science and Justice minor is currently under development with an expected launch of Fall 2026.
and much more!
Visit our faculty’s profile pages to read more about their research.
News and Events
Department News
Celebrating the Class of 2025: Innovators, advocates, and future leaders
Highlighting a handful of graduates who are ready to make a difference
Empowering transfer students: UC Santa Cruz’s Humanities Division prepares undergraduates for the future
Transferring between universities can be stressful and disorienting, but at UC Santa Cruz, the Humanities Division works hard to ensure that transfer students are empowered, supported, and ready to make an impact.
Community Statements
Follow the link below for an archive of CRES department community statements.
