Comparative American Studies

Gina M. Pérez, Professor of Comparative American Studies; chair

Jessica L. Arnett, Assistant Professor of Comparative American Studies and Environmental Studies
Leila Ben-Nasr, Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative American Studies
KJ Cerankowski, Associate Professor of Comparative American Studies and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies
Carmen Merport Quiñones, Assistant Professor of Comparative American Studies
Raechel L. Tiffe, Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative American Studies and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies

Appointed by Courtesy
Yveline Alexis, Associate Professor of Africana Studies
Jay Fiskio, Professor of Environmental Studies
Jennifer R. Garcia, Assistant Professor of Politics
Daphne John, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Assessment and Accreditation
Kathryn A. Metz, Director of Musical Studies and Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Administrative Coordinator
Pablo R. Mitchell, Professor of History
Renee C. Romano, Robert S. Danforth Professor of History
Danielle C. Skeehan, Associate Professor of English
Harrod J. Suarez, Associate Professor of English

Visit the department web page for up-to-date information on department faculty, visiting lecturers, and special events.

Comparative American studies examines the range and diversity of experiences, communities, and identities in the United States. Through inter- and multidisciplinary study, students explore social, political, economic, and cultural processes relating to the production and contestation of power and inequality, as well as consider the United States locally, nationally, and globally. The Department of Comparative American Studies at Oberlin College invites students to consider the relationship of different communities to both the nation-state and to each other, ranging from issues of settler colonialism and empire building to social justice movements. Courses investigate power and agency through analysis of intersecting structures of race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, and citizenship. Central to these studies are examinations of the relationship of theory and practice in various historical and contemporary contexts.

Comparative American studies is aligned with the fields of ethnic studies, LGBTQ studies, and American studies, and its core faculty have expertise in the areas of visual culture studies, gender studies, LGBTQ studies, Asian American studies, and Latina/o studies. Affiliate and courtesy faculty from departments such as Africana studies, English, sociology, and politics further enhance the topical and methodological breadth that students can attain through extended study in the department.

See information about Research, Internships, Study Away, and Experiential Learning (RISE).

Explore Winter Term projects and opportunities.

Majors and Minors

• Comparative American Studies Major  
• Comparative American Studies Minor  

Courses

• CAST 050 - Cleveland Immersion Program
• CAST 100 - Introduction to Comparative American Studies
• CAST 106 - The History of Rock: Race, Class, Gender, Place
• CAST 106OC - The History of Rock: Race, Class, Gender, Place
• CAST 200 - Theories and Methods in American Studies
• CAST 201 - Latinas/os in Comparative Perspective
• CAST 207 - Introduction to Queer Studies
• CAST 208 - Which American Life?
• CAST 210 - Sanctuary, Solidarity, and Latina/o/x Practices of Accompaniment
• CAST 212 - Queer(ing) Media
• CAST 215 - Minor Feelings: An Introduction to Affect Studies
• CAST 217 - Transgender Literature: Transition, Narrative, and Desire
• CAST 223 - Surviving America: Introduction to Native Studies
• CAST 229 - How We Look: Visualizing U.S. Identities
• CAST 231 - The Coalition of the Future: How We Combat White Nationalism and Weave the Fabric of Democracy
• CAST 232 - History of Race in American Cities and Suburbs
• CAST 242 - Asian American Literature at the Crossroads
• CAST 245 - Asian American Experiments in Life Writing
• CAST 248 - Asian American Reckonings: An Introduction to Asian American Studies
• CAST 256 - Immigration in U.S. History
• CAST 260 - Asian American History
• CAST 261 - Contemporary Arab American Literature
• CAST 265 - Arab and Muslim American Studies
• CAST 270 - Latina/o History
• CAST 277 - Rap the Disco, Punk the Queen: Music of the 1970s
• CAST 279 - Imagining Borders
• CAST 284 - Disability and Queer Community Health in a Time of Pandemic
• CAST 302 - American Agricultures
• CAST 309 - Performing America
• CAST 311 - Militarization of American Daily Life
• CAST 312 - Cultures of Surveillance
• CAST 313 - Archives and Affects
• CAST 315 - Brown TV
• CAST 317 - Transgender Cultural Studies
• CAST 318 - American Orientalism
• CAST 319 - Sexual “Absences”
• CAST 335 - Latinx Oral Histories
• CAST 339 - Indigenous Activism, Environmental Justice, and the State
• CAST 382 - Afro-Asian America: Intraminority Connections in Historical Perspective
• CAST 385 - Indigenous Nations, Treaty Rights, and the Great Lakes
• CAST 403 - Queer Trauma Narratives
• CAST 405 - Age of Fracture: The United States since 1973
• CAST 408 - Race, Religion, and Citizenship
• CAST 411 - Seminar: Ethnic and Racial Minority Mental Health
• CAST 416 - Taste the Nation: Culture, Consumption, and American Identities
• CAST 416OC - Taste the Nation: Culture, Consumption, and American Identities
• CAST 427 - Borderlands
• CAST 500 - Capstone Research Seminar
• CAST 501 - CAST Senior Honors I
• CAST 502 - CAST Senior Honors II
• CAST 995F - Private Reading - Full
• CAST 995H - Private Reading - Half