Bachelor of Arts (BA)
The major in Ethnic Studies provides a core curriculum designed to develop a comparative and multidisciplinary understanding of the experiences and communities of African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicano/Latinos, and Native Americans.
Students majoring in Ethnic Studies study the history, culture, politics, and sociology of Third World communities in the United States within the general context of American society and institutions. Thus, they pursue knowledge vital for a critical understanding of contemporary society and for social changes to improve the lives and communities of racial minorities. Ethnic Studies majors also prepare themselves for advanced graduate study in either academic or professional fields.
Honors Program
The Department of Ethnic Studies provides a program leading to the A.B. degree with honors. Students will be recommended for honors if they have completed at least 30 units and two semesters with an average GPA of at least 3.5 overall and for all work undertaken in the Department of Ethnic Studies. Students must also have been approved specifically for honors by the department chair upon recommendation by the faculty advisor for the group major. Honors students will be required to complete ETH STD H196A and ETH STD H196B, Senior Honors Seminar for Ethnic Studies Majors. In order to graduate with an A.B. degree with honors, students must obtain at least a 3.5 GPA for all course work undertaken at the University.
Minor Program
The department offers a minor in Ethnic Studies. For further information regarding declaring the minor, please see the department's website.
Other Majors and Minors Offered by the Department of Ethnic Studies
Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies (Major and Minor)
Chicanx Latinx Studies (Major and Minor)
Native American Studies (Major and Minor)
Visit Department Website
The Ethnic studies major provides a core curriculum designed to develop a comparative and multidisciplinary understanding of racialized communities in the modern world, with an emphasis on the history and contemporary forms of modern colonization and racial slavery, as well as the multiple responses, unearthed histories, and alternative practices, theories, and imaginaries found in communities of color, their artists, theoreticians, activists, and intellectuals. It is different from the other majors offered in the Department of Ethnic Studies in that it is specifically comparative and aims to provide students the possibility of focusing on one or more issues, problems, intellectual approaches, or themes and exploring them in relation to two or more ethno-racial groups nationally or internationally. Most central among these issues and themes stand sexuality, gender, migration, policy, education, literature, culture, spirituality, religion, comparative racial formations, and law. They are often connected with different histories of colonization, segregation, slavery, genocide, persecution, internment, and other forms of systematic dehumanization, on the one hand, and with struggles for social justice, liberation, and decolonization on the other.
Learning Goals for the Major
Undergraduates are expected to obtain the following skills by the time they graduate. These skills belong to five different general areas: historical knowledge, empirical knowledge and quantitative methods, interpretation and qualitative analysis, theory and critique, and community service. They are:
- Historical Knowledge
- Familiarity with the history of modern Western civilization, including European expansion, conquest, and enslavement.
- Specific knowledge of the modern history of at least three different ethno-racial groups.
- Acquaintance with debates in historiography, particularly as they relate to the use of history in relation to the understanding of people of color.
- For students who specialize in history, proper use of primary and secondary historical sources, as well as the writing of scholarly historical work.
- Empirical Knowledge and Quantitative Methods
- Familiarity with different methods of gathering empirical data about human communities (anthropological, sociological, etc.).
- Knowledge of critical debates about the use and implications of traditional methods of gathering empirical data to obtain knowledge about communities of color.
- Identification of proper methods to conduct research and awareness of the limits and possibilities of such methods.
- Creative use, delimitation, and expansion of methods of empirical and quantitative study based on the nature of the problems and questions addressed in the research as well as the object of study.
- Interpretation and Qualitative Analysis
- Acquaintance with major methods and debates in the humanities.
- Familiarity with the art, film, literature, or music of at least three different ethno-racial groups.
- Identification of proper methods to conduct research about the creative products of human communities, and ethno-racial communities in particular.
- Creative use, delimitation, and expansion of methods of qualitative analysis based on the nature of the problems and questions addressed in the research as well as the object of study.
- Theory and Critique
- Familiarity with major theories of race and ethnicity and their intersections and constitutive relations with class, gender, and sexuality.
- Acquaintance with theories of space and place, including indigeneity, diaspora, migration, and nation, as well as their use in determining the unit of analysis.
- Use of comparison and contrast for evaluating and producing theory as well as for critical analysis.
- Creative use of philosophies and theories that are relevant to the understanding and critical analysis of the social contexts, interpersonal dynamics, and multiple creative productions of ethno-racial communities.
- Community Service
- Further refinement and enrichment of the above listed skills in settings where the students interact with communities of color and/or their productions.
