Race and Ethnic Studies
Advisers — ‑CHAN, GARCIA, HERNANDEZ-LEMUS (director), HYDE, Lewis, MONTAÑO, PADILLA, WONG
The race and ethnic studies program offers a minor. Students are encouraged to consult with race and ethnic studies faculty and with their faculty advisor in their pursuit of a race and ethnic studies thematic minor. 5 units minimum.
All students are required to complete:
- ES185 Introduction to Race and Ethnic Studies.
- One approved course on the theorizing of race, such as ES212 Theories of Race and Ethnicity or ES 200/PH285 Philosophy and Race. Other courses offered in a given block may be considered in consultation with members of the RES steering committee.
- One approved methods course (e.g., ES215/AN215 Research Design: Method and Theory or ES321/AN321 Rio Grande: Culture, History, and Region), suitable to the student’s focus, chosen in consultation with the RES advisor.
- Two units of approved electives (all to be cross-listed with race and ethnic studies, such as ES200/HY217 American Frontiers, ES200/SW200 Topics in Southwest Studies: The Student’s Role in the Sixties Southern Civil Rights Movement, ES253/EN280 Literature of the American Southwest: Mexican-American Literature, ES223/SO113 Racial Inequality, and ES220/FS220 Blacks and the Cinema.
- An Integrative Experience Capstone project demonstrating the student’s ability to conduct a critical examination of racial and ethnic groups. Students can choose to focus on social issues (e.g., racial disparities in housing, health care, employment, education, income, or criminal justice) that affect racial and ethnic groups, cultural and artistic expressions associated with a particular racial and ethnic group, or the ways racial and ethnic groups have challenged social inequality. It could consist of a paper, presentation, internship with reflective component, or other independent work, to be completed after other requirements have been fulfilled. Proposals for the Integrative Experience are approved by members of the RES steering committee and evaluated by the director and a faculty advisor assigned to the student.
185 Introduction to the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity. Examines those social forces, both historical and contemporary, that have brought about racial and ethnic “diversity” and “difference” in the U.S. Attention to the histories and experiences of Native Peoples, African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans. Taking a comparative approach, it puts into focus the shared histories of racialization among these groups without losing sight of asymmetrical relations of power informing these histories. The course sheds light on the ways these groups position themselves and are positioned as racial subjects in distinct and historically specific ways but also in relational and mutually constitutive ways.
212 Theories of Race and Ethnicity. Examines various theoretical and conceptual approaches to the study of race and ethnicity. Attention is given to the various ways race and ethnicity have been defined and understood including the ethnicity paradigm, class-based perspectives, and racial formation theory. Examines debates and controversies in the study of race and ethnicity as well as emergent themes and recent developments in the scholarship. Possible topics include a focus on the interrelations among race and other axes of difference such as gender, class, and sexuality, race and the structuring of space, the legal construction of race, race and media culture, and race and the prison-industrial complex. Prerequisite: ES 185 or FG 110. (Required for the race and ethnic studies minor.) 1 unit — program faculty.