Ethnic Studies
[major | minor | graduate program | courses | faculty ]
Social Science Building, Room 201
http://www.ethnicstudies.ucsd.edu
All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice. Updates to curricular sections may be found on the Academic Senate website: http://senate.ucsd.edu/Curriculum/Updates.htm.
Ethnic studies at UC San Diego is an interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on fundamental theoretical and political questions regarding the social construction of categories of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and nation. The department’s innovative approach represents a commitment to transnational, relational, and intersectional methods for producing critical knowledge about power and inequality, including systems of knowledge that have emerged from racialized and indigenous communities in global contexts. The department’s areas of focus include aesthetics, performance, and cultural production; materialist approaches to labor, value, and consumption; science and technology; and (settler) colonialism, migration, and movement.
With outstanding teachers and excellently trained teaching assistants, undergraduates in the Department of Ethnic Studies have a valuable opportunity to engage in a lively and supportive academic environment. The curriculum of the Department of Ethnic Studies is designed to teach students to
- Conduct interdisciplinary research in comparative race and ethnic studies
- Communicate complex ideas about society effectively, particularly in oral and written form
- Critically analyze power and inequality in a global focus, in preparation for an international world
- Articulate the historical, cultural, and social contexts of specific racial, ethnic, and other social formations, in preparation for our diverse society
- Demonstrate practical experience in ethnic studies, other than academic writing and reading, such as through performance, art, direct service, internships, and study abroad.
Ethnic studies is an exciting degree that prepares students to enter the workforce and function effectively and critically as informed citizens in a diverse multicultural society. The major offers a solid liberal arts education for students considering admission to graduate or professional schools and careers in education, law, medicine, public health, social work, counseling, journalism, business, city planning, politics, psychology, international relations, or creative writing.
The Major
To receive a BA with a major in ethnic studies, students must meet the following requirements:
- Three lower-division courses from either Ethnic Studies 1-2-3. Ideally these lower-division courses should be taken during the sophomore year as an intensive introduction to the history and theoretical dimensions of ethnic diversity in the United States. Ethnic Studies 1, 2, and 3, Introduction to Ethnic Studies, will consist of the following three courses: Land and Labor, Circulations of Difference, and Making Culture.
- A minimum of twelve four-unit upper-division courses in the Department of Ethnic Studies must be completed from the following:
- One four-unit upper-division course that intensively explores the theory and comparative methods of ethnic studies (Ethnic Studies 100, Theories and Methods of Ethnic Studies). All ethnic studies majors should complete this course before proceeding with the other requirements listed below.
- One four-unit field methods course (Ethnic Studies 190, Research Methods: Studying Ethnic and Racial Communities).
- Ten upper-division ethnic studies electives from those listed below:
- Ethnic studies majors, including students who are double majors, may petition up to three upper-division courses to fulfill major requirements as long as each of the following three conditions is met for each course: (1) the course is taken from another UC San Diego department, taken from a UC San Diego approved study abroad program, or taken at another UC campus; and (2) the course work is appropriate to the ethnic studies major.
- To satisfy the requirements for the major, lower- and upper-division courses must be completed with a P, C–, or better grade.
- Except for independent study course electives (ETHN 197, 198, or 199) which are always taken with a Pass/Not Pass grade option, students majoring in ethnic studies may take up to two courses, either lower or upper division, with a Pass/Not Pass option.
ETHN 101. Ethnic Images in Film
ETHN 102. Science and Technology in Society: Race/Gender/Class
ETHN 103. Environmental Racism
ETHN 104. Race, Space, and Segregation
ETHN 105. Ethnic Diversity and the City
ETHN 106. Life, Death, and the Human
ETHN 107. Fieldwork in Racial and Ethnic Communities
ETHN 108. Race, Culture, and Social Change
ETHN 109. Race and Social Movements
ETHN 110. Cultural World Views of Native Americans
ETHN 111. Native American Literature
ETHN 112A. History of Native Americans in the United States I
ETHN 112B. History of Native Americans in the United States II
ETHN 113. Decolonizing Education
ETHN 114A. Representing Native America
ETHN 115. Monsters, Orphans, and Robots
ETHN 116. The United States-Mexico Border in Comparative Perspective
ETHN 117. Organic Social Movements
ETHN 118. Contemporary Immigration Issues
ETHN 119. Race in the Americas
ETHN 120. Race and Performance: The Politics of Popular Culture
ETHN 121. Contemporary Asian American History
ETHN 122. Asian American Culture and Identity
ETHN 123. Asian American Politics
ETHN 124. Asian American Literature
ETHN 125. Asian American History
ETHN 126. Comparative Filipino- and Vietnamese-American Identities and Communities
ETHN 127. Sexuality and Nation
ETHN 128. Hip Hop: The Politics of Culture
ETHN 129. Asian and Latina Immigrant Workers in the Global Economy
ETHN 130. Social and Economic History of the Southwest I
ETHN 131. Social and Economic History of the Southwest II
ETHN 132. Chicano Dramatic Literature
ETHN 133. Hispanic American Dramatic Literature
ETHN 134. Immigration and Ethnicity in Modern American Society
ETHN 135A. Early Latino/a-Chicano/a Cultural Production: 1848 to 1960
ETHN 135B. Contemporary Latino/a-Chicano/a Cultural Production: 1960 to Present
ETHN 137. Latina Issues and Cultural Production
ETHN 138. Chicano/a-Latino/a Poetry
ETHN 139. Chicano Literature in English
ETHN 140. Language and American Ethnicity
ETHN 142. Medicine, Race, and the Global Politics of Inequality
ETHN 143. Chicana/o Film and Media Studies
ETHN 145. Spanish Language in the United States
ETHN 146A. Theatrical Ensemble
ETHN 148. Latino/a and Chicano/a Literature
ETHN 149. African American History in the Twentieth Century
ETHN 151. Ethnic Politics in America
ETHN 152. Law and Civil Rights
ETHN 155. US Militarism
ETHN 156. Colonial Institutions and the Beginnings of the Modern World
ETHN 159. Topics in African American History
ETHN 164. African Americans and the Mass Media
ETHN 165. Sex and Gender in African American Communities
ETHN 166. Arab/Muslim American Identity and Culture
ETHN 167. African American History in War and Peace: 1917 to the Present
ETHN 168. Comparative Ethnic Literature
ETHN 169. Origins of the Atlantic World, c. 1450–1650
ETHN 170. Slavery and the Atlantic World
ETHN 171. African American Humor
ETHN 172. Afro-American Prose
ETHN 174. Themes in Afro-American Literature
ETHN 175. Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
ETHN 176. Black Music/Black Texts: Communication and Cultural Expression
ETHN 178. Blues: An Oral Tradition
ETHN 179A. Jazz Roots and Early Development (1900–1943)
ETHN 179B. Jazz Since 1946: Freedom and Form
ETHN 180. Topics in Mexican American History
ETHN 183. Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Class
ETHN 184. Black Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century
ETHN 185. Discourse, Power, and Inequality
ETHN 186. The Ethnic Press in the United States
ETHN 188. African Americans, Religion, and the City
ETHN 189. Special Topics in Ethnic Studies (Students may repeat this course three times for credit toward major requirements when topics vary.)
*ETHN 197. Fieldwork in Racial and Ethnic Communities
*ETHN 198. Directed Group Studies
*ETHN 199. Supervised Independent Study and Research
*Only a total of two courses from the special studies will be counted in fulfillment of the elective requirement. In addition, one course in foreign language at the upper-division level may be counted in partial fulfillment of this requirement, with the consent of the department.
The Honors Program
Consistent with other research opportunities offered to undergraduates on the UC San Diego campus, the department offers the Honors Program to ethnic studies majors in their senior or junior year the opportunity to conduct original research using interdisciplinary methodologies in the comparative study of race and ethnicity. To enroll in the Honors Program, an undergraduate must have a minimum grade point average of 3.5 in ethnic studies classes counted toward the major. Students with a GPA lower than 3.5 in the major may be admitted by exception if they show promise of success in research.
The Honors Program will be an extension of current departmental offerings using existing faculty resources. Ethnic studies and affiliated faculty will choose to advise students who successfully complete ETHN 191A and continue in the Honors Program based on related research interests. The student will enroll in ETHN 191B and ETHN 191C and work with the appropriate faculty adviser. Students will present their research projects at the annual Ethnic Studies Honors Symposium in June. Students who complete the sequence ETHN 191A, ETHN 191B, and ETHN 191C will receive one credit toward the B (Social Studies/Humanities) requirements for the ethnic studies major. Students who complete their research project with a grade of B or better and maintain a minimum 3.25 GPA in the ethnic studies major will receive Distinction in the major upon graduation from UC San Diego. Ethnic Studies 191A, 191B, and 191C must be taken for letter grade only.
191A. Undergraduate Research in Ethnic Studies (4)
This course is designed to help students conduct their own research rather than merely read the research of others. The course will introduce students to research paradigms in ethnic studies, familiarize them with finding aids and other library resources, and involve them in the design of research plans.
191B. Honors Research in Ethnic Studies (4)
This course is a continuation of Ethnic Studies 191A, Undergraduate Research in Ethnic Studies. Students who have completed ETHN 191A and selected a faculty research adviser may enroll in this course. During the quarter the research for the honors project will be completed under the faculty adviser’s supervision. Faculty advisers will meet weekly with their honors students to oversee the progress made in carrying out the plan of research. Formerly ETHN 192. Prerequisites: upper-division standing, consent of instructor, and completion of 191A.
191C. Honors Research in Ethnic Studies (4)
This course is a continuation of Ethnic Studies 191B, Honors Research in Ethnic Studies. Students who have completed ETHN 191B and are continuing to work with a faculty research adviser may enroll in this course. During the quarter the written drafts and final honors paper will be completed under the faculty adviser’s supervision. The student will meet weekly with the faculty adviser in order to prepare drafts and the final version of the honors paper. Formerly ETHN 193. Prerequisites: ETHN 191A and ETHN 191B.
Education Abroad Program
Students are able to participate in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) or UC San Diego’s Opportunities Abroad Program (OAP) while still making progress toward completing their major. Students considering this option should discuss their plans with the undergraduate adviser prior to going abroad, and courses taken abroad must be approved by the department. Interested students should contact the Programs Abroad Office in the International Center.
The Minor
Students may minor in ethnic studies. Students wishing to minor in ethnic studies must satisfy the following requirements:
- A total of seven courses will satisfy the minor program with two options as follows:
- Option 1, the lower-division option: Students must take two of the lower-division courses from ETHN 1, ETHN 2 or ETHN 3. Students must also take five four-unit upper-division ethnic studies courses from the upper-division electives (see list for ethnic studies electives).
- Or
- Option 2, the upper-division option: Students must take ETHN 100 and ETHN 190. Students must also take five four-unit upper-division ethnic studies courses from the upper-division electives (see list for ethnic studies electives).
- To satisfy the requirements for the minor, lower- and upper-division courses must be completed with a grade of P, C–, or better.
- Except for independent study course electives (ETHN 197, 198, or 199) that are always taken with a Pass/Not Pass grade option, students minoring in ethnic studies may take one course, either lower or upper division, with a Pass/Not Pass grade option.
Students choose only one option to satisfy the minor requirement.
No more than one independent study course (ETHN 197, 198, or 199) may be petitioned to count for the minor.