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Social Science Building, Room 201
http://ethnicstudies.ucsd.edu
All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice.
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
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.
To receive a BA with a major in ethnic studies, students must meet the following requirements:
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 Worldviews of Indigenous America
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 114B. Representing Native America: Exhibit Design
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 136. The Science and Critical Analysis of Environmental Justice
ETHN 137. Latina Issues and Cultural Production
ETHN 139. Chicano Literature in English
ETHN 140. Comparative Refugee Communities from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
ETHN 141. Gandhi in the Modern World: From Civil Rights to the Arab Spring
ETHN 142. Medicine, Race, and the Global Politics of Inequality
ETHN 143. Chicana/o Film and Media Studies
ETHN 146A. Ensemble
ETHN 147. Black Feminisms, Past and Present
ETHN 149. African American History in the Twentieth Century
ETHN 150. Visuality, Sexuality, and Race
ETHN 151. Ethnic Politics in America
ETHN 152. Law and Civil Rights
ETHN 153. Citizenship and Civil Rights in the Twentieth Century
ETHN 154. History of Mexican America
ETHN 155. US Militarism
ETHN 155GS. Critical Perspectives on the Vietnam War
ETHN 157. Madness and Urbanization
ETHN 158. Native American Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century
ETHN 159. Topics in African American History
ETHN 160. Global Indigenous Studies
ETHN 162. Practicum in California Tribal Law and Journalism
ETHN 163E. Decolonial Theory
ETHN 163F. Playing Indian: Native American and First Nations Cinema
ETHN 163G. Indigenous Theatre and Performance
ETHN 163I. Asian American Histography
ETHN 163J. Asian American Social Movements
ETHN 164. African Americans and the Mass Media
ETHN 165. Gender and Sexuality in African American Communities
ETHN 166. Arab/Muslim American Identity and Culture
ETHN 168. Comparative Ethnic Literature
ETHN 169. Origins of the Atlantic World, c. 1450–1650
ETHN 170. Slavery and the Atlantic World
ETHN 172. Afro-American Prose
ETHN 173GS. Gender, Sexuality, and War
ETHN 174. Themes in Afro-American Literature
ETHN 175. Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
ETHN 177. Listening to the World
ETHN 178. Blues: An Oral Tradition
ETHN 179. Discover Jazz
ETHN 180. Topics in Mexican American History
ETHN 182. Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Fantasy and Science Fiction
ETHN 183. Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Class
ETHN 184. Black Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century
ETHN 185. Discourse, Power, and Inequality
ETHN 187. Latinx Sexualities
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.
Consistent with other research opportunities offered to undergraduates on the UC San Diego campus, the department offers 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.
Candidates for Honors in Ethnic Studies will be required to take ETHN 100H, Honors Research Design, a four-unit discussion-based course on advanced research methods; and ETHN 196, Honors Thesis Research, a four-unit independent study with a thesis director who will be either an ethnic studies faculty member or an ethnic studies affiliated faculty member. At the end of spring quarter, honors students will provide an overview of their thesis findings at a one-day symposium. Students who complete ETHN 100H and ETHN 196H will receive credit toward the total number of ten upper-division electives required for the ethnic studies major. Both courses must be taken for a grade. Students who complete the research project with a grade of A+ will receive Highest Distinction, a grade of A receives High Distinction, and a grade of B or greater receives Distinction in the major upon graduation from UC San Diego.
ETHN 100H. Honors Research Design (4)
This discussion-based course will focus on the application of advanced research methods to the design of extensive, independent research-based projects.
ETHN 196H. Honors Thesis (4)
This course will focus on writing an Honors thesis under the supervision of a thesis adviser, who will be either an Ethnic Studies faculty or an Ethnic Studies affiliated faculty member. While not required, students are encouraged to take ETHN 100C: Social Justice Praxis concurrently with 196H.
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 Study Abroad UC San Diego office near Matthews Quad.
Students may minor in ethnic studies. Students wishing to minor in ethnic studies must satisfy the following requirements:
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.