Ethnic Studies, B.A.

The B.A. degree emphasizes the social and historical study of race and racism in the United States and explores systemic power relations that arise from institutional, cultural, and global productions of “race.” In this major, students gain both breadth and depth of study. Through the three thematic areas, students will engage a variety of issues that cut across various racial/ethnic communities. In so doing, students obtain insight on how issues play out both similarly and uniquely within and across racial/ethnic communities. In addition, students acquire deeper understanding of a specific historically marginalized community in the United States and/or of a thematic area by focusing electives in a particular area. The degree is structured in three themes:

Colonialism, Migration and Diasporas: This theme examines colonialism in domestic and/or international contexts, and the waves of (im)migration and resulting diasporas produced from exile. Students explore the political, economic, cultural and/or social forces that produce unequal relations (e.g., colonizer/colonized, propertied or dominant/dispossessed, and citizen/immigrant). Also considered are affected racial-ethnic communities’ responses to colonization or (im)migration.

The State, Inequality and Resistance: This theme explores the ways that the nation-state deploys power that unfairly and inequitably impact racial-ethnic relations, individual or cultural identities, and opportunities for advancement. Students examine institutional systems, discourses, and/or mechanisms of the state (e.g., legal, political, educational, criminal justice, bureaus and reservations, segregation and/or policies) that seek to control and contain populations. Along with the forms of resistance aggrieved groups undertake to challenge, resist and self-empower, consequences such as discrimination and inequalities produced by the state are considered.

Identities and Representation: This theme focuses on questions of identity, its construction for and by historically marginalized populations, and how representations and cultural practices are means to construct or sustain empowering and affirming cultural identities. Students will study modes of representation (e.g., media, artistic, or performative) adopted or created by marginalized groups as well as dominant representations of racial-ethnic communities.