The Ethnic Studies minor is the interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity,
with a focus on the histories, cultures, perspectives, and community work of marginalized
racial and ethnic groups in the United States. The curriculum takes a theoretical,
historical, and experiential approach to examine: modern (in)justice; social movements;
legal and public policy activism; antiracist and anti-patriarchal ontologies; liberationist
epistemologies; and community and identity formation in American history. Students
will learn about multiple cultures’ social and historical context within the United
States; academic and experiential learning are interwoven such that key themes, concepts,
and ideas in the field of Ethnic Studies are applied intentionally with communities.
Analyze the ways in which race and racism have been, and continue to be, powerful
social, cultural, and political forces, connecting these to other axes of stratification,
including gender, class, sexuality, and legal status.
Understand critical histories, continual forms of oppression, and compare representations
of borderlands, hybridity, migration, and diaspora within and between fields of Native
American, African American, and/or Latinx Studies.
Apply critical frameworks of indigenous and liberationist epistemologies to contemporary
social issues through engaging in building critical knowledge OR serving/organizing
with marginalized communities around issues of culture, diversity, and justice.
