Discover the Ethnic Studies Curriculum
Our academic and community-based knowledge curriculum addresses the lives, labor and cultures of communities of color through ethnic-specific and comparative lenses while inviting students to engage with power, equity and social justice issues in applied ways. We aim to bridge academic and community knowledge in order to serve the needs of local, tribal and trans/national communities.
Our faculty encourage students to forge their own course of study based on their passions and experiences, which empowers students to be independent, critical thinkers.
Our graduates are prepared to enter leadership positions in diverse domestic and transnational environments with critical, accurate and empathic knowledge and facility.
Explore Ethnic Studies Courses
Read descriptions of our Ethnic Studies classes on our Courses page! Not all courses offered below will be available every semester. Make sure to check course offerings on the registration portal for each upcoming semester.
Program Requirements
Each student declares their major(s) and minor(s) under a single catalog of record that is identified on the student's degree audit (available on Degree Works).
The program requirements below are based on the current course catalog and may not be applicable if a student is declared in an earlier catalog.
Find all previous course catalogs on our Archived Catalogs of Record page.
36 units
Major
18 units
Minor
Major unit estimates include preparation for the major units as well as major requirements.
- Major
- Minor
- Learning Outcomes
Preparation for the Major
Lower-Division Courses | ||
ETHN 100 | Intro to Ethnic Studies | 3 |
Select two of the following: | 6 | |
ETHN 220 | Introduction To African-American Studies | |
ETHN 230 | Introduction To American Indian Studies | |
ETHN 240 | Introduction To Chicano/Latino Studies | |
ETHN 250 | Introduction To Asian American Studies | |
ETHN 294 | Special Topics in Ethnic Studies | |
Total Units | 9 | |
Major Requirements
The major is interdisciplinary and requires 24 units of upper-division coursework. All students must:
take at least two courses from different ethnic-specific core course areas not covered at the Lower-Division Level.
and at least two courses from the Comparative Ethnic Studies core course area (360-369, or 460-469),
Coursework will culminate in the capstone course, ETHN 495, a community-based research seminar.
Additional courses generated each semester by the department may also be applicable.
The curriculum layout is as follows:
Core Course Areas | ||
Select at least one course from each of two different ethnic-specific areas below: | 6 | |
African American Studies | ||
ETHN 321C | African American Panethnicity | |
ETHN 322 | African American Civil Rights | |
ETHN 323 | African American Music and Culture | |
American Indian Studies | ||
ETHN 331 | Gender in Native America | |
ETHN 332 | American Indian Health and Spirituality | |
ETHN 333 | Indigenous Decolonization | |
Chicano/Latino Studies | ||
ETHN 343 | Chicano San Diego | |
Asian American Studies | ||
ETHN 355 | Asian American Social Movements | |
Comparative Ethnic Studies | ||
Select at least two of the following: | 6 | |
ETHN 360 | Race, Religion and Social Justice | |
ETHN 361 | Immigration at US-Mexico Border: Ethnicity, Race & Gender | |
ETHN 362 | Ethnicity and Cinema | |
ETHN 363 | Race and U.S. Social Movements | |
ETHN 364 | Race, Class and Gender | |
ETHN 365 | U.S. Women Of Color Theory And Activism | |
ETHN 366 | Race and Performance | |
ETHN 367 | Race and Globalization | |
Electives | 12 | |
Four ETHN courses (12 units), at least nine units must be upper-division | ||
Capstone Course | ||
ETHN 495 | Capstone Seminar | 3 |
Total Units | 27 | |