As an academic field, Ethnic Studies focuses on the study of four racial-ethnic groups of color: African Americans, Asian Americans, Latina/o Americans, and Native Americans. The field explores the identities, institutional racism these groups have faced, their responses or resilience, and their diverse contributions to American multicultural society.
Ethnic Studies assists all students to develop and utilize a critical lens to foster empowerment, cultural humility, resilience, hope, self-worth, and community solidarity in a way that is responsive to all our students.
Program Learning Outcomes
Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) are statements of the kind of learning a program hopes a student will achieve. The PLOs describe the knowledge, skills, problem-solving, communication and values that apply to all certificates and/or degrees within that program.
Upon completion of this program, students should be able to:
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To demonstrate a basic understanding of the core concepts in the ethnic studies field.
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Demonstrate the ability to make connections between ethnicity/race and other aspects of social life (i.e. economy, politics, cultural values, and gender relations).
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Analyze both historic and contemporary patterns and issues in multi-ethnic societies
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Students will be able to identify and analyze the causes of inequities in the United States.
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Students will identify and analyze social policies that have the potential to alleviate inequalities.
Ethnic Studies Courses
This course is an in-depth survey of the history of Japanese immigrants and their descendants in America from the 19th century to the present. Topics such as the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during the 1940s and the long-range effects of internment will illustrate the unique experience often marginalized by American History. The course is designed to meet the needs of students who wish to more fully understand the experience of Japanese immigrants and their descendants in America.
Recommended Preparation: ENGL 101.0
Lecture Hours: 54.0
Transfer: Transfers to both UC/CSU
Provides an interdisciplinary survey of Chicana/o culture and heritage through the centuries with an emphasis on the contemporary experience in the United States. Analyzes the economic, political, social, cultural and intellectual elements of the Chicana/o community and studies the changing roles of the Chicana/o in American society.
Lecture Hours: 54.0
Transfer: Transfers to both UC/CSU
This course provides a study of African American culture and heritage from the 1600s to the present. It analyzes the economic, political, social, artistic, and intellectual elements of the African American community. The course also explores concepts such as racialization, the intersection of class and gender, and liberation while paying particular attention to the significant impact that African Americans have had on American culture as a whole.
Lecture Hours: 54.0
Transfer: Transfers to both UC/CSU
A survey course that examines the experience of Asian American groups (Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, Malaysian, and other Asian Americans) from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The course emphasizes these themes as it considers each immigrant group: stereotypes, push and pull factors in immigration, labor experiences, racism and discrimination in American society as applied to Asian Americans, contributions of Asian Americans to American society, community life before and since World War II, problems of the Asian American community today.
Lecture Hours: 54.0
Transfer: Transfers to both UC/CSU
An introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Native American Studies, exploring the complexity and diversity of the Indigenous Peoples of the lands now called North America, with an emphasis on the lands now called the United States. It is centered on perspectives from Native North American Indigenous People and their Nations directly, gaining further insight from 'Western' academic fields such as the biophysical sciences, humanities, social sciences, and critical social theory, such as the study of race, power, and class. Connecting Indigenous traditions with the work Indigenous Nations have and continue to do across the past, present, and future will be emphasized, especially around resistance and resilience, decolonization, environmental management, and sovereignty-building.
Lecture Hours: 54.0
Transfer: Transfers to CSU only
ETH 105 surveys the major ethnic and racial minorities in the United States to provide students with a better understanding of the socio-economic, cultural, and political practices and institutions that support or challenge racism, and racial and ethnic inequalities. The course also studies historical and contemporary patterns of interaction between intersectional identities of the four core ethnic populations of Asian Americans, Chicanx/Latinx, African Americans, and Native/Indigenous Americans within the United States.
Recommended Preparation: ENGL 101.0
Lecture Hours: 54.0
Transfer: Transfers to CSU only
Ethnic Studies 106 surveys the contemporary status of ethnic women in the United States. Students analyze the lived experiences of women in Native American, African American, Asian American, and Latina communities in the United States with a special emphasis on agency and group affirmation. Topics include anti-racism, feminism, and equity. , UC
Recommended Preparation: ENGL 101.0 or ENGL 101H
Lecture Hours: 54.0
Transfer: Transfers to both UC/CSU