Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies
The BA in Ethnic Studies examines both the race-related processes that underlie many social problems and the multiple forms of resistance and struggle aimed at achieving racial social justice. Our analytical approach is comparative, relational, interdisciplinary, and intersectional. Ethnic Studies classes utilize a comparative framework, comparing and contrasting the distinct experiences of different racialized communities. At the same time, recognizing that communities do not exist in isolation from one another and that race itself is a mutually constitutive process, our classes attend to the intersections, interactions, and the complexities of identity, community formation, and social struggle. Ethnic Studies employs interdisciplinary approaches that explore the a) social, economic, and political aspects of race, and the histories of communities of color, especially in relation to resistance of social injustice, b) the realm of representation and cultural imaginary as expressed in cultural production by Communities of Color, c) examination of the ways that race, gender, and sexuality are co-constitutive, and the multiple identities that have emerged at these intersections, d) communities’ own narratives about colonization, sovereignty, homeland, racialization, and exoticization, e) an examination of health and environmental inequities and how they have impacted the survival of communities of color. Ethnic Studies’ interdisciplinary approach provides students with a multi-faceted understanding of various forms of oppression and struggles for change both in the US and transnationally. Our analytical framework emphasizes intersectionality, considering the ways race, gender, class, sexuality, and religion work together to erase, elide, and oppress subjects.
Ethnic Studies examines how social problems are fueled by racial and ethnic discrimination by drawing from these multiple methodologies. An integral part of our academic mission is to develop our students’ understanding of resistance. Our degree will produce cohorts of highly motivated critical thinkers and socially engaged students who will use their analytic frameworks to build upon existing service and organizing work among disenfranchised communities of color in the U.S. and abroad.
Program Learning Outcomes
- Identify the history, objectives, and philosophies of Ethnic Studies, including the fields of Africana Studies, American Indian Studies, Asian American Studies, Latina/Latino Studies, and Comparative Ethnic Studies.
- Describe historical, cultural, economic, and comparative approaches to the study of race, class, gender, nation, and sexuality.
- Interpret cultural production by people of color and the ways that various forms of culture (literature, dance, murals, etc.) express the agency of oppressed peoples and/or challenge social inequalities.
- Apply the concept of intersectionality to the analysis of gender-oppressed people of color, such as women of color, queers of color, and transgender people of color.
- Analyze social movements in the contestation of social hierarchies based on race, gender, sexuality, class, and/or other social determinants.
- Apply principles of community-engaged scholarship to all study of communities of color.
Admissions Requirements
- Be a resident of California or another authorized state. See State Authorization.
- Have completed a minimum of 60 transferable semester (90 quarter) units.
- Have a grade point average of 2.0 (C) or better in all transferable units attempted.
- Have a grade point average of 2.0 (C) or better in all units completed at SF State.
- Be in good standing at the last college or university attended.
- Have completed all lower-division General Education requirements (39 semester units or 58.5 quarter units) with a grade of C- or better including the below four courses commonly called "Golden Four":
- Oral Communication
- Written Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Quantitative Reasoning
Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies - 42 units
Core (9 units)
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ETHS/RRS 100 | Introduction to Ethnic Studies | 3 |
| ETHS 300GW | Writing in Ethnic Studies - GWAR | 3 |
| ETHS 580 | Senior Capstone for Online Degree in Ethnic Studies | 3 |
Breadth Requirements (18 units)
Health and Environment in Communities of Color
Select Two:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| AA S 591 | Asian American Community Health Issues | 3 |
| AFRS 370 | Health, Medicine, and Nutrition in the Black Community | 3 |
| AFRS 678 | Urban Issues of Black Children and Youth | 3 |
| AIS 450 | American Indian Science | 3 |
| AIS 520 | Before the Wilderness: American Indian Ecology | 3 |
| RRS 304 | Decolonize Your Diet: Food Justice and Gendered Labor in Communities of Color | 3 |
Arts, Literature, and Community
Select Two:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| AA S 585 | Asian American Religiosities | 3 |
| AFRS 326 | Black Religion | 3 |
| AFRS 645 | Literature of the Harlem Renaissance | 3 |
| AFRS 665 | Black Journalism | 3 |
| AIS 310 | American Indian Religion and Philosophy | 3 |
| AIS 320 | American Indian Music | 3 |
| LTNS 530 | Latina/os and the Media | 3 |
| RRS 360 | Our Stories: Literatures of Race and Resistance | 3 |
| RRS 480 | Youth Culture, Race and Resistance | 3 |
| RRS 571 | Women, Race, and Class | 3 |
History and Social Movements
Select Two:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| AA S 380 | Cambodians in the United States | 3 |
| AA S 540 | South Asians in the United States | 3 |
| AA S 570 | Southeast Asians in the United States | 3 |
| AFRS/AIS 350/LTNS 355 | Black Indians in the Americas | 3 |
| AIS 400 | American Indian Education | 3 |
| AIS 410 | Perspectives of Native California Indians | 3 |
| AIS 420 | Native Genders and Feminism | 3 |
| AIS 440 | Native Sexualities and Queer Discourse | 3 |
| AIS 460 | Power and Politics in American Indian History | 3 |
| LTNS 460 | Central Americans of the U.S.: History and Heritage | 3 |
| LTNS 465 | Mexican American and Chicana/x/o History | 3 |
| LTNS 467 | Caribbeans in the U.S.: History and Heritage | 3 |
| RRS 600 | History of People of Color in the U.S. | 3 |
| RRS 625 | Mixed Race Studies: A Comparative Focus | 3 |
Program Electives (15 units)
Select 15 units from the following:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| AA S 210 | History of Asians in the United States | 3 |
| AA S 211 | Contemporary Asian Americans | 3 |
| AA S 353 | Filipina/o American Identities | 3 |
| AFRS 101 | Introduction to Africana Studies | 3 |
| AFRS 200 | Introduction to Black Psychology | 3 |
| AFRS 204 | Black Creative Arts | 3 |
| AFRS 208 | Introduction to African American History | 3 |
| AFRS 210 | Introduction to Africana Literature | 3 |
| AFRS 266 | Black Online: Cyberspace, Culture, and Community | 3 |
| AFRS 515 | Black Family Studies | 3 |
| AIS 150 | American Indian History in the United States | 3 |
| AIS 205 | American Indians and U.S. Laws | 3 |
| AIS 235 | American Indians: Image and Issues in the Mass Media | 3 |
| AIS 250 | American Indian Populations and Colonial Diseases | 3 |
| AIS 410 | Perspectives of Native California Indians | 3 |
| RRS 110 | Critical Thinking and the Ethnic Studies Experience | 3 |
| RRS 240 | All Power to the People: Comparative Freedom Movements of the "Sixties" | 3 |
| RRS 250 | Race, Ethnicity and Power in America | 3 |
| RRS 276 | Race, Activism and Climate Justice | 3 |
| RRS 280 | Disrupting Science Fiction: Race, Gender, and Alternative Futures | 3 |