Race and Resistance Studies (RRS)

Explanation of Course Descriptions, Symbols, and Terms

RRS 100 Introduction to Ethnic Studies (Units: 3)

History, objectives, and philosophy of Ethnic Studies as a political project and academic field. The relational examination of communities of color/indigenous nations and their experiences with structures of power and traditions of resistance. [CSL may be available]
(This course is offered as ETHS 100 and RRS 100. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • D1: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 101 Introduction to Arab and Muslim Communities (Units: 3)

Introduction to Arab and Muslim communities studies in U.S. and Americas and Asian and African ancestral homelands. Employing Arab, Muslim, Ethnic, Race and Resistance, Gender and Sexuality, American Middle East, Diasporas, Ethnicity Studies and Social Movement theory.

Course Attributes:

  • C2: Humanities
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 103 Introduction to Pacific Islander Studies (Units: 3)

Examination of historic and contemporary issues of and experiences related to Pacific Islander communities in the United States and across the Pacific Islander diaspora.
(This course is offered as RRS 103 and AIS 103. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • U.S. History
  • D2: Social Sciences: US Hist.
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 110 Critical Thinking and the Ethnic Studies Experience (Units: 3)

Basic skills involved in understanding, criticizing, and constructing arguments by using materials reflective of experiences of Indigenous and racialized groups in the U.S.
(This course is offered as ETHS 110 and RRS 110. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • A3: Critical Thinking
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

RRS 201 SFSU's Palestinian Cultural Mural and the Art of Resistance (Units: 3)

Critical investigation of the roles public art plays in transnational social justice movements, historically and currently. Examination of the history and legacy of Palestine Cultural Mural at San Francisco State University.

Course Attributes:

  • C2: Humanities
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 212 Edward Said (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: RRS 101.

Critical investigation of Edward Said's scholarship and its influence in transnational social justice movements, historically and currently. Examination of the history, theory, and legacy of post-colonial studies, orientalism, Islamophobia, and Palestine.

Course Attributes:

  • C2: Humanities
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 220 Race and Dis/Ability (Units: 3)

Cultivate a better understanding about structural racism and disability activism. Explore key principles of disability justice, a framework developed by activists with disabilities in response to limitations in rights-based approaches and mainstream disability advocacy. study historical and contemporary discourses of law, medicine, and media that constructs certain bodies as "healthy" or "disabled." Analyze the political and ethical implications of sharing illness experiences as acts of resistance and care.

Course Attributes:

  • GE-F: Ethnic Studies

RRS 240 All Power to the People: Comparative Freedom Movements of the "Sixties" (Units: 3)

Introduction to the history and comparative survey of the African American, Chicana/o, Native American, and Asian American protest and liberation movements of the "Long Sixties" (1945-1975). [CSL may be available]

Course Attributes:

  • U.S. History
  • D2: Social Sciences: US Hist.
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Social Justice

RRS 250 Race, Ethnicity and Power in America (Units: 3)

Critical examination of political concepts, processes and constructions of power that center race and ethnicity within a comparative analysis of American ideals, institutions and laws. Includes a study of constitutional issues and state and local governmental processes.

Course Attributes:

  • U.S. Govt CA State Local Govt
  • D3: Social Sciences: US CA Gov
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Social Justice

RRS 252 Beyond Bars and Borders: Race and the Carceral State (Units: 3)

Examine the intersection of race and the carceral state. A comparative exploration of how diverse communities of color have experienced and struggled against racialized regimes of incarceration and displacement. Highlights how these racialized regimes that center on controlling the movement (or lack thereof) of communities of color are shaped by class, gender, and nation. Studies race and the carceral state in both domestic and global/transnational terms.

Course Attributes:

  • U.S. History
  • D2: Social Sciences: US Hist.
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

RRS 255 Voices in Exile: Arab and Muslim American and Civil Liberties post-9/11/2001 (Units: 3)

Changes post 9/11/2001, focusing on how Arab and Muslim Americans are affected. The case of the LA8, Sami Al-Arian, and Rasmeah Odeh will be used as a case study to analyze how government actions have affected Arab and Muslim Americans' civil liberties.

Course Attributes:

  • D1: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 260 Introduction to Arab and Arab American Feminisms (Units: 3)

Writings by Arab and Arab American feminists to explore assumptions on and about Arab and Arab American experiences in the United States from multiple geographical sites, spiritualities, occupations, sexualities, class backgrounds, and generations.

Course Attributes:

  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 270 Creativity, Decolonization, and Social Justice in Oceania (Units: 3)

Historical survey of Pacific Islander literacies--not just on the page, but on the stage, on film, in community, in oratory, and in reading land, water, and environment. Introduction to the use of creative expression as a backbone of social justice and decolonization in Oceania. Focus on creative writing, literary studies, social justice, and diaspora in Oceania studies. Exploration of the ways Pacific Islanders have organized and resisted colonialism through artistic practice and the power of the word.

RRS 275 Introduction to Pacific Islander Literature: How To Read An Ocean (Units: 3)

Examine Pacific Islander writers and their histories of shaping terms and definitions of literature within Oceania as a region and beyond. Explore Pacific Islander narratives about the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, colonialism, resistance, sovereignty, climate change, and understandings of connection to the environment through a wide range of reading materials, including novels, short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, and academic essays. Emphasis on the ways in which Pacific Islander literatures shape complex and interconnected reflections of Oceania, ultimately speaking to the power of storytelling.

Course Attributes:

  • C2: Humanities

RRS 276 Race, Activism and Climate Justice (Units: 3)

Examination of the intersection of race, socio-economics, political ecology and climate change on a global scale; overview of the scientific evidence for anthropogenic causes and impacts; and exploration of environmental justice, political ecology, disparate impacts on different peoples and activism on global and local levels.

Course Attributes:

  • B2: Life Science
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 280 Disrupting Science Fiction: Race, Gender, and Alternative Futures (Units: 3)

Interrogate dominant narratives of power in the genre of science fiction. Examine the intersections of race, gender class, and sexuality, centering how Indigenous people and people of color writers challenge oppression and create possibilities for the future. Includes examing the histories of slavery, removal, displacement, and colonization as well as resistance and liberation.

Course Attributes:

  • C2: Humanities
  • C3 or C2: Humanities/Lit.
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

RRS 282 Art and Cultural Practices of Oceania (Units: 3)

Acquire an understanding of the relationships of art, culture, and power to Pacific peoples through the various forms of art found within Oceania. The practice of critical analytical skills in art criticism.

RRS 285 Race, Sports, and Society (Units: 3)

Examines connections between race, "politics" and high-profile professional sports in the United States and abroad. Multiple issues explored using interdisciplinary approach, including critical race theory and socio-historical and socioeconomic constructs.

Course Attributes:

  • GE-F: Ethnic Studies
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

RRS 290 Sounds of Resistance: Race, Rhythm, Rhyme, and Revolution (Units: 3)

Examination of intersection of music and freedom movements within and across communities of color. A comparative exploration of how music reflects and shapes social struggle, flowers out of people's interconnected histories and cultures, promotes both critical consciousness and collective action, and serves as a multifaceted weapon in the fight for human liberation. Studies music and social movements in both domestic and global/transnational terms.

Course Attributes:

  • C1: Arts
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives

RRS 295 Race, Public Art, and Creative Resistance (Units: 3)

Introduction to the history of public arts among Indigenous people and communities of color in the United States. Examines how artists have used public art to contest dominant racialized narratives and to promote new visions of community, of society, and of social justice. (Plus-minus letter grade only)

Course Attributes:

  • GE-F: Ethnic Studies

RRS 303 Health and Wellness among Pacific Islanders (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Explore issues of health and wellness among Pacific Islanders with an introduction to major health issues impacting Pacific Islanders at home in the Pacific to within the U.S. and various health disparities. Includes examining the diversity of community responses toward health and wellness.

Course Attributes:

  • E1 LLD Pre-Fall 2019
  • UD-B: Physical Life Science
  • Social Justice

RRS 304 Decolonize Your Diet: Food Justice and Gendered Labor in Communities of Color (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Focus on food justice in communities of color addressing issues including sex/gender and food production, racism and attacks on traditional food systems, indigenous foodways, environmental racism, GMO contamination of heritage foods, urban food deserts, and impact of diseases and development on communities of color. (Plus-minus ABC/NC, CR/NC)

Course Attributes:

  • UD-B: Physical Life Science
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Environmental Sustainability

RRS 310 Arab Revolutions and Social Movements (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Examination of the recent uprisings in the Arab world focusing both on the immediate events that sparked these revolutions as well as the historical, socio-economic, political, and ideological factors that contributed to the political shifts in 2010-2011.

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 312 Arab and Arab American Literary Expressions (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Restricted to upper-division standing or permission of the instructor.

Exploration of Arab and Arab American women's experiences through interdisciplinary lens and utilization of multiple approaches to expand notions of literary expressions.

RRS 330 Comparative Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.: Class, Gender, and Nation (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: Restricted to upper-division standing; GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better; or permission of the instructor.

Examine dynamics of race and racism by analyzing intersections of class, race, gender, and nationalism, including theoretical perspectives shaping the subfield of comparative race and ethnicity in sociology, theories of racial formation, constructivist theory, ethnic boundaries, assimilation, and ethnocentrism.
(This course is offered as RRS 330 and SOC 330. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Social Justice

RRS 331 Research with Communities (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: Restricted to upper-division standing; BIOL 100 or BIOL 230; or permission of the instructor.

Application of research justice and community-engaged research to CSL. Activities will include improving the well-being of communities by addressing biological and social determinants of health. These will be examined within the context of racial/ethnic health disparities caused by systemic racism and social disadvantage. Local health disparities will be addressed by honing skills and knowledge to meet the needs of communities of color through direct service, community organizing, and transcreation. Lecture, 2 units; activity, 1 unit. [CSL may be available]
(This course is offered as BIOL 331 and RRS 331. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

RRS 333 Race and Independent Cinema (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: Restricted to upper-division Cinema majors and minors and Race and Resistance Studies minors; CINE 200*, CINE 211*, and CINE 212* or equivalents with grades of C or better; or consent of the instructor.

Explore independent feature and short narrative films by and about people of color in the United States to expand existing frameworks that evaluate these works primarily in relation to dominant culture and the dominant industry. Study how a diversity of filmmakers concerned with racial inequality use cinema to narrate and represent the lives and stories of people of color. Explore the racial politics of representation, preservation, distribution, exhibition, and criticism through close readings, comparative approaches, and historically contextualized analysis.
(This course is offered as CINE 333 and RRS 333. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

RRS 360 Our Stories: Literatures of Race and Resistance (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

BIPOC literature as a comparative dialogue between cultures, in relation to other forms of artistic expressions, and within the context of the humanities, cultural patterns, aesthetic experiences, and political activism.

Course Attributes:

  • UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

RRS 365 Race and Comedy in the United States (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1, A2, A3, and B4 or consent of the instructor.

How comedy in popular culture both reflects and shapes ideas related to race in the United States. Ideas from popular culture have long impacted the politics of race, and perhaps no genre has had a greater effect on how people think about race than comedy.

Course Attributes:

  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

RRS 370 Islamophobia: Roots, Development, and Contestation of Hatred (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better; ETHS 100*/RRS 100*; or permission of the instructor.

Examine how limited conceptual frameworks color our understandings of history, race, gender, religion, and justice with regard to Muslims.

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 375 Queer Arabs in the U.S. (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing or permission of the instructor.

Examination of the place of queer Arabs in the U.S. in the larger context of queer people of color organizing in the U.S. and will also understand queer Arabs in the U.S. in the context of the international gay movement.

Course Attributes:

  • Social Justice

RRS 380 Queer and Trans Ethnic Studies (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: Restricted to upper-division standing; GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better; or permission of the instructor.

Interdisciplinary examination of how queer and trans Indigenous people and people of color in the U.S. respond to capitalism, racism, settler colonialism, and anti-trans and queer violence. Analyzes coalition building and alternative queer and trans futures. Possible topics include queer of color critique, third-world feminist thought, and Indigenous studies.
(This course is offered as RRS 380 and SXS 380. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Social Justice

RRS 410 Grassroots Organizing for Change in Communities of Color (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: Restricted to upper-division standing; GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better; or permission of the instructor.

An advanced examination of grassroots social change movements in communities of color in the U.S. How they are organized and why they succeed and fail. Combines social change theory, history, and practical contemporary approaches to grassroots social justice work. [CSL may be available]
(This course is offered as RRS 410 and SOC 410. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Social Justice

RRS 415 Reclaiming the Bay: Grassroots Struggle Against Racial Capitalism (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Examination of critical issues in the San Francisco Bay Area including housing, immigration, criminal injustice and labor through the lens of racial capitalism. Explores the historical context of present struggles and analyzes how communities of color resist injustice by way of direct services, policy, research justice and community organizing.

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Social Justice

RRS 420 Arab American Identity: Memory and Resistance (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Examine emergent Arab American identity from the historical context of post-colonial processes, including nationalism, culture, and politics. Anti-orientalist analysis utilizing texts from different subject areas including history, poetry, psychoanalysis, postcolonial studies, critical theory, and cinema. [CSL may be available]

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 430 Arab Media Images in America: Impact on Arab Americans (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Historical and contemporary imaging of Arab people in their mainstream American media and its effects on Arab American communities and individuals. A look at stereotypes and negative Arab images in American film, television, literature, and journalism.

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 433 Pacific Islanders in Film: Re-Presenting Oceania Through an Indigenous Lens (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or consent of the instructor.

Exploration of the notions of authenticity versus intention within films made by and about Pacific Islanders in the diaspora. Investigation of the varying visual narratives, contemporary issues, and re-presentations of Pacific Islanders in film.
(This course is offered as RRS 433 and AIS 433. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

RRS 435 National Security and the Racialization of Arabs and Muslims in North America (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better; ETHS/RRS 100*; or permission of the instructor.

Explore how U.S. and Canadian National Security policies have racialized and targeted members of Arab and Muslim communities since September 11, 2001.

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives

RRS 450 Contemporary Arabic and Arab American Literature (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: Restricted to upper-division standing; GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better; or permission of the instructor.

Contemporary literature from Arab American and Arabic speaking communities and their diasporas. Exploration of the political and cultural context of the Arab region by using poetry and fiction as a foundation.
(This course is offered as RRS 450 and ARAB 450. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives

RRS 470 Radical Trans Imagination (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: RRS 380* (may be taken concurrently) or permission of the instructor.

Explore trans artist and activist Tourmaline's three questions (What does the dominant culture have that we want?, What does the dominant culture have that we don't want?," and "What do we have that we want to keep?") by looking at the art of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people in the United States and asking: how do trans Black, Indigenous, Pacific Islander, Asian American, Caribbean, and Latinx artists use their imagination to explore the future?

RRS 473 Slavery and Antislavery in the United States (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: Upper-division standing; GE Area E; or permission of the instructor.

History of slavery and antislavery in the US from the colonial period through the Civil War, with a focus on the ideologies, economics, and social relations that supported slavery and those that motivated antislavery and free-labor movements. Examination of experiences of enslavement and liberation.
(This course is offered as HIST 473, RRS 473, and LABR 473. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

RRS 480 Youth Culture, Race and Resistance (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Survey of how young people of color use popular culture to challenge social inequalities based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and nationality. Explore theoretical tools to analyze youth culture and its relationship to social change.

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Social Justice

RRS 490 Race, Art, and Social Justice (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing or permission of the instructor.

Examine popular art produced by activists and artists for social justice movements. Emphasis on art and culture as an archive of knowledge created by negatively racialized and oppressed communities. Multiple mediums examined, including, but not limited to: creative writing, music, graffiti, murals, photography, film, customized vehicles, and/or performance art. (Plus-minus ABC/NC grading, CR/NC allowed)

RRS 499 Race, Class, & Climate: Examining the Root Causes, Impacts, and Just Solutions to the Climate Crisis (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Graduate Certificate in Pk-12 Climate Justice Education students.

Examine the climate crisis's scale, pace, implications, and root causes by drawing on climate science, new ecological knowledge, traditional/indigenous ecological knowledge, political economy, and systems thinking. Explore the organizing and activism by frontline communities and climate justice organizations that are grappling with how to navigate regime change on a planetary systems scale with the greatest equity and justice possible.

RRS 520 Race, Radicalism and Revolution (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing or permission of the instructor.

Surveys diverse revolutionary movements and moments; theoretical and practical intersection of race with class, gender, sexuality and national/global oppression; role of culture and consciousness; relationship of "the revolution" to state, meaning of solidarity, leadership models and liberated visions of society/world.

Course Attributes:

  • GE-F: Ethnic Studies

RRS 560 Undocumented Studies (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Focus on undocumented immigration from the perspectives of undocumented scholars and artists. Examine the theoretical and methodological interventions that occur when undocumented and formerly undocumented scholars take on the role of researcher in undocumented studies. Examine the cultural production of "undocupoestics" to investigate how undocumented artists theorize their lives. Explore what resistance looks like in scholarship and art by undocumented people.

RRS 566 Gender and Modernity in the Muslim and Arab Worlds (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1, A2, and A3.

Investigates implications of the project of modernity/modernization for gender and sexuality in the Muslim and Arab worlds. By interrogating dichotomies that oppose tradition to modernity, examines the multifaceted ways in which gender identities are produced historically.
(This course is offered as WGS 566 and RRS 566. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • GE-F: Ethnic Studies
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 571 Women, Race, and Class (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Examine the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the lives of women of color, including those from Black, American Indian, Asian American, Latinx, Arab American, and Pacific Islander communities. Explore histories of oppression and resistance. Interrogate how the category of "woman" has been used to exclude non-white and non-cis subjects in the United States. [CSL may be available]

Course Attributes:

  • UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 580 Educational Equity (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: Restricted to upper-division standing; GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better; or permission of the instructor.

Is education the great equalizer? Educational equity and policy issues including institutional racism, school finance, recruitment and retention of underrepresented students, and language. [CSL may be available]
(This course is offered as LTNS 580, SOC 580, and RRS 580. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Social Justice

RRS 590 Senior Capstone (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Restricted to senior Race and Resistance Studies majors.

Synthesis and integration of Race and Resistance Studies coursework. Application of concepts through an individual and/or collaborative senior project. Projects can include research papers, portfolios, or presentations. May include work with community organizations.

RRS 600 History of People of Color in the U.S. (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or graduate standing or permission of the instructor.

History of the U.S. people of color, their experience in the development of American society, from the 1600s to the present. Consequences of domination and racism in thwarting economic interests, and responses to limiting institutional arrangements.
(This course is offered as RRS 600 and HIST 466. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • U.S. History
  • GE-F: Ethnic Studies
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Social Justice

RRS 620 Colonialism, Imperialism, and Resistance (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Debates about postcolonial studies and the relevance of such intellectual projects to the socio-cultural experiences in the postcolonial world, such as the production of discourses, identification patterns, and collective action among the post-colonized.

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 625 Mixed Race Studies: A Comparative Focus (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Introduction to the field of mixed race studies from a comparative and ethnic studies perspective. Explore multiracial issues for ethnic studies from the viewpoint of scholars and cultural expressionists who are themselves of mixed-racial heritage.

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Social Justice

RRS 630 Palestine: Ethnic Studies Perspective (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Advanced seminar examines Palestinian diasporic experiences from a historical and comparative perspective. The rise, development, and decline of a Palestinian resistance movement will be the center of analysis. Seminar situated in post-colonial and diaspora/exile studies. [CSL may be available]

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 640 Race and Sexual Migration (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing or permission of the instructor.

Explore the experiences of contemporary migrants in the United States through the lens of sexuality. Emphasis on tracing the movement of individuals and ideas between regions with both official and unofficial borders. Review of recent scholarship on race, sexuality, and (im)migration.
(This course is offered as RRS 640, SXS 640, and WGS 640. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

RRS 645 Sex, Race, Lies, and Love in San Francisco (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing or permission of the instructor.

San Francisco is well-known as a city where "anything goes" especially with regards to sexuality. From early days as a bustling mining outpost for fortune-seeking bachelors, the city quickly gained a reputation for its rowdy sexuality and questionable morality. Exploration of sexual freedom and gender identity demonstrations and declarations in San Francisco in relation to race and ethnicity. Emphasis on the issues of desire, power, and privilege through the disciplinary lenses of Ethnic Studies and Sexuality Studies.
(This course is offered as RRS 645, SXS 645, and WGS 645. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

RRS 655 Comparative Border Studies: Palestine and Mexico (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: ETHS 100 or permission of the instructor.

Examination of debates and tensions in border studies utilizing case studies from Palestine and Mexico; focus on the history and development of the walls that U.S. and Israeli government are building and their impact on displacing marginalized communities.

Course Attributes:

  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 657 South Asian Diaspora (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: GE Areas A1*, A2*, A3*, and B4* all with grades of C- or better or permission of the instructor.

Uses transnational and comparative frameworks to examine South Asian immigration to various countries. How colonialism, nationalism, and the politics of race, gender, class, and sexuality shape diasporic identities and communities. [CSL may be available]
(This course is offered as RRS 657 and AA S 541. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

  • UD-D: Social Sciences
  • Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
  • Global Perspectives
  • Social Justice

RRS 675 Variable Topics in Race and Resistance Studies (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing or permission of the instructor.

Examination of variable issues and topics in Race and Resistance Studies. Topics to be specified in the Class Schedule. May be repeated when topics vary for a total of 9 units.

Topics:

  1. Communities of Color and Reproductive Justice
  2. People of Color and Transnational Sexualities
  3. Race and Visual Studies
  4. Cultural Studies and Ethnic Studies
  5. Race, Gender, and the Welfare State
  6. The Racial Politics of Immigration
  7. Ecofeminism and Race
  8. Queer of Color Theory
  9. Radical Trans Imagination

RRS 694 Community Engaged Learning: Praxis in Race and Resistance Studies (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing or permission of the instructor.

Engagement in experiential learning through collaboration with community partners that are involved in the struggles for social justice, community empowerment, and equity within and across communities of color. [CSL may be available]

RRS 699 Independent Study (Units: 1-3)

Prerequisite: Permission of the adviser, instructor, and program coordinator.

Supervised individual study of a particular inter-ethnic problem in ethnic studies. May be repeated for a total of 6 units.