Ethnic Studies (B.A.) 180 units
Program Description
The Department of Ethnic Studies is central to the university’s commitment “to educational excellence for a diverse society.” It offers a major, minors, and courses that are interdisciplinary in nature and provide a holistic approach to the study of the United States’ multiracial, multicultural, and multi-gender immigrant society. The department’s faculty provide areas of study that integrate social science and literary theory, as well as anthropological and sociological concepts within a historical and humanistic perspective. The underlying goal of Ethnic Studies is to provide a better understanding of diversity in American culture and thought.
The Ethnic Studies major consists of a core of Ethnic Studies courses, support courses in other departments in the university, and Options in Ethnic Studies, African American Studies Option, B.A., Ethnic Studies, Asian American Studies Option, B.A., Ethnic Studies, Genders and Sexualities in Communities of Color Option, B.A., Ethnic Studies, Latino/a and Latin American Studies Option, B.A., and Ethnic Studies, American Indian Studies Option, B.A. The curriculum is multidisciplinary as well as interdisciplinary. The major helps the student qualify for graduate work in social sciences, law, and humanities, and for work in municipal, state, and federal government. Of equal importance are the advantages the major provides to work in community service organizations concerned with opportunities and problems of various ethnic and racial groups.
Student Learning Outcomes
Students graduating with a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from Cal State East Bay will be able to:
Summarize the legacies of contact, conquest, and resistance to racial oppression in domestic and transnational frames by defining and explaining key concepts such as colonialism, oppression, slavery, genocide, racialization, class, structural racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-racism, solidarity, whiteness, sustainability, and privilege.
Understand and apply critical frameworks of Ethnic Studies, including decolonizing methodology, intersectionality, resiliency theory, structural analysis, women of color feminism, and cultural analysis.
Recognize and explain the complexity and heterogeneity of racialized groups in the US, including intra-group differences related to gender, class, region, sexuality, generation, immigration status, language fluency and so forth.
Identify and critique essentialist paradigms.
Participate in community-based or service-learning projects overseen by Ethnic Studies faculty that link the critical frameworks and key concepts of Ethnic Studies with experiential learning.
Engage in critical reflection about social justice rooted in community-based experiences
Career Opportunities
- Teacher
- Attorney
- Diversity Specialist
- Journalist
- Public/ International Relations Specialist
- Government Service
- Professor
- Researcher
- Writer
Major Requirements (B.A.) 60 units
Please consult an advisor in your major department for clarification and interpretation of your major requirements. The B.A. degree requires a total of 180 units.
- The core major consists of 40 units;
- the African American Studies Option consists of 20 units;
- the American Indian Studies Option consists of 20 units.
- the Asian American Studies Option consists of 20 units;
- the Genders and Sexualities in Communities of Color Option consists of 20 units;
- the Latino/a and Latin American Studies Option consists of 20 units.
- GE/USHG/UWS consists of 84 units (some courses may double-count units - see your advisor).
- Free Electives (if any) will make up the remainder units to reach 180 minimum total units (see your advisor).
Lower Division Core Courses (4 units)
One course selected from the following:
Upper Division Core Courses (12 units)
Elective Courses (24 units)
Students may choose any of six (6) 4-unit courses from any of the options not selected for the primary option in consultation with an advisor.
Option Requirements
Choose one of the following options. Choose five courses in the option’s area of study in consultation with an advisor. [One course from another department (4 units) can be chosen in consultation with an advisor. The course should be selected from a recommended list of courses that will be kept in the Ethnic Studies department.]
- Ethnic Studies, African American Studies Option, B.A.
- Ethnic Studies, American Indian Studies Option, B.A.
- Ethnic Studies, Asian American Studies Option, B.A.
- Ethnic Studies, Genders and Sexualities in Communities of Color Option, B.A.
- Ethnic Studies, Latino/a and Latin American Studies Option, B.A.
