Ethnic Studies (ES)
Courses
ES 1000. Introduction to Ethnic Studies. Units: 3
An introduction to Ethnic Studies as an intellectual, political, methodological framework of rigorous analysis and knowledge making. Students will be introduced to histories of structural and systemic oppressions, including but not limited to white supremacy, antiblack racism and settler colonialism, as well as the histories of resistance that characterize communities and movements led by people of color, in particular Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinx Americans. Satisfies GE F/6.
ES 1000H. Introduction to Ethnic Studies: HONORS SECTION. Units: 3
An Honors Section of the Introduction to Ethnic Studies as an intellectual, political, methodological framework of rigorous analysis and knowledge making. Students will be introduced to histories of structural and systemic oppressions, including but not limited to white supremacy, anti-black racism and settler colonialism, as well as the histories of resistance that characterize communities and movements led by people of color, in particular Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinx Americans. Satisfies GE F/6. Students may not receive credit for both ES 1000 and ES 1000H.
ES 1020. Introduction to Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Studies. Units: 3
An interdisciplinary introduction to the intellectual concepts, historical experiences and political movements that define Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Studies in the United States . Formerly ES 102.
ES 1100. Introduction to Native Studies. Units: 3
This survey course will cover key historical, political, and philosophical topics that have come to define the field of Native Studies. It centers settler-colonial frameworks to understand historic and contemporary struggles for self-determination and sovereignty.
ES 1400. Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality. Units: 3
Grounded in intersectionality, this introductory course examines the axes of identities that shape lived experiences of people of color -- Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinx Americans -- in the United States. Drawing from a range of interdisciplinary texts, students will critically reflect on the ways power operates in the production of inequalities that are then reproduced, resisted, and transformed through discourses of migration, labor, culture, and belonging. Satisfies GE F/6.
ES 2200. Women of Color Feminisms. Units: 3
Students will analyze the political roles, daily experiences, labor, and artistic outlets of women of color in the United States from a wide variety of racial backgrounds. They will engage with academic sources, literary fiction, as well as other forms of media including film, music, art, and podcasts to examine the cultural and political significance of the category "women of color" and it particular salience in our contemporary moment.
ES 3000. Research Methods in Ethnic Studies. Units: 3
Semester Prerequisite: ES 1000
Development and implementation of research (quantitative or qualitative) that explores in depth one or more facets of ethnic experience. Satisfies WI designation.
ES 3080. Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Popular Culture. Units: 3
This course uses popular culture as a medium through which to analyze representations and performances of race, gender, and sexuality as well as their intersections in film, music, podcasts, art, literature, and poetry. Through these confrontations, students will question the rewards as well as the limits of the politics of representation and apply their understandings to course assignments and projects that involve direct engagement with their world and worldviews.
ES 3100. Black Feminist Movements. Units: 3
This course is an exploration of transnational Black Feminist Movements in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The focus will be, broadly speaking, on how literatures, theories and coalitional movements created by those who identify as Black women speak to longstanding struggles on social justice and liberation.
ES 3140. Native American Feminisms. Units: 3
A survey of topics central to Native Feminist thought and analysis. Students will learn about Native Feminisms theories and frameworks with which to contextualize contemporary struggles for self-determination and sovereignty. The colonial history and the settler colonial present is explored from a gendered perspective. Additional course topics include Indigenous ecofeminisms and ecosexualities as well as Native feminist intellectual production in art, literature, and film.
ES 3190. Queer of Color Critique. Units: 3
This course is an exploration of queer of color critique, an interdisciplinary field that recognizes the always-present intersections between race, gender, and sexuality. Moreover, it is an investigation into the ways in which Ethnic Studies has, in its framework, always already have been queer, always already have queered.
ES 3201. Race, Ethnicity and Immigration in the United States. Units: 3
This course explores the history of immigration and migration in the United States through the lens of race and ethnicity. Additional themes include citizenship, law, nationalism, violence, gender, sexuality, labor, and globalization. Offered as ES 3201 and HIST 3201, students may not receive credit for both.
ES 3390. Black Studies. Units: 3
This course is an exploration of Black Studies, providing both a historical and cultural overview, as well as an examination of how this interdisciplinary field has shaped numerous conversations on race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, class and nation, both within the United States and in a broader, transnational context.
ES 3501. Politics of Multiculturalism and Diversity. Units: 3
Multiculturalism and diversity have become tokenized liberal discourses of immigrant assimilation in the West. This course examines how these ideologies emerged as well as the ways people reproduce and contest these discourses by occupying registers of exclusion and inclusion simultaneously. We will examine these experiences through historical accounts, ethnography, and media representations to develop a critical understanding of the ways these narratives get "lived" in the contemporary context.
ES 3630. Race, Ethnicity, and Film in America, 1920-Present. Units: 3
This course utilizes documentary and popular film to better understand the experiences, representation, and resistance modes of people of color in the US. Students will explore racist imagery central to the American film industry during the 20th century while deeply analyzing film as a vital facet of political resistance and artistic production among people of color. Offered as ES 3630 and HIST 3630, students may not receive credit for both.
ES 3940. Topics in Ethnic Studies. Units: 3
A selected area or issue of ethnic studies. May be repeated for credit as topics change. Formerly known as ES 394.
ES 4100. Health and Racism in the US, 1800-Present. Units: 3
This course posits that medicine, race and the fight for healthcare among people of color are deeply intertwined within the study of racial justice and oppression in the United States. Students will analyze portrayals of public health crises, the effects of environmental racism, and the long tradition of healthcare-centered activism among people of color in the US.
ES 4101. Race and Social Movements in the United States, 1840-Present. Units: 3
This course chronicles social movements in the US from the 1840s to the present, with a focus on race and ethnicity as centerpieces of grassroots organizing. Students will utilize sources from history, sociology, psychology, and literature to better grasp common threads, successes, and limitations of social movements. The class will begin with anti-slavery organizing during the mid-1800s and will end with a focus on movements such as Black Lives Matter, climate change activism, and immigration reform.
ES 4200. US Empire and Foreign Policy 1898-Present. Units: 3
This course analyzes US history and empire-building with a focus on the 20th century. Students explore the ways in which race, gender, and the growth of capitalism are inherently intertwined within this process. Content will trace the history of American occupations and economic and military interventions throughout numerous regions of the globe. Offered as ES 4200 and HIST 4200, students may not receive credit for both.
ES 4400. Transnational Feminisms and Global Raciality. Units: 3
This course looks at the ways transnational feminisms and a global racial framework inform and expand our understanding of race and gender within and outside of the US. We will look at women's activism, labor organizing, migration, social movements, and development discourse to open up possibilities for imagining a global, transnational commitment to social justice and reflect on practices that can help create such visions.
ES 4600. Eating the Other: Consumer Culture and Race. Units: 3
This course, an homage to bell hooks, draws from interdisciplinary texts to examine consumer culture through the lens of race, gender, and class. Contemporary debates surrounding the links and ruptures between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation have become nearly ubiquitous on university campuses and in various media outlets. Instead of resolving these concerns, this course examines the discourses that have given rise to these debates centering on consumption and the forms of racialization certain types of consumption produce. We will examine how these ideas have been contested by communities of color in the US as they negotiate their place in a racial landscape that perpetually inscribes them as the other.
ES 5250. Performance Studies and Ethnic Studies. Units: 3
Semester Prerequisite: Students must have taken at least one other upper-division Ethnic Studies course in order to enroll in ES 5000-level courses (or have received faculty approval)
This course is an exploration of the ways in which Performance Studies and Ethnic Studies intersect with one another. It will also examine the ways in which performance, both onstage and off, holds the potential to disrupt conventional and/or stereotypical ways of thinking about identities.
ES 5753. Internship in Ethnic Studies. Units: 3
Semester Prerequisite: Students must have taken at least one other upper-division Ethnic Studies course in order to enroll in ES 5000-level courses (or have received faculty approval)
Reflecting the ongoing indebtedness of Ethnic Studies to learning with and learning from those outside of traditional spaces of higher education, this internship course provides an opportunity for service learning and community engagement. Community partners will be selected in consultation with Ethnic Studies faculty. Regular meetings with supervising faculty member will be required.
ES 5940. Senior Seminar. Units: 3
Semester Prerequisite: Completed and passed a minimum of one (1) upper-division Ethnic Studies course or faculty consultation
This course is an Ethnic Studies methodologies seminar wherein students will pursue faculty-guided independent research projects. The course will result in a final research paper that reflects originality of thought and shared conversation with interlocuters within Ethnic Studies.
ES 5953. Independent Study. Units: 3
For students capable of individualized work and in need of advanced or specialized study. May be taken two times for six units. Formerly ES 595C.