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United States Cultural and Ethnic Studies
Minor offered

United States cultural and ethnic studies is a program designed to engage students in a critical analysis of the United States as a society with multiple, overlapping and contested forms of diversity, and to situate that study in a global context. It recognizes the contributions of ethnic, gender and queer studies in any curriculum that aspires to teach students about United States citizenship, culture and identity.

We ask students to consider the historical and contemporary interrelations among the diverse groups that form the United States and we encourage students to think critically about how power, privilege and opportunity are distributed in the United States, especially along the categories of identity that are based on race and ethnicity. To that end, the curriculum encourages students to ask how categories of identity develop, how they change over time and how they continuously influence individuals, culture and social policy.

Minor Requirements

The minor consists of six courses spread across at least three different disciplines. All students must take Global Studies 102 (Race, Culture, Identity) and concentrate in one of two tracks offered in United States ethnic studies: African-American studies or comparative ethnicity.

1. Concentration in African-American Studies

Students are required to take courses in both African-American history/social sciences and African-American forms of expressive culture. Two but no more than three courses can be chosen from each area. Students are required to take courses in at least two different disciplines.

Choose two but no more than three courses from the following list (Literature/Expressive Culture):

English
230. Introduction to African American Literature
237, 238. Survey of American Literature
255. African-American Drama.

Music
242. New Orleans Music and Society

Performance and Communication Arts
255. African-American Drama

Choose two but no more than three courses from the following list (History/Social Science):

Government
351. African American Political and Social Thought

History
263. African American History to 1865
264. African American History 1865-Present
273. Civil Rights Movement.

Special Topics Courses
Students may also take 200 and 300 level special topics courses on African-American studies.

2. Concentration in Comparative Ethnicity

This concentration gives students an explicitly comparative approach to the study of various ethnic groups in the United States.

Students are required to take one of the following:

Global Studies
250. LaFrontera: Cultural Identities on the Mexican-U.S. Border.
336. Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.

Sociology
112. Inequality.
228. Racial and Ethnic Groups.

Students must choose to concentrate on two ethnic groups by taking two courses from the areas of concentration:

African-American Studies
Choose two from the following:

English
230. Introduction to African-American Literature.
237, 238. Survey of American Literature.
255. African-American Drama.

History
263. African-American History to 1865.
264. African-American History 1865-Present.
273. Civil Rights Movement.

Government
351. African-American Political and Social Thought.

Performance and Communication Arts
255. African-American Drama.

Special Topics Courses
200- and 300-level special topics courses offer students the opportunity to study specific topics in African-American studies when offered by departments.

Native American Studies
Choose two from the following:

English
263. Native American Fiction.
344. Ethnic American Writers.

History
229. Introduction to Native American History.
351. Iroquois History.

Performance and Communication Arts
322. Native American Oral Traditions.

Special Topics Courses
200-and 300-level special topics courses offer students the opportunity to study specific topics in Native American studies when offered by departments.

Latino and Chicano Studies
Choose two from the following:

Caribbean and Latin American Studies
104. Survey of Caribbean and Latin American Studies.

Global Studies
250. LaFrontera: Cultural Identities on the Mexican-U.S. Border.

Modern Languages and Literatures
Spanish
241. Latinos in the United States.

Special Topics Courses
200-and 300-level special topics courses offer students the opportunity to study specific topics in Native American studies when offered by departments.

Advisory Board

Peter Joseph Bailey, A.B., New School for Social Research; M.A., Johns Hopkins; Ph.D., Southern California
Professor of English and Chair of Department

Margaret Kent Bass, B.A., Wilmington; M.Ed., Mississippi; Ph.D., Louisiana State
Associate Dean of the Center for Diversity and Social Justice, Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of U.S. Ethnic and Cultural Studies

Richard H. Jenseth, B.A., Western; M.A., SUNY Albany; Ph.D., Iowa
Associate Professor of English

Andrea J. Nouryeh, B.A., Wisconsin; M.A., Columbia; Ph.D., New York
Associate Professor of Performance and Communication Arts and Co-chair of Department and Coordinator of African Studies

Mary Jane Smith, B.A., Georgia; M.A., Ph.D., Louisiana State
Assistant Professor of History and Coordinator of U.S. Cultural and Ethnic Studies

Makiko Deguchi, B.A., Wellesley; Ph.D., Boston College
Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology

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