Ethnic Studies Minor

Note: this program begins in the fall of 2025, but students may begin taking course requirements now. 

The Ethnic Studies minor provides an interdisciplinary approach to studying the systematic marginalization of racialized minorities at how racialized groups in the US have and do respond to and counter these forces through everyday life, art, culture, political organization, and other forms of social citizenship. 

In an introductory core course and through a set of four electives, students will study race, ethnicity, and indigeneity, with an emphasis on the experiences of people of color in the United States and with an explicit emphasis on naming, reckoning with and resisting systems of power and oppression. 

Up to three (3) credits from a student’s major may be used to satisfy the minor.

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Required Course

IDS 245 Introduction to Ethnic Studies (offered for first time in 2025-26 AY)

Electives

Electives: (12 credits) from the approved list. Selections must reflect courses from at least 3 departments.

DPDS indicates that a course meets the "Diversity, Social Justice and Power Dynamics" general education requirement.

Art + Design

ART 236: The Arts in America

ART 334A: Native American and African Art

 

English

ENL 255: African American Lit I (DPDS)

ENL 256: African American Lit II (DPDS)

ENL 253: Multiethnic American Literature (DPDS)

ENL 352: US Latinx Literature (DPDS)

ENL 354: Native American Literature (DPDS)

ENL 366: The Caribbean Experience in Literature

 

Geography and Sustainability

GPH 229: Geography of Latin America and the Caribbean

GPH 252: Native American Lands and Environments (DPDS)

 

History

HST 209: Indigenous Histories of the Americas (DPDS)

HST 216: History of African Americans I

HST 217: History of African Americans II

HST 238: Survey of Latin America

HST 239: History of Latinos in the US (DPDS)

HST 250: History of Africa I

HST 290: People and Environment in Latin America

HST 297: History of Chinese and Japanese Americans (DPDS)

HST 345: African Americans in the Jazz Age, 1919-1941

HST 346: African American Freedom Struggles 1941-present

HST 347: African American Music History

 

Interdisciplinary Studies

IDS 333 Topics in American Studies (if topic is relevant) 

IDS 335 Introduction to Critical Race Theory (DPDS)

IDS 345: Topics in Ethnic Studies

 

Media and Communication

MCO 303: Media and Race* (DPDS)

 

Music and Dance

MUS 117: Jazz History

DAN 330: Hip Hop Dance History (DPDS)

 

Politics, Policy, and International Relations

POL 327: Race and American Politics (DPDS)

 

Sociology

SOC 247: Social Inequality: Race, Class, and Gender SOCI 305: The Black Family in the US

SOC 306: The Black Woman

SOC 309: The Black Religious Experience

SOC 336: Afro-Latinx: Race, Culture & Transformation (DPDS)

SOC 345: Race and Ethnicity in Society (DPDS)

SOC 348: Latinx Groups in the US (DPDS)

 

World Language and Cultures

SPN 382: Latinx Immigration: Context +Representation (DPDS)

SPN 420: US Latinx Literature in Spanish (DPDS)

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