• <a href="/live/image/gid/68/width/650/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.jpg" class="lw_preview_image lw_disable_preview" tabindex="-1"><picture class="lw_image lw_image86396"> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(max-width: 500px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/68/width/500/height/479/crop/1/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.rev.1607369539.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/500/height/479/crop/1/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.rev.1607369539.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/500/height/479/crop/1/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.rev.1607369539.jpg 3x"/> <source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 501px)" srcset="/live/image/gid/68/width/720/height/690/crop/1/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.rev.1607369539.jpg 1x, /live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/720/height/690/crop/1/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.rev.1607369539.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/720/height/690/crop/1/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.rev.1607369539.jpg 3x"/> <img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/720/height/690/crop/1/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.rev.1607369539.jpg" alt="Students gathering in conversation during the Ray Warren Symposium." width="720" height="690" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/720/height/690/crop/1/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.rev.1607369539.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/720/height/690/crop/1/86396_Ethnic_Studies_main_image.rev.1607369539.jpg 3x" data-max-w="3164" data-max-h="3032" loading="lazy"/> </picture> </a><div class="hero-split_image_caption collapsable-caption"> Students gathering in conversation during the Ray Warren Symposium.</div>

Why Choose a Minor in Ethnic Studies?

Our program focuses on five themes: colonialism, community formation, diaspora, genocide, and slavery. You will explore these and related topics from a variety of perspectives, always conscious of how they intersect with gender, sexuality, class, and nation. Our students graduate with skills in critical thinking, writing, and speaking, and an openness to learning about people, cultures, and societies different from themselves and their own world.

What You’ll Study

Our interdisciplinary program is dedicated to teaching the construction of categories of race and ethnicity through our five themes. You will take one core course about race and ethnicity in the United States and globally, and a wide selection of electives offered across departments. Many of our students earn course credit while on an overseas program.

Outside the classroom, the annual Ray Warren Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies is organized by a committee of students with support from faculty and staff. This multiday, interdisciplinary event addresses complex topics such as immigration and nationalism, transnational families, and racial inequality. Scholars, students, public figures, writers, artists, and community members come together for a series of workshops, lectures, performances, panel discussions, and a student-curated art exhibit. The symposium ends with the Race Monologues, a powerful event that features a series of personal monologues about racial and ethnic identity written and performed by L&C students of color. Audience members laugh, cry, learn, and bear witness to the experience of the speakers. Our program also create critical workshops that respond to current issues as a way to facilitate discussion between the larger student body and Portland, and we regularly engage in critical dialogue featuring speakers who are experts in their field. Every spring, we celebrate our graduating ethnic studies minors with a dinner hosted by the program director and key faculty members.

Curriculum

Complement Your Education With One of These Majors

The most popular majors for our ethnic studies minors are English, Hispanic studies, and sociology and anthropology.


What Students Are Saying About Lewis & Clark

  • Working with IME as a peer education coordinator has taught me so many skills, including public speaking and networking with faculty and students. IME has also given me a community that surrounds me with love and support.

    Sabrina Murray BA ’21
    Sociology and Anthropology | University Place, Washington
    More about Sabrina
  • As a cochair for the Ray Warren Symposium, we explored how storytelling can be a tool of resistance, power, and oppression that some may overlook. I love being part of the process of creating meaningful events for the campus, and the most exciting part is seeing them come to life.

    Rocío Yao BA ’24
    International Affairs and Sociology and Anthropology (double) | Ethnic Studies | Cuidad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Guangzhou, China; Northglenn, Colorado, United States
    More about Rocío
  • If in our classes we learn about the conditions of the world, then the Ray Warren Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies offers the opportunity of both learning about the world and changing it.

    Lani Felicitas BA ’18
    Sociology and Anthropology | Ethnic Studies | Aiea, Hawai‘i
    More about Lani

What Can You Do With a Minor in Ethnic Studies?

Our alumni use their minor in ethnic studies in a variety of careers in nonprofit organizations, academia, and advocacy work. Many go on to pursue advanced degrees in American studies, anthropology, history, law, and other disciplines.

Dedicated Faculty

Our expert professors are your expert mentors. You will learn directly from faculty (no graduate assistants here!) that are nationally recognized in their fields of study and who love to work with and learn from their students. Your professors will inspire you to be a thoughtful and passionate participant in a diverse world. Your small classes will support you as you explore new ideas, find your voice, and speak your truth.

Meet the Professors

  • 2,188 

    As of fall 2022, there are 2,188 degree-seeking students enrolled at Lewis & Clark College.

  • Value 

    Lewis & Clark is on U.S. News & World Report’s 2023–24 “Best Value Schools” list.

  • 12:1 

    Lewis & Clark College has a student-to-faculty ratio of 12:1.

  • 125 

    of our undergraduate students are Third Culture Kids.

  • 96% 

    Within six months of graduation, 96% of the Lewis & Clark Classes of 2018–2022 were already changing the world through employment (76%), continuing studies (19%), and service work (1%), like the Peace Corps.

Invest in Yourself

A private liberal arts education is often more affordable than you think. Last year, Lewis & Clark distributed over $74 million in assistance from institutional, federal, state, and private sources. Additionally, we’re so confident that our first-year students will graduate in four years with their bachelor of arts degree that if you don’t, we’ll cover the extra semester of tuition.

Find Your People

Students can join a variety of student-run organizations that relate to their ethnic studies degree, like the Ray Warren Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies and Students for Transformative Action, Abolition, Resilience (STAAR). Don’t see what you’re looking for on the club list? Start something new and build your own community of peers!


  • The most important thing I learned at Lewis & Clark was the transformative power of community. 

    Shalini Hanstad
    Sociology and Anthropology | Ethnic Studies | Seattle, Washington and Bangalore, India
    More about Shalini
  • I moved to Seattle to begin my library science
    degree, which I finished in June 2022. I currently work as a bookseller at Third
    Place Books.

    Lauren Fleming BA ’19
    History | Political Science and Ethnic Studies
    More about Lauren

Ethnic Studies Events

March 19

“A Wall is Just a Wall”: Reiko Hillyer in Conversation with Jerry Harp

Please join Associate Professor of History and Department Chair Reiko Hillyer discuss her latest book, A Wall is Just a Wall: The Permeability of the Prison in 20th Century America (Duke University Press, February 16, 2024)  in conversation with Jerry Harp. Influenced by her work teaching in the Inside-Out program, Hillyer traces the decline of practices that used to connect incarcerated people more regularly to the free world.  

April 3

Social Justice Tour: April

The Inclusion & Multicultural Engagement (IME) office presents the Social Justice Tour. 

April 4

Join Vietnamese Portland for a rough cut work-in-progress screening of ‘Mai American’ by Kevin Truong

Vietnamese Portland: Memory, History, Community invites you to a rough cut work-in-progress screening of Mai American, a documentary by Kevin Truong. Join us on Thursday, April 4 at 5 PM in Miller 102 for a screening of the 90-minute cut and a Q&A with Kevin.

More News and Events →