Minoring

For complete information about minoring, see the online catalog.

ART-230: Global Baroque

T/TH 1:50 – 3:20

D. Odell

Baroque and rococo art as a global style characterized by theatricality, dynamism, and reality effects. Exploration of European art created 1600-1800 and its conversation with related monuments produced in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Investigation of the role of colonialism, commerce, and empire in the construction of a global aesthetic. Close examination of examples of art and architecture crafted for individual monarchs, missionaries, merchants, and common citizens by artists such as Rembrandt, Bernini, and Artemisia Gentileschi.

ART-361: Modern China

T/Th 9:40 – 11:10

D. Odell

Examination of art produced in China from the 17th century to 1949, with a focus on work created in our cities: Suzhou, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai. Considerations of relationships between the built environment and artist production; definitions of modernity; artistic conventions and religious beliefs of the Manchu court; impacts of trade with Europe and America on visual culture; responses to new reproductive technologies, including lithography and photography; woodblock print and film as mediums of political protest.

ENG-334: Multi-Ethnic U.S. Fiction

T/TH 11:30 – 1:00

K. Fujie

An introduction to post-1945 American fiction with an emphasis on authors who contribute significantly to the emergence and development of African, Native American, Asian, and Latina/o American traditions. Approach is comparative: we will explore key texts from multiple traditions rather than engaging in-depth study of a single tradition; we will also consider how centering “ethnic” literature can change and enhance our understanding of American literature more broadly. Special attention to stories and novels that play with style, form, and self-reflexive narration in ways that 1) invite us to contemplate what it means to write (and to read) through a lens of ethnic/racial identity and 2) test the capacities of language and storytelling to (re)construct tradition, memory, community, and belief in the modern world. Authors might include James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, John Barth, Maxine Hong Kingston, Leslie Marmon Silko, Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison, Sandra Cisneros.

ETHS-200: Intro to Ethnic Studies

M/W/F 12:40 – 1:40

M. Rabasa

Introduction to the academic field of ethnic studies. Students will grapple with classic and contemporary literature in the field to develop the tools for approaching race and ethnicity as categories of analysis. Exploration of the social production of conceptions of racial and ethnic difference rather than discussion of specific ethnic and racial groups. Examination of the origins, uses, and mutations of ideologies of race and ethnicity; analysis of how these ideologies intersect with empire and nationalism, sexuality and gender, capitalism and labor relations, and scientific knowledge. How methods from different disciplines contribute to an understanding of ethnic studies.

HIST-134: U.S. Revolution to Empire

M/W/F 11:30 – 12:30

N. Gallman

This survey course focuses on the shifting political, cultural, economic, and social developments of the United States from the Revolutionary period through the Spanish-American War. The themes underpinning the course will be the contested nature of freedom and the relationship between freedom and slavery; settler colonialism; ideologies about manhood and womanhood; the growth of capitalism; and the expansion of the nation-state and the origins of American empire. Along with attending to these themes, the course will provide you with an introduction to the discipline of history itself. History is not a series of names and dates, but an interpretive act in which we develop conclusions based on various types of historical evidence.

HIST-142: Modern Latin American History

T/TH 9:40 – 11:10

E. Young

Confrontation with the complexity of modern Latin America through historical analysis of the roots of contemporary society, politics, and culture. Through traditional texts, novels, films, and lectures, exploration of the historical construction of modern Latin America. Themes of unity and diversity, continuity and change as framework for analyzing case studies of selected countries.

HIST-209: Japan at War

M/W/F 10:20 – 11:20

A. Bernstein

In-depth study of the causes, dynamics, and outcomes of the wars fought by Japan in Asia and the Pacific from the late 19th century through World War II. The trajectories of Japanese imperialism, sequence of events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor, social impact of total war. Japan’s wartime culture as seen through diaries, newspaper articles, propaganda films, short stories, government documents. Short- and long-term effects of the atomic bomb and the American occupation of Japan.

HIST-229: The Holocaust in Comparative Perspective

T/TH 1:50 – 3:20

M. Healy

The Nazi genocide of European Jews during World War II in comparison to other cases of 20th-century mass violence in countries such as Armenia, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda. Nazi Germany serves as the principal case study for discussion of the broader question: What has made possible the organization and execution of mass violence against specific ethnic and religious groups in a wide variety of societies around the world over the past century? Includes examination of strategies for the prevention of future incidents of mass ethnic violence.

HIST-231A: U.S. Women’s History 1600-1980

T/TH 9:40 – 11:10

R. Hillyer

The history of women and gender in the United States from the colonial period to the present, with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries as influenced by class, race, and region. Topics include the transformation of a household economy to an industrial economy; the influence of slavery and emancipation on the experience of women, bound and free; women’s movement into low-paid “women’s work” and their designation as the primary consumers in a consumer society; women’s involvement in social reform; changing notions of women’s (and men’s) sexuality; the conflicted history of women’s suffrage; the relationship between ideologies of gender and imperialism; suburbanization and the “feminine mystique”; and the rights revolutions of the 20th century.

HIST-394: Cross-Cultural Law & Justice in Early America

M/W 3:00 – 4:30

N. Gallman

Comparative study of law and legal pluralism in the early North American borderlands from the 16th through 19th centuries. Examination of the resolution of intercultural conflicts among Indigenous people, Europeans, and people of African descent; how and why those from different cultures made their understandings of law intelligible to one another in contests over land, property, and freedom; how these plural legal orders changed over time. Determining the nature of legal pluralism and how it shaped the multiple meanings of law, justice, sovereignty, and empire in early America. Consideration of how the legal complexity of the early modern era informs our understanding of the meanings of law and justice today.

RHMS-406: Race, Rhetoric, & Resistance

M 3:00 – 4:30 / Th 3:30 – 5:00

K. Chirindo

Role of rhetoric in social conflicts regarding issues of race. Theories and strategies of resistance and the implications for political action. Examination of major race and resistance texts.

SOAN-266: Social Change in Latin America

M/W/F 12:40 – 1:40

S. Warren

Focus on historic and current forms of social change across a range of Latin American countries. Exploration of when and how social change occurs and the importance of mobilization for creating meaningful change. How global factors influence societal changes, with attention to immigration, violence and alternatives to capitalist expansion.

SOAN-350: Global Inequality

T/Th 11:30 – 1:00

S. Kamran

Issues in the relationships between developed and developing societies, including colonialism and transnational corporations, food and hunger, women’s roles in development. Approaches to overcoming problems of global inequality.

SOAN-373: Political Economy of Black Labor

M/W/F 1:50 – 2:50 

K. Cameron-Dominguez

Focus on Black diasporic labor as a central component in the development of Western hemispheric political and economic systems. Historical, sociocultural, and transnational examination of Black people’s encounter with capitalist relations of production; slavery; internal and diasporic labor migration; class mobility and racialized work; Black responses to exploitative systems via labor and social movements; cultural practices and performance; representation of self and community on the internet and via social media. Consideration will be given to leisure as well as work and how these construct/frame identity and belonging. Students will read from works in anthropology, sociology, and the humanities with emphasis on those produced by authors of color; part of our work will be to ask how race and labor figure into authorial intent, knowledge production, and professional expertise.

SPAN-370: Latin Am. and Spain: Enlightenment to Present

T/Th 9:40 – 11:10

F. Vilches

Introduction to major trends in Latin American and Spanish literature from the Enlightenment period to the present day. Selected works from Latin America and Spain read in the context of cultural and historical events.


 A minimum of 24 semester credits distributed as follows:

One course chosen from the following:

  • HIST 240 Race and Ethnicity in the United States
  • HIST 243 African American History Since 1863
  • SOAN 225 Race and Ethnicity in Global Perspective

ETHS 400 Topics in Race and Ethnic Studies (4 credits)

16 elective semester credits from the departmental listings

  • No more than 2 courses from any one department
  • At least one of the elective courses must be at the 300 or 400 level

12 semester credits must be exclusive to the minor


Starting in 2023-24:

A minimum of 24 semester credits, distributed as follows (12 semester credits must be exclusive to the minor):

Core class (4 credits): ETHS 200: Introduction to Ethnic Studies

20 elective credits from ETHS courses or departmental listings

  • No more than 3 courses can be applied to the minor from any one department.
  • At least 2 of the elective courses must be at the 300 or 400 level, one of which must include a capstone project (see below).

Capstone Project:

Junior or senior standing is required. A capstone project consists of one of the following and must be approved by the director of the Ethnic Studies program:

  • An Ethnic Studies focused thesis and/or honors project, or a major research-based assignment in a 300/400-level course in any department or program.
  • Chairing the Ray Warren Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies (ETHS 345).
  • A student-designed capstone project using the methods of Ethnic Studies, pre-approved by the Ethnic Studies director and supervised as an independent study by Ethnic Studies faculty. This could include an independent study, practicum, or internship, and should only be pursued if none of the previously listed options are available.