Ethnic Studies (ETHN)
ETHN 100 | INTRO TO ETHNIC STUDIES
Units: 3 Repeatability: No
Core Attributes: First Yr Integration (LC Only), Social/Behavioral Inquiry area, Domestic Diversity level 1
A course that introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of Ethnic Studies. Using a comparative and historical perspective, students will examine the languages, family structures, spiritual traditions, economic and social issues, political aspirations, and values of diverse groups within the United States. Emphasis will be on African-Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Chicanos/Latinos, and Native Americans, but other groups are also discussed. Students may not receive credit for taking both ETHN 100D and ETHN 100.
ETHN 220 | INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES
Units: 3 Repeatability: No
Core Attributes: Domestic Diversity level 2
A survey course on the interdisciplinary field of African-American Studies. Students will learn basics of African-American history and culture in order to understand contemporary problems and conditions facing African-Americans. Banner equivalent to ETHN 220D. Students may not receive credit for completing both ETHN 220D and 220.
ETHN 230 | INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES
Units: 3 Repeatability: No
Core Attributes: Domestic Diversity level 2
This course introduces students to the field of American Indian Studies. Students engage scholarly work, film, popular press texts, and attend community events to learn about American Indian people and the current and historical forces that shape modern-day realities for American Indians. Banner equivalent to ETHN 230D. Students may not receiver credit for taking both ETHN 230D and ETHN 230.
ETHN 240 | INTRODUCTION TO CHICANO/LATINO STUDIES
Units: 3 Repeatability: No
Core Attributes: Domestic Diversity level 2
This course is an introductory survey of the field of Chicano/Latino Studies. Emphasis is placed on the historical development of the Chicano/Latino people including their Mesoamerican roots, cultural identification, political activities, and their contemporary roles and influence in United States culture, society and economy. Banner equivalent to ETHN 240D. Students may not receiver credit for taking both ETHN 240D and ETHN 240.
ETHN 250 | INTRODUCTION TO ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES
Units: 3 Repeatability: No
Core Attributes: Domestic Diversity level 2
A survey course on the interdisciplinary field of Asian American Studies. Students will learn basics of Asian American history, literature, and culture to understand historical and contemporary problems and conditions facing Asian Americans. Banner equivalent to ETHN 250D. Students may not receiver credit for taking both ETHN 250D and ETHN 250.
ETHN 294 | SPECIAL TOPICS IN ETHNIC STUDIES
Units: 0.5-4 Repeatability: Yes (Can be repeated for Credit)
An in-depth analysis of selected contemporary and special topics in ethnic studies at the lower division with specific course content to be determined by particular interest and expertise of instructor and students. May be repeated for credit with different course content. (Offered on demand).
ETHN 321C | AFRICAN AMERICAN PANETHNICITY
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Community Engagement, Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
Panethnicity in the United States is the process in which people from varying cultural backgrounds and diverse ethnicities come to occupy larger-scale group identities based on racial classification. African-American communities and identities have historically been panethnic, comprised of individuals from various ethnic groups and migration histories complete with different languages, traditions, religions, and cultures. This course examines the intra-racial dynamics of African-American panethnic communities and identities in theoretical, historical, and community-based terms. Special emphasis will be given to engagement with community members around USD through guest speakers and involvement in community events.
ETHN 322 | AFRICAN AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This course examines African-American perspectives on civil rights in the United States foregrounding local, national, and international American cultural politics, race dynamics, and power. Utilizing interdisciplinary approaches of literature, political science, sociology, and history, we will survey the twentieth century Golden Age of civil rights and examine the state of African-American social justice activism today.
ETHN 323 | AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC AND CULTURE
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This course provides a historically grounded investigation of African-American music and culture with specific emphasis on the United States and African Diaspora in the Americas. Topics of study may include an overview of the study of African-American music; problems in defining, theorizing, and talking about black music; black music and the cultural politics of race, class, and gender; and exploration of the various musical genres and styles (i.e. spirituals, gospel, blues, “art” music, jazz, and hip hop) that impact other aspects of African-American expressive culture — art, religion/spirituality, aesthetics, and worldview.
ETHN 331 | GENDER IN NATIVE AMERICA
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This course examines gender as a social institution and its implications at both the micro (personal) and macro (societal) levels. Social, political, and historical implications for the intersections of racialized, classed, and gendered identities will be critiqued. Special attention will be paid to gender and traditional indigenous cultures and how gender relations and formations change within a colonial (historic and contemporary) U.S. context.
ETHN 332 | AMERICAN INDIAN HEALTH AND SPIRITUALITY
Units: 3 Repeatability: No
This class examines indigenous conceptions of health and spirituality. The theory of historical trauma and the concept of soul wound are especially important analytical tools. Students in this course will ask and answer the following question: how do culture, history, and social problems influence one’s health and spirituality? Students will study the influence of the social institutions of education, religion, and the economy as indigenous peoples continue to shape the meaning of wellness in their lives. Varying traditions of healing will be examined, including the role of sacred foods in healing processes.
ETHN 333 | INDIGENOUS DECOLONIZATION
Units: 3
Indigenous studies scholars use the term “decolonization” to analyze the ways in which Indigenous peoples and their allies are using traditional Indigenous cultural teachings to advocate for social change within their communities and broader society. Key to this decolonizing framework is the idea that Indigenous cultural revitalization can help Indigenous communities protect their minds, bodies, and lands so that healthy Indigenous communities can be restored. In this class we will discuss definitions of decolonization and examine the ways in which Indigenous communities have used the term to guide their own cultural revitalization work across diverse settings such as: Maori and Hawaiian language nests, Indigenous museums, Indigenous cultural expression, and American Indian/Alaska Native legal studies.
ETHN 343 | CHICANO SAN DIEGO
Units: 3 Repeatability: No
This course explores Chicano/Latino experiences in San Diego and the U.S. Borderlands. It examines how racial and ethnic identities are shaped by historical, political, economic, cultural, sacred, and linguistic dimensions that inform Chicano/Latino cultures and communities.
ETHN 355 | ASIAN AMERICAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This course examines Asian American social movements from the 19th century to the present. Students will learn about the theories and practices that shaped Asian American activism and community organizing.
ETHN 360 | RACE, RELIGION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This course examines the relationship between issues of social justice, race, and the role of religion (the sacred) in guiding us toward a more just and humane society.
ETHN 361 | IMMIGRATION AT US-MEXICO BORDER: ETHNICITY, RACE & GENDER
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
In this course we will look at the United States-Mexico border as a scenario for emerging and contested ethnic, racial and gender identities. Drawing on the experiences of the distinct ethnic and racial groups that came to inhabit the area -- namely Native Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, Anglo Americans, African-Americans and Asians.
ETHN 362 | ETHNICITY AND CINEMA
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This course uses a comparative, analytical, and critical approach to the study of ethnicity and to the relationship between cinematic representations and the experiences of racialized communities. The course includes examination of multiple dimensions of media stereotypes, film history and theory, and the ways filmmakers of various ethnic and national backgrounds respond to and through mainstream cinemas. Students to engage in film analysis that is informed by an understanding of the politics of representation and the historically situated conditions of cinematic production.
ETHN 363 | RACE AND U.S. SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This course examines the relationship between race and social movements in the United States. Students will learn about how communities of color have organized grassroots movements for social, economic, and political equity.
ETHN 364 | RACE, CLASS AND GENDER
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This course examines the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Students will learn how communities of color are structured by these categories of difference and how they have generated expansive identities, cultures, and epistemologies from them.
ETHN 365 | U.S. WOMEN OF COLOR THEORY AND ACTIVISM
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This interdisciplinary course traces the development of US Women of Color feminist theory and its impact on contemporary grassroots activism and social movements.
ETHN 366 | RACE AND PERFORMANCE
Units: 3
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
This course provides grounding in performance theory and comparative ethnic studies. Performance analysis offers a powerful interpretive framework for engaging the social construction, fluidity, and hybridity of identities, and the tactics and strategies of social change. Students will develop skills in decoding meanings produced by racialized bodies and acts in staged contexts, as well as the construction of race and identity through “performances” in everyday life.
ETHN 367 | RACE AND GLOBALIZATION
Units: 3
Core Attributes: Global Diversity level 2
This course offers a transnational perspective to the study of race, colonialism, power, society, and social justice. Investigating issues of global migration, labor, neoliberal economics, and national security, it both contextualizes and challenges popular understandings of globalization.
ETHN 494 | SPECIAL TOPICS IN ETHNIC STUDIES
Units: 0.5-4 Repeatability: Yes (Repeatable if topic differs)
An in-depth analysis of selected contemporary and special topics in ethnic studies, with specific course content to be determined by particular interest and expertise of instructor and students. May be repeated for credit with different course content. (Offered on demand).
ETHN 495 | CAPSTONE SEMINAR
Units: 3 Repeatability: No
Core Attributes: Advanced writing competency, Advanced Integration, Oral communication competency
Non-Core Attributes: Community Engagement
A seminar devoted to advanced study in the field. Students will conduct community-based research, applying theoretical perspectives to experiences with various local groups, organizations, collectives, or neighborhoods. The course is equivalent to a senior thesis project.
ETHN 498 | INTERNSHIP IN ETHNIC STUDIES
Units: 1-3 Repeatability: Yes (Can be repeated for Credit)
Non-Core Attributes: Experiential
Practical experience in applied ethnic studies. Students will be involved in projects conducted by agencies and institutions outside the university, such as community based organizations, grassroots leadership and organizing efforts, government agencies, and community partners of the Ethnic Studies Department. Enrollment is arranged on an individual basis according to a student’s interest and background, and is dependent on positions available and faculty approval. The department internship coordinator or chair should be consulted before beginning an internship. Taking one unit in two or more consecutive semesters is recommended, but variations can be arranged in advance with the instructor or the chair of Ethnic Studies. A maximum of three internship units can be earned toward fulfillment of the requirements of the major.
ETHN 499 | INDEPENDENT STUDY
Units: 1-3 Repeatability: Yes (Can be repeated for Credit)
Non-Core Attributes: Diversity-Pre F17 CORE
Individual study and written research.