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Minor in Ethnic Studies

The minor provides students with an opportunity to acquire knowledge, research ability, critical thinking skills, and effective written, oral communication skills necessary to live and work successfully in multicultural settings.

Academic Objectives

Upon the completion of the “Minor in Ethnic Studies” students are expected to be able to:

• Understand how racial and ethnic identities are constructed and/or contested over times, cultures and nations/regions;
• Explain the principles and dynamics that influence ethnic and inter-ethnic relations;
• Use various methodologies, comparative models, and disciplinary perspectives to analyze contemporary issues of ethnicity;
• Analyze local, national and global events from the perspective of ethnicity; and
• Live and work effectively in a multicultural environment.

 

Academic Requirements

With the advice and approval of a faculty member in the Ethnic Studies Minor, students develop a plan of study that includes a minimum of eighteen credit hours of study selected from among courses at the junior and senior level (300 or 400 level courses). Appropriate graduate courses (500 level), taken for undergraduate credit, may also be used to fulfill degree requirements. Any deviations from the approved program of study must be approved in writing by a faculty member in the Ethnic Studies Minor. Existing or new courses may be included in the Ethnic Studies plan of study only if the content and intent of the course is directed at the study of ethnicity.

Required courses:

(1) SOC 310 – Racial & Ethnic Diversity
(2) HIST 466 – Immigration & Ethnicity in American History
(3) IDIS 484 – Ethnic Nationalism in the Modern World.

Elective courses:

(1) ENGL 311 – Ethnic American Women Writers
(2) ENGL 366 – Postcolonial Literatures
(3) FLL 490E – National, Racial & Ethnic Identity in Austrian Literature of the 20th Century
(4) IDIS 380 – Gender and Multiculturalism
(5) IDIS 490B – Native American Women's Literature
(6) HIST 366 – Hispanic Heritage of the United States
(7) HIST 398 – The Afro-American Since 1865
(8) POL 304 – Israel and World Politics
(9) POL 326 – Black Political Participation in America
(10) POL 543 – Politics of Cultural Conflict
(11) SPAN 335 – The Literature of the Spanish Speaking Peoples in the United States

 

Ethnic Studies Minor Academic Plan of Study (PDF)