CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE ETHNIC STUDIES FACULTY COUNCIL

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What is Ethnic Studies?

Ethnic Studies is an interdisciplinary and comparative study of race and ethnicity in the United States, with a special emphasis on four historically defined racialized core groups; Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Latina and Latino Americans. Ethnic Studies is offered through various disciplines including Ethnic Studies, Chicana and Chicano Studies, Latina and Latino Studies, African American Studies, Africana Studies, Black Studies, Indigenous Studies, Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies, Filipino Studies, La Raza Studies, and Central American Studies.

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These disciplines have distinct epistemologies, theories, and methods that center a critical Ethnic Studies lens. Since its inception in the late 1960s, the Ethnic Studies curriculum rejected the historical typecasting of People of Color as nameless, faceless, side-players, or victims of imperialism, colonialism, slavery, and white supremacy. Rather, Ethnic Studies frames People of Color as agents and instigators of change and producers of knowledge, with rich intellectual traditions rooted in cultural practices. From their origins to the present, Ethnic Studies disciplines play a critical role of challenging Eurocentrism within higher education, as well as ensuring that diverse histories, experiences, and theoretical frameworks are valued, debated, and expanded upon in all sectors of society.
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