The purpose of the interdisciplinary minor in Race and Ethnicity Studies is to make available to Barnard students the interdisciplinary and critical study of race and ethnicity in their mutual constitution with gender, class, and nation. The minor in Race and Ethnicity Studies provides an intersectional and international framework for thinking through issues of ethnicity and race in both local and global contexts and in relation to other forms of social difference. Advanced seminars allow students to use this framework for the in-depth study of a particular topic. For those students who desire to pursue graduate education in the field of Ethnic Studies, the minor in Race and Ethnicity Studies will provide background preparation.
To sign up, contact Janet Jakobsen, ICORE/MORE Director.
Program of Study
The program offers a minor. Students pursuing one of the three CCIS affiliated majors: Africana Studies, American Studies, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, also have the opportunity to specialize in Interdisciplinary Study of Race and Ethnicity Studies within the major. See the Catalog sections on Consortium for Critical Interdisciplinary Studies - CCIS Minors. Students interested in pursuing the minor or to incorporate it as a specialization should meet with the CCIS chair or the individual faculty director for that particular CCIS minor/specialization.
Program-level Student Learning Outcomes
Students who complete the interdisciplinary minor on Race and Ethnicity Studies will learn how to:
- Gain exposure to the theories and methods of Ethnic Studies;
- Interpret arguments in light of the expanding literature in Ethnic Studies;
- Understand processes of racialization in historical and geographical context;
- Understand the mutual constitution and relative autonomy of axes of social differentiation;
- Comprehend how national boundaries, as well as local, national and transnational cultures and politics affect the constitution of racial and ethnic categories;
- Compare representations of borderlands, hybridity, migration and diaspora from different cultures; and
- Identify and communicate the importance of ethnic and racial diversity to an increasingly global and interconnected world.
Requirements
The minor consists of five courses to be distributed as follows:
Introductory Level (2 courses)
- WMST BC2140 Critical Approaches in Social and Cultural Theory
- Students will choose their remaining Introductory Level course from
- AMST BC1041, Critical Approaches to the Study of Ethnicity and Race
- WMST BC2150, Practicing Intersectionality: The Interdisciplinary Study of Race, Gender and Ethnicity
Intermediate Level (2 courses)
- Harlem: Students will choose one course on Harlem. (See list of pre-approved courses below.)
- Concepts in Race and Ethnic Studies: Students will choose one course from among the following three topics:
- People Power, and Place: Courses that explore in geographical context the processes, including the operations of power, by which people are constituted as ethnic and racial groups. (See list of pre-approved courses below.)
- Representation: Courses that explore cultural and political representations of ethnicity and race. (See list of pre-approved courses below.)
- Special Topics in Critical Studies: AMST BC 3350 Lecture
Advanced Level (1 Course)
Students will take one advanced seminar from the following two categories:
- Relevant Seminars in the Consortium Majors: Students should check with the department offering the seminar for course application/admission procedures. (See list of pre-approved courses below.)
- Special Topics in Critical Studies: AFRS BC3575 Seminar
Note: Students may petition for ICORE/MORE credit for courses not on this list.