Ethnic Studies (BS) Optional or Other Extended Program Courses

Catalog Year

2021-2022

Degree

Bachelor of Science

Major Credits

57

Total Credits

120

Locations

Mankato

Program Requirements

Prerequisites to the Major

General Education - Choose 3 Credit(s).

A study of American racial/ethnic minorities, especially the histories of Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. Their roles and contributions to American society will be emphasized.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

This course introduces students to multicultural and ethnic knowledge and values in and outside the United States. Students are exposed to such issues as race, culture, ethnicity, dominance, immigration, stereotypes, discrimination, and intergroup relations through interdisciplinary approaches-anthropological, economic, historical, political, psychological and/or sociological.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Major Common Core

Research Methods/Skills Course - Choose 3 Credit(s).

This course introduces concepts and methods of applying socio-cultural understanding to contemporary problems to bring about the empowerment of affected people. Case/field studies and other research methods in social sciences will be used to illustrate the impact and problems of cultural change with special attention to its affect on disadvantaged groups of people. Students will also design their own applied projects.

Prerequisites: ANTH 101, ANTH 230 or consent; ETHN 100, ETHN 101 or ETHN 150 or consent 

Diverse Cultures: Gold

This is a comprehensive course, which introduces students to qualitative, quantitative and evaluation social research methods. It provides students with hands-on experience of collecting and analyzing data, from any given diverse ethnic community through participant observation and needs assessment.

Prerequisites: ETHN 100 or ETHN 101 or ETHN 150, or Consent 

Diverse Cultures: Gold

Critical Thinking/ Theoretical Course - Choose 3 Credit(s).

This course will examine issues confronted in a multicultural society. It will study ethnic/minority groups not usually included in mainstream society, including their uniqueness and harmonious coexistence with other ethnic groups.

Prerequisites: none

Students will examine the forces which create and maintain prejudice, discrimination and racism within global perspectives. Special attention will be given to the work of Paulo Freire.

Prerequisites: ETHN 100 or ATHN 400 

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Major Restricted Electives

Choose at least 15 credit(s): Two must be writing intensive "W" courses and two must be 400 level courses

Students will participate in field trips, activities, and guest discussions that will enable them to interact with people ethnically (race, religion, lifestyle, etc.) different from the students, to understand their perspectives and to appreciate their unique experiences and/or contributions to the U.S. pluralistic society. Students are expected to learn actively in and outside the classroom by experiencing events or people from diverse cultural groups.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Gold

This course will explore the historical, social, political, and cultural experience of African Americans. It will also examine the contributions of African Americans to the growth and development of the United States.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Introduction to the history and cultures of the major Asian American ethnic groups with a comparative approach to their similarities and differences.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

A survey of the history and present status of Hispanics/Latinos in the United States from 1848. Emphasis will be on culture, history, and socio-political patterns.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

This course will focus on the struggle for civil rights by diverse groups in the United States. Emphasis will be on how these struggles have impacted their communities and cultural pluralism in the U.S.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05

Diverse Cultures: Purple

The course is offered according to student demand and instructor availability/expertise. A variety of topics related to ethnic and cultural areas will provide curriculum enrichment on an ongoing, but irregular basis.

Prerequisites: none

Examines the history, identity, conflict and ethnic relations related to immigration as explored from an Ethnic Studies perspective as well as from American and global perspectives.

Prerequisites: none

The purpose of this course is to examine the challenges and opportunities of the new immigrants,refugees,families,and specifically their children,in the United States.

Prerequisites: none

This course will provide students with an in-depth examination of the issues affecting present-day Africans, and those of the Black Diaspora. Possible topics are fair representation in the media, education, cross-cultural interactions, economics, politics/law, and racial identity.

Prerequisites: ETHN 110 or ETHN 400 or consent 

Examination of current issues affecting the status of Asian Americans. The focus of this course will vary to reflect students' interests in the area of politics, education, economics, social and/or cultural dealing with Asian Americans.

Prerequisites: ETHN 400, or consent 

Goal Areas: GE-05

Thematic examination of major issues surrounding Latino/Hispanic communities in the United States. Emphasis will be on education, labor, politics, social welfare and migration.

Prerequisites: ETHN 400, or consent 

This course is concerned with racial/ethnic minorities who live in large urban (inner city) areas. It is especially concerned with the roles that culture and discrimination play in the shaping of America's ghettos, barrios, reservations, and Chinatowns.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Examines the effects of sexism and racism on women of color and provides an understanding of the significant contributions they have made in their struggle against oppression.

Prerequisites: ETHN 400, or consent 

Diverse Cultures: Purple

This course will take an interdisciplinary ethnic studies approach to examine the past, present and future implications of the African American civil rights movement on race relations in the United States.

Prerequisites: none

The course examines racial and ethnic minorities, and the mutual influences between these groups and the structures, procedures and issues of US politics. Major topics include: opinion on racial issues, the representation of minorities in elective and appointive offices, and the nature of value conflicts underlying contemporary racial issues, including affirmative action, immigration, welfare, language policies and Native American tribal issues.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Multiple perspectives on the selected topic(s) will be addressed. Student scholars may contribute to the selection and/or refinement of the topic(s). Highly motivated seniors will join with graduate students in a graduate-type seminar. Prereq: ETHN major

Prerequisites: ETHN major 

Courses will employ changing topics from year to year and deal with cogent issues of current interest to one or more minority communities.

Prerequisites: none

Supervised, scholarly experience to which the theories and methodologies of ethnic studies can be applied. Opportunitiesmay be on-campus and/or off-campus, including work in other countries. Prereq: ETHN major or minor

Prerequisites: ETHN major or minor 

Students assist a faculty member in teaching ETHN 100 or ETHN 101.

Prerequisites: none

Major Unrestricted Electives

Multicultural Courses: Choose at least 15 credits

Language provides not only communication but identification of oneself and one's group. Humans are extremely sensitive to language, dialect, jargon, and slang. An understanding of language and its relationship to culture is basic to any understanding of human beings.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-08

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Cultural aspects of interactions between people and their environment focusing on spatial patterns of population, agriculture, politics, language, religion, industrialization, and urbanization. Emphasis is placed on the processes that create the cultural landscape and on management of land and natural resources.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-08

Diverse Cultures: Purple

A comparative history of the Chinese and Japanese nations from the 19th century to 1945.

Prerequisites: none

Investigation of historical developments across the African continent from pre-history through the eighteenth century. Topics will include ancient empires of West Africa, the Swahili coast, the spread of Islam, the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the formation of South Africa's multi-racial society.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

This course traces the history of Latin America from the late colonial period through the present as the various countries in the region attempted to transcend their colonial past and confront the pressures of modernization and globalization.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

This course surveys African American history from slavery to the twenty-first century. We will explore the history of enslavement, black resistance, African American culture, freedom, migration patterns, and black political thought and participation as well as how historians have interpreted and re-interpreted this history.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Popular music is a multi-billion dollar industry today. What is it, and where did it come from? Learn about the origins of jazz in the music of African-Americans, its growth from Dixieland through the Big Band era (with the contributions of performers like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington) to its influences on musical styles in the present day.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Rock music has fans in every country and in every culture. It really is a universal language, but it didn't start that way. It began as black Rhythm and Blues in the 40's, and through to the present, minority groups have had a major influence on the music.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

To what extent do the differences among races and between genders represent biological differences, and to what extent are they constructed by society? Is racism best conceptualized as an additional burden to sexism or as one different in kind?

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-07

Discussion of the ways that a culture both creates human community and shapes self-identity. Exploration of similarities and differences between and interdependence among cultural traditions, and of vocabularies for assessing traditions.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-08

Overview of the nature and characteristics of human societies; the structure and processes of social life; impact of social forces on individuals and groups; interdependence of society and the individual; emphasis on cultural diversity and globalism.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-08

Diverse Cultures: Purple

A survey of literature, artists and performances with specific regard to the theatre of diversity including, but not restricted to: Feminist Theatre, Gay and Lesbian Theatre, African-American Theatre, Asian American Theatre, Hispanic Theatre, etc.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-06, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Emphasis General Electives

One computer skills course or quantitative/ statistical skills course (3) Four multicultural electives are to be taken within or outside Department of Ethnic Studies but subject to the approval of ES advisors.*