Ethnic identity is integral to the formation of group consciousness, as it produces common meaning through shared language, religious traditions, and family history. At the same time, colonialism, slavery, and genocide have been intertwined with the construction of racial and ethnic categories. To recognize both the positive and negative aspects of ethnic identity, as well as to heed the significance of transnational migrations in the creation of diasporic identities, the ethnic studies minor focuses on five themes: diaspora, colonialism, slavery, genocide, and community formation. Fostering an interdisciplinary approach that pulls together a variety of historical, social, and cultural perspectives, the curriculum explores the five themes and related topics as they intersect with gender, sexuality, class, and nation.

Contact the Ethnic Studies Program

Minor Requirements

A minimum of 24 semester credits distributed as follows:

• ETHS 200 Introduction to Ethnic Studies

• 20 elective semester credits from the departmental listings below. No more than three courses can be applied to the minor from any one department. At least two of the elective courses must be at the 300 or 400 level. 

• One of the following capstone projects. Note that junior or senior standing is required, and a capstone project must be preapproved by the ethnic studies director. 

  • An ethnic studies-focused thesis and/or honors project, or a major research-based assignment in a 300-/400-level course in any department or program.

  • ETHS 345 Ray Warren Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies Chair

  • A student-designed capstone project using the methods of ethnic studies, preapproved by the ethnic studies director, and supervised as an independent study (ETHS 499) or internship/practicum (ETHS 244) by ethnic studies faculty. This should only be pursued if none of the previously listed options are available.

12 semester credits must be exclusive to the minor.

Departmental Listings

Art

ART 207	Ancient Art of the Americas
ART 451	Advanced Seminar in Art History (only when topic is relevant)

English

ENG 319	Postcolonial Literature: Anglophone Africa, India, Caribbean
ENG 326	African American Literature

Ethnic Studies

ETHS 345

Ray Warren Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies Chair

French Studies

FREN 330	Francophone Literature
FREN 450	Special Topics (only when topic is relevant)

Gender Studies

GEND 200	Gender and Sexuality in U.S. Society
GEND 440	Feminist Theory

History

HIST 134	Early North America: Making New Indigenous, European, and Africana Worlds
HIST 135	The United States in the 20th Century
HIST 141	Colonial Latin American History
HIST 142	Modern Latin American History
HIST 208	Asian American History in the U.S.
HIST 209	Japan at War
HIST 217	The Emergence of Modern South Asia
HIST 222	Britain in the Age of Revolution, 1688 to 1815
HIST 226	20th-Century Germany
HIST 229	The Holocaust in Comparative Perspective
HIST 231A	U.S. Women's History, 1600 to 1980
HIST 232	Histories of Indigenous Peoples in North America (Turtle Island)
HIST 239	Constructing the American Landscape
HIST 242	Borderlands: U.S.-Mexico Border, 16th Century to Present
HIST 243	African American History Since 1863
HIST 264	From Stumptown to Portlandia: The History of Portland
HIST 328	The British Empire
HIST 338	Crime and Punishment in the United States (Inside-Out)
HIST 347	Modern Mexico: Culture, Politics, and Economic Crisis
HIST 348	Modern Cuba
HIST 390	Immigration and Asylum Law
HIST 394	Cross-Cultural Law & Justice in Early America
HIST 400	Reading Colloquium (only when topic is relevant)
HIST 450	History Seminar (only when topic is relevant)

International Affairs

IA 296	Human Rights in International Relations
IA 342	Perception and International Relations

Music

MUS 106	Music Cultures of the World
MUS 142	Music and Social Justice

Overseas Programs

IS 216

Moroccan Modernity

Political Science

POLS 313

Global Justice

Psychology

PSY 390

Cross-Cultural Psychology

Rhetoric and Media Studies

RHMS 204	Black/Africana Rhetoric and Media Theories
RHMS 313	Politics of Public Memory
RHMS 315	Comparative Rhetoric
RHMS 321	Argument and Social Justice
RHMS 340	Media Across Cultures
RHMS 406	Race, Rhetoric, and Resistance

Russian

RUSS 290

Environmental Topics in Russian and Soviet Cultures in Translation (when topic is relevant)

Sociology/Anthropology

SOAN 225	Race and Ethnicity in Global Perspective
SOAN 261	Gender and Sexuality in Latin America
SOAN 266	Social Change in Latin America
SOAN 267	Culture in Motion
SOAN 281	South Asian Cultures
SOAN 285	Culture and Power in the Middle East
SOAN 310	Religion, Society, and Modernity
SOAN 324	Anthropology of Violence
SOAN 347	Borderlands: Tibet and the Himalaya
SOAN 349	Indigenous Peoples: Identities and Politics
SOAN 359	Topics in Medical Anthropology
SOAN 360	Decolonizing Anthropology
SOAN 373	Political Economy of Black Labor
SOAN 390	Cyborg Anthropology

Spanish

SPAN 230	Hispanic Literature in Translation (only when topic is relevant)
SPAN 238	Writing Justice in the Americas (Inside-Out)
SPAN 260	Cultural Production of the Spanish-Speaking World
SPAN 360	Early Hispanic Literatures
SPAN 370	Topics in Transatlantic Culture
SPAN 375	Topics in Latin American Culture
SPAN 440	Topics in Hispanic Literatures (only when topic is relevant)
SPAN 446	Special Topics in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures (only when topic is relevant)
SPAN 450	Special Topics in Spanish (only when topic is relevant)

Theatre

TH 285	Playing at the Border: Migration and Art
TH 382	American Drama: Performing Identities

Faculty

Sepideh Azarshahri Bajracharya. Assistant professor with term of anthropology. Political culture of violence, communal politics, memory, narrative, urban ethnography, anthropology of space, South Asia. PhD 2008 Harvard University. BA 1999 Wesleyan University.

Andrew Bernstein. Professor of history. Japanese History. PhD 1999, MPhil 1996, MA 1994 Columbia University. BA 1990 Amherst College.

Kimberly Brodkin. Professor with term of gender studies and ethnic studies. Gender and politics in the U.S. PhD 2001 Rutgers University. BA 1992 University of Pennsylvania.

Maryann Bylander. Professor of sociology. Development and globalization, migration, rural livelihoods, microfinance/credit, environment, gender, qualitative and quantitative research methods. PhD 2012, MA 2006 University of Texas at Austin. BA 2003 Rice University.

Kim Cameron-Dominguez. Associate professor of anthropology. Race/ethnicity, gender, affect theory, work and mobilities, urban/place-centered ethnography, discourse theory, U.S. and Latin America, Black diasporic populations. PhD 2018, MA 2006 University of California at Santa Cruz. BA 2004 Mount Holyoke College.

David A. Campion. Associate professor of history. British and South Asian History. PhD 2002, MA 1997 University of Virginia. BA 1991 Georgetown University.

Kundai V. Chirindo. Professor of rhetoric and media studies. Rhetoric, culture, and hermeneutics; Africa in the public imaginary; rhetoric and postcolonial theory. PhD 2012 University of Kansas. MA 2008, BA 2004 Bethel University.

Rachel Cole. Associate professor of English. 19th-Century American literature. PhD 2005, MA 2000 Johns Hopkins University. BA 1994 Williams College.

Kristin Fujie. Associate professor of English. 19th- and 20th-Century American Literature, Modernism. PhD 2010, BA 1997 University of California at Berkeley.

Nancy O. Gallman. Assistant professor of history. 16th-19th Century North America, Spanish Borderlands, Legal Pluralism, Early Native and African American History, Comparative History of Empire. PhD 2017, MA 2012 University of California at Davis. JD 1994 New York University School of Law. BA 1989 Yale College.

Maureen Healy. Associate professor of history. European History, Women's and Gender History, War and Genocide. PhD 2000, MA 1994 University of Chicago. BA 1990 Tufts University.

Kabir Mansingh Heimsath. Assistant professor with term of anthropology. Visual anthropology, space/place theory, borderlands, tourism, cities and bodies. PhD 2011, MSc 2005 University of Oxford. MA 1996 University of Washington. BA 1992 University of California at Berkeley.

Reiko Hillyer. Professor of history. U.S. South, African American History, History of the Built Environment. PhD 2006, MPhil 2001, MA 1999 Columbia University. BA 1991 Yale University.

Matthew N. Johnston. Professor of art history. Modern Art History. PhD 2004, MA 1994 University of Chicago. BA 1992 Yale University.

Sidra Kamran. Assistant professor of sociology. Gender and Sexuality, Digital Culture, Social Inequality, Qualitative Methods, Sociology of Work, Global Social Theory. PhD 2022, MA 2015 The New School. BS 2011 University of Lahore.

Oren Kosansky. Professor of anthropology. Political economy of religious experience, postcolonial nationalism and diaspora, textual culture, Morocco. PhD 2003, MA 1994 University of Michigan. MAT 1990 Binghamton University. BA 1988 Brown University.

Diana J. Leonard. Professor of psychology. Identity, social judgments, and categorization. PhD 2012 University of California at Santa Barbara. BA 2004 Northwestern University.

Kaley Mason. Associate professor of music. Music of South Asia, Francophone Popular Music, Creative Economies, Social Movements. PhD 2006 University of Alberta. BMus 1999 Queen's University at Kingston.

Aine Seitz McCarthy. Associate professor of economics. Applied microeconomics, development economics, labor and demography, economics of education. PhD 2016 University of Minnesota. BA 2006 Colby College.

Dawn Odell. Professor of art history. Early Modern East Asian and European Art History. PhD 2003 University of Chicago. MA 1992 Harvard University. BA 1986 Carleton College.

Bruce M. Podobnik. Associate professor emeritus of sociology. Environmental sociology, social theory, mixed methods, the sociocultural dimensions of activism, the social roots of happiness. PhD 2000 Johns Hopkins University.

Kayla Puente. Assistant professor of psychology. Educational psychology, human development, Chicanx/Latinx experience. PhD 2022, MA 2020 University of California at Irvine School of Education. BA 2016 Pomona College.

Magalí Rabasa. Associate professor of Hispanic studies. Latin American Literature and Culture, Social Movements and Resistance. PhD 2014 University of California at Davis. BA 2004 University of Oregon.

G. Mitchell Reyes. Professor of rhetoric and media studies. Rhetoric, public memory, public discourse, rhetoric of science. PhD 2004, MA 2000 Pennsylvania State University. BS 1997 Willamette University.

Juan Carlos Toledano Redondo. Professor of Hispanic studies. Hispanic Studies, 19th- and 20th-Century Spanish American Literature, Hispanic-Caribbean Literature. PhD 2002 University of Miami. BA 1996 Universidad de Granada.

Pauls Toutonghi. Professor of English. Fiction, Expository Writing, Creative Writing. PhD 2006, MA 2002 Cornell University. BA 1999 Middlebury College.

Freddy O. Vilches. Professor of Hispanic studies. Hispanic Studies, Contemporary Spanish American Literature, Poetry and Song, Latin American Cultural Studies. Latin American Music Ensemble, Charango. PhD 2006, MA 1993, BA 1991 University of Oregon.

Sarah D. Warren. Associate professor of sociology. Race and ethnicity, social movements, nations and nationalism, gender, Latin America. PhD 2010 University of Wisconsin at Madison. MA 2004 University of Texas at Austin. BA 2001 University of Arizona.

Elliott Young. Professor of history. Latin American and U.S.-Mexico Borderlands History. PhD 1997, MA 1993 University of Texas at Austin. BA 1989 Princeton University.

Rishona Zimring. Professor of English. Modern British Literature, Postcolonial Literature. PhD 1993, BA 1985 Yale University.

Courses