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Ethnic Studies Mission Statement

About the Program

The Ethnic Studies Program examines the construction and context of ethnicity in the United States with a primary focus on Americans of African, Asian, Latino/a, and Native American descent. As an element of American identity that cuts across disciplinary categories, ethnicity requires a mode of study that draws on the humanities and the social sciences as well as interdisciplinary sources such as cultural studies. Ethnicity also must be addressed historically and comparatively, paying attention to the five centuries of experience of underrepresented communities in North America and the perspectives of other societies—such as Mexico, Brazil, and Peru—where cognate experiences have had their own cultural and political expressions. In that spirit, the participating faculty of the program is an open roster of scholars committed to giving students a wide array of approaches to this challenging topic. Many courses, including the introductory sequence, are interdisciplinary. Above all, the program seeks to convey knowledge and understanding of ethnicity in the United States and to help students learn about the opportunities and responsibilities they have as citizens in an increasingly multicultural nation.

Undergraduate Studies

Students may earn a major, or minor in ethnic studies. A secondary goal of the program is to encourage students to become more aware of the ethnic and culture-based dimensions and applications of other major fields. Students of literature, social sciences, education, urban planning, art history, humanities, and international studies—to name only a few—find that related ethnic studies courses can enrich their academic programs.

See Group Requirements and Multicultural Requirement in the Registration and Academic Policies section of the University of Oregon Catalog for ethnic studies courses that satisfy university general-education requirements.

A maximum of two courses applied to a major in ethnic studies may be used to satisfy major or minor requirements for other programs.

Courses applied to a minor in ethnic studies may not be used to satisfy minor requirements for other programs.