Saturday, September 1, 2012


-          Ethnic studies is a contemporary perspectives to frame the ongoing process by which people of color are grouped and defined at the complex intersections of race, gender, class sexuality and nationality.  Ethnic studies are an enterprise that starts from the assumption that race and racism have been, and continue to be profoundly powerful social and cultural forces in America’s society.

-          Ethnic studies today is a course that draws from a variety of discipline such as literature, history, sociology, and cultural studies. It is unique because it focuses on different cultural not only on American’s but that understanding the experience of the various radicalized minorities. In my opinion ethnic studies will enhance the quality of life and freeing you’re from limiting, narrow perspectives and stereotyping.  It will help you from preparing for work and play in society such as ours with different backgrounds that increasingly will require the ability to negotiate across cultural boundaries and to respect differences. I think all students benefit from this course because it teaches and shows us different people in the world especially today’s society there are so many different cultures, backgrounds, and etc.

-          Today in Arizona, the governing board pulled the plug on its Mexican-American studies program which teachers say was designed to help middle school and high school student navigate in complex, multiethnic world. Some of the reasons that there is a debate over whether ethnic studies should be taught because they felt it was targeting that “promote the over throw of the U.S government” and "resentment toward a race or class of people."

-          It's true that teaching U.S. history and literature with an eye toward a minority experience can give students misgivings about the wisdom of the majority, past and present. But particularly in the Southwest, it's impossible to understand history without acknowledging the subjugation and marginalization of minority groups. Nor can one understand the greatness of the American experiment without seeing it as a 200-year-long struggle to overcome injustices and live up to the highest ideals of its founding documents. Surely one doesn't have to believe in the infallibility of white people to be pro-American.

2 comments:

  1. Jennifer-
    thank you for your incredibly articulate and well-written thoughts! I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your response.
    I agree with your response about what Ethnic Studies is: it teaches about the history and culture of cultures in the United States while also teaching about larger structures of oppression in the United States (race, gender, sexuality, nationality). This theoretical approach helps to bridge all of the different disciplines together!
    I also appreciate your comment about 'not believing in the infallibility of white people to be pro-American'. However, it seems that many white people in Arizona do feel attacked by Ethnic Studies and what it teaches. What do you think the origin of this fear is? What do they think will change if People of Color learn about their history and culture?
    --eas

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  2. also: in order for you to get credit for your blog, it needs to have a word count on the bottom. I am letting people fix it this time, but for future ones you need it published with the word count to get credit!
    --eas

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