Raza Studies

College of Ethnic Studies
Dean: Tomás Almaguer

Department of Raza Studies
EP 103
415-338-2700
Chair: Velia Garcia

Faculty

Professors—Cordova, Cuellar

Associate Professors—Carrillo, Garcia, Murguia, Rivera

Assistant Professor—Mirabal

Lecturers—Davila, Kury

Programs

B.A. in Raza Studies
Minor in Raza Studies

Program Scope

Raza Studies is a unique multidisciplinary liberal arts program that eprepares students with the comprehensive knowledge base, critical skills, and social consciousness that enables them to function as effective leaders in an increasingly complex and diverse global society. The curriculum is critical, analytical, holistic, and cutting edge. It is designed to offer students an integrated series of major/minor core and elective courses as welll as General Education courses that help them to gain a better understanding of the historical and cultural presence and the diversity and comp[lexity of Chicanos and Latinos in the United States. The curriculum addresses Chicano/a, Mexican, Central and South American, and ?Caribbean peoples, histories, and cultures in the United States. The Raza Studies curriculum stresses the importance of critical scholarship, merging theory and practice, and developing a professional sense of social responsibility and commitment to service and civic engagement.

The Raza Studies program fosters mentoring relationships with students. A ranger of support services is offered, including advising, academic skills development, graduate school and career development workshops.

Community Internships and International Study Tours

Local community service learning internships and international study tours offer unique learning opportunities for students to enrich their academic experience. Students may earn up to six units in each of these programs. The department requires that students complete at least one three-unit 35-hour local community service learning internship for the Raza studies major. Community internships are available every semester. Faculty supervised international study tours travel to Cuba in January and in June and to Mexico in June. The study tours are designed to provide students with opportunities to interact with local people and to learn about the life, culture, and social institutions as well as the unique relationships of these countries to the U.S.

Local Community Service Learning Internships. The department maintains a database of one hundred Bay Area direct service agencies, educational institutions, and research and policy organizations. An internship fair is held in the early weeks of the semester to bring agency/organization representatives together with students looking for internships. Students are supervised in their internship placements for a minimum of 35 hours a semester. Additionally, students are encouraged to enroll concurrently in RAZA 694, a two-unit course that consists of a set of interactive on-line reflective exercises and discussions related to their community work. The community service learning internships are designed to enrich the academic experience and to prepare students for future careers.

Cuba Study Tour. Students are required to enroll concurrently or consecutively in RAZA 692 and RAZA 693, meet specified grade requirements, and have the consent of the instructor to travel to Cuba. These courses prepare students for the intensive two-week study tour of Cuban institutions of health, education, and culture.

Mexico Study Tour. Consent of the instructor and spring enrollment in RAZA 670 are required prior to travel in June. The course prepares students for two weeks of intensive study in the Mexico City area. The relationship of Mexico to the U.S., the impact of fair trade, and Mexican social movements focus the course and the study tour.

General Education and U.S. History and Government Requirements

Students may elect to complete university statutory requirements for history and government with RAZA 276 and RAZA 376. Students are encouraged to complete university Segment I, Basic Skills, requirements with RAZA or ETHS 110 and RAZA 214. Students may double count up to six units of Segment II and Segment III General Education courses for the Raza studies major.

BACHELOR OF ARTS IN RAZA STUDIES

The Raza studies major provides students with a solid grounding in the theoretical approaches and methodologies that define the field of Raza studies.  The degree program prepares students to pursue graduate and professional studies or alternatively to begin careers in the public or private sectors. The 39-unit B.A. in Raza Studies consists of a core of four three-unit courses, twelve units of courses chosen from three focus areas and fifteen units of electives chosen on advisement from the list of courses that are offered by the department.

Courses are offered in U.S. and Raza history, public and social policy issues in health, education, family, immigration, community life, politics, crime, and justice as well as courses in music, art, literature, and indigenous Raza cultures. An international component emphasizes transnational identities and global economies, social movement, and literatures of resistance.

On-line course descriptions are available.

NOTE: Students must complete at least one community service learning internship. Courses marked CSL offer internship opportunities..

MINOR IN RAZA STUDIES

The department offers a minor to students who have selected a different major but who also want to pursue a coherent course of study in the field of Raza studies. The minor program enables students to supplement a core of course work with a selection of electives that complement the major they have chosen. The minor consists of 24 units of which twelve are required core units and twelve elective units chosen on advisement.