Raza Studies

College of Ethnic Studies
Dean: Kenneth Monteiro

Department of Latina/Latino Studies
EP 103
415-338-6160
Chair: Teresa Carrillo

Faculty
Professors—Almaguer, Cordova, Cuellar, Murguia, Rivera
Associate Professors—Carrillo, Duncan-Andrade, Garcia, Mirabal
Assistant Professors—Martinez, Reyes
Lecturers—Calloway, Dávila, Kury, Quiñonez

Programs
B.A. in Raza Studies
Minor in Raza Studies

Program Scope
Raza Studies is a unique liberal arts B.A. degree program with an emphasis on equity, social justice, and community empowerment. Our programs offer an opportunity to study within a multidisciplinary framework of knowledge  to develop critical thinking skills, analytical and writing skills, and an area of expertise centered on Latinos in California and the United States.  Our program is designed to develop knowledge, skills, and consciousness that empower students to function as effective leaders in an increasingly complex, diverse, and global society. The major prepares students for graduate and professional schools for a wide range of public and private sector employment, and for a lifetime of community commitment and involvement.

The Raza Studies curriculum is critical, analytical, holistic, and cutting-edge. Students choose an integrated series of Major or Minor required and elective courses, as well as General Education classes focused on Latinos in the United States. Theoretical frameworks address race, class, sexuality, and gender inequities historically and in the present time in an analysis of multiple marginalities, community resistance, and empowerment.

Raza Studies curriculum favors a pan-Latino and comparative approach grounded in the US but sometimes following a trajectory back to Latin American countries of origin and the indigenous cultures and histories connected to Latino diasporic communities. The institutional experiences, social and national identities, cultural expressions and resistance movements of Chicano/a, Mexican, Central and South American, and Caribbean-American communities in the U.S. are centrally addressed. We emphasize gender, transnational identities, global economies, social movements, and literatures of resistance across the curriculum.

The Raza Studies curriculum is grounded in our local communities. Our programs stress commitment to community service, to civic engagement, social justice, and equity. We stress the importance of critical, socially responsible scholarship and link our classrooms to local communities and their empowerment through our own Community Service Learning Program. We also have short-term international study tours to Mexico and Cuba (Cuba travel suspended until the Cuba travel ban is lifted).

Community Service Learning Internships and International Study Tour
Supervised local community service learning internships and international study tours offer unique learning opportunities for students that enrich and expand their academic experience. Students may earn up to six units in each of these programs toward the Raza Studies Major or Minor. Students participate in organized group fund raising activities to support their travel. Permission of the supervising faculty is required to travel. Students report back to the campus community the results of the study tours.

The department requires that students complete at least one 3 unit, thirty five hour local community service learning internship for the Raza studies Major and the Minor. Internships are available every semester. Students choose internships from a wide variety of community-based organizations and government agencies, research and policy organizations, and schools. Students must concurrently enroll in a 3 unit online reflection component, RAZA 694 “Community Service Learning”. The community service learning internships are designed to enrich the academic experience and to prepare students for future careers as well as to establish empowering mutually beneficial contacts within the Latino communities of the greater Bay Area. It is a goal of the CSL Program to instill in our students a life-long commitment to community service and civic engagement.

Students interested in joining the International Study Tour to Cuba must first successfully complete RAZA 692 “Cuba: Health, Education and Culture”. The Cuba study tour is designed to provide students with opportunities to interact with local people and public officials and to learn about culture, social institutions and community organizations in Cuba.

The Mexico Study-Tour travels in late May and early June, leaving the Monday following graduation. The intensive twelve-day trip to Mexico DF and Morelos is faculty supervised. Students meet with activists from community-based organizations and schools to learn about grass-roots political and social change. Students planning to travel to Mexico must first successfully complete RAZA 670, “The U.S Mexico Connection”, covering Mexican history and politics and Mexico’s unique relationship to the United States. This course is offered every spring semester.

Clínica Martín Baró. Clínica Martín Baró is a community clinic providing health and medical services in San Francisco’s Mission District. The Clínica was established by faculty, students and licensed medical personnel from Raza Studies at San Francisco State University and from the Medical School at the University of California, San Francisco. Clínica Martín Baró offers service learning internships to students considering careers in the health and medical fields. Students must first successfully complete or concurrently enroll in RAZA 210 “Latino Health Care Perspectives.”

Extra Curricular Activities: Raza Studies fosters mentoring relationships with students. A range of support services is offered, including educational planning, advising, academic skills development, professional and graduate school and scholarship application assistance and career development. Cipactli, a journal of creative works by students is published annually. Students are encouraged to become members of the academic Association of Raza Studies Major and Minor Students, (ARMMS).

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. 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 12 units of core courses, 12 units of courses chosen from three focus areas, and 15 units of electives chosen on advisement from the list of courses that are offered by the department. Students must complete at least one 3-unit Community Service Learning internship and online reflection component for the Major.

There are three broad areas of course offerings in Raza Studies: 1) Arts and Humanities - The Department offers courses in Art History, Aztec Philosophy, Literature, film, journalism and Comparative Music Folklore; 2) History - The Department offers, a comparative Latino history course that fulfills the statutory requirement for U.S. History as well as specialized history courses on the diverse Latino subgroups in the United States: Mexican American, Central, South and Caribbean Americans; 3) Behavioral and Social Science - The Department offers a range and variety of courses on public and social policy issues in health, education, family, immigration, community life, politics, economy, communications, juvenile and criminal justice as well as courses on race, gender, and social inequality.

Courses are 3 units unless otherwise indicated. On-line course descriptions are available.

NOTE: Students must complete at least one community service learning module consisting of 3 units of RAZA 694 and 3 units selected from Raza Studies courses designated (CSL). The two courses must be taken concurrently. Courses marked (CSL) offer internship opportunities.

MINOR IN RAZA STUDIES

A minor is available to students who have selected a different major but also want to pursue a coherent course of study in the field of Raza Studies. The minor program enables students to supplement a major in a different field with course work in Raza Studies. The minor requires a set of core courses supplemented with a selection of electives chosen on advisement that complement the major they have chosen. The minor consists of 24 units of which 9 are required core units, 9 are distributed among three areas of emphasis, and 6 are elective units chosen on advisement.

Courses are 3 units unless otherwise indicated. On-line course descriptions are available.

NOTE: Students must complete at least one community service learning module as part of the Raza Studies Minor. Courses marked (CSL) offer internship opportunities.