You are in the official 1998-99 General Catalog
for California State University, Fresno.
Ethnic Studies Program
The School of Social Sciences
LILY B. SMALL, Coordinator
McKee Fisk Building, Room 243
(559) 278-2832
B.A. in African American Studies
Minor in African American Studies
Minor in American
Indian Studies
Minor in Ethnic Studies
Faculty
Lily B. Small, Coordinator
Carl E. Briscoe, Delores J. Huff, Robert S. Mikell
Ethnic Studies
The Ethnic Studies Program offers an interdisciplinary curriculum that contains a broad course of study of the different ethnic groups in American society, with cross-cultural courses in African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and Ethnic Studies. Whether for academic interest, personal knowledge, or professional training, students should find courses in the Ethnic Studies Program culturally enriching.
Many ethnic studies classes can be applied to the social science major and to General Education requirements. Students in the helping professions such as criminology, social work, education, health sciences, nursing, recreation, and communicative disorders should find these courses of benefit to their future careers.
The minor in Ethnic Studies, African American Studies, or American Indian
Studies offers students an excellent opportunity to gain an academic background
of the major cultural groups in America. In making career choices, students
should find their academic credentials much more marketable when one of
these minors is combined with their chosen major.
African American Studies
African American Studies represents a field of study and research based on vigorously innovative educational processes. The courses offered are interdisciplinary in nature and address issues that pertain to culturally diverse groups in the American society. The program is structured to provide better service to the student population at the university. This includes the historical, sociological, psychological, and economic issues that confront African Americans in the American society.
This program establishes concepts and tools for the survival of African American people and presents to all university students the understanding of the uniqueness of African American heritage, culture, and lifestyles. The philosophy and academic curriculum of the African American Studies Program were developed through mutual understanding and cohesiveness established among communities, students, and its faculty.
The African American Studies Program involves its faculty and students
in research, experimentation, career counseling, cluster advising, computer
technology, curriculum development, professional education orientation,
and extended day, evening, and Saturday courses. The program sponsors and
supports various student organizations, e.g., African American Students'
Business Association, African American Student Alliance, and the student
campus newspaper, Uhuru Na Umoja. It also works in conjunction with
the university's African American Alumni and Friends Association to sponsor
various student activities.
The African American Studies Research Center is an ancillary unit
housed within the African American Studies Program. The major objective
of the research component is to provide a forum for a wide range of research
on the African/African American experience. In doing so, it creates an open
dialogue in which academics can interact to sustain and support a creative
atmosphere for scholarly inquiry.
American Indian Studies
American Indian Studies is a discipline within ethnic studies, focusing
on the indigenous cultures of ancient, historical, and contemporary America.
American Indian cultures include American Indians and Arctic-Native people,
as well as natives of Northern Mexico. This program recognizes the artificiality
of both the Canadian and the Mexican border but is primarily concerned with
people of the United States.
The courses offer a distinctively American perspective that is crucial to
an understanding of the historical and social processes that have led to
the development of contemporary American society. Issues of colonization,
Native rights, sovereignty, cultural integrity, civil rights, and current
struggles are discussed within an interdisciplinary framework.
This program is intended to strengthen the position of American Indian individuals
and communities in this region, as well as provide help to American Indian
students and scholars. A second focus introduces native cultures and issues
to all students. Courses include both the social sciences and the humanities,
as well as specialized offerings in such fields as law and education.
