Ethnic Studies added as official cluster

Starting this fall semester, students can declare ethnic studies as a cluster. Graphic by HARRY LADA, Art Director.

Chapman University is now offering students the option to declare an Ethnic Studies Cluster after a year-long administrative effort to design the program and obtain formal approval. Jacky Dang, a Chapman graduate, approached Cathery Yeh, a professor in the Attallah College of Educational Studies, to discuss the creation of an ethnic studies minor.

“We started last year, and started meeting once every single week to work on it,” Yeh said. “We are currently working to get a minor approved by November so students can declare it in the following year.”

When designing the curriculum, Yeh and Dang sought to define ethnic studies as it was by the Third World Liberation Front, a student movement started in 1969. They intended to incorporate classes that are in line with the student union’s approach to the curriculum.

“Years ago, as part of the Third World Liberation Front, students and faculty came together and said they wanted a curriculum where they can really see themselves,” Yeh said. “They didn’t want cultural history about ancient civilizations, but their history as it’s defined as a part of American history. That is how we define ethnic studies at Chapman.” 

According to the official program learning outcomes, the cluster and the proposed minor are designed to teach students to analyze racism and its power as a driving force in society. Examining this influence throughout history as it evolved from the past to the present, ethnic studies aims to provide a holistic and accurate representation of minority groups. Many of the classes selected for the cluster also aim to examine local communities through a new lens. The program looks at interdisciplinary studies of cultures, arts, societies and community work that shapes and impacts America from the perspectives of people of color.

Each course that was selected for the cluster satisfies at least one of these program learning objectives.

“Growing up, I never got to learn about ethnic studies, Black history or Latinx history,” Dang told The Panther Sept. 15. “I wanted Chapman students to have the opportunity (even) after I graduated, because we need to have more diverse and inclusive American history within our curriculum.”

The cluster offers a diverse variety of classes curated from Chapman’s different colleges. Yeh appreciates the range of the types of courses – English, film and documentary, leadership and sociology among them – which she said can cater interest to almost any major on campus.

“All of these courses center on allowing students to look at the history, culture, oppression and contributions of people of color,” Yeh said.

The Ethnic Studies Cluster serves as an important addition to Chapman’s curricula, Yeh added, especially in terms of broadening students’ perspective on the world and detaching from ethnocentrism.

“Think about what the world would be like if we had learned that our histories are interwoven and are much more diverse than what we thought before,” Yeh said.