Legislative Requirements

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The current History Social Science Framework for California Public Schools: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve, Chapter 14 (pp. 310-314) states the following description regarding Ethnic Studies:

Ethnic studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that encompasses many subject areas including history, literature, economics, sociology, anthropology, and political science. It emerged to both address content considered missing from traditional curriculum and to encourage critical engagement.

As a field, ethnic studies seeks to empower all students to engage socially and politically and to think critically about the world around them. It is important for ethnic studies courses to document the experiences of people of color in order for students to construct counter-narratives and develop a more complex understanding of the human experience. Through these studies, students should develop respect for cultural diversity and see the advantages of inclusion.

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of this field, ethnic studies courses may take several forms. However, central to any ethnic studies course is the historic struggle of communities of color, taking into account the intersectionality of identity (gender, class, sexuality, among others), to challenge racism, discrimination, and oppression and interrogate the systems that continue to perpetuate inequality. From a history–social science perspective, students may study the history and culture of a single, historically racialized group in the United States. Examples may include a course on African American, Native American, Asian American, or Chicana/o and Latina/o history.¹

Defining Ethnic Studies

The California Department of Education's Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum: Defining Ethnic Studies, pp. 9-10, provides the following definition of ethnic studies:

At its core, the field of ethnic studies is the interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and Indigeneity, with an emphasis on the experiences of people of color in the United States. People or person of color is a term used primarily in the United States and is meant to be inclusive among non-white groups, emphasizing common experiences of racism. The field also addresses the concept of intersectionality, which recognizes that people have different overlapping identities, for example, a transgender Latina or a Jewish African American. These intersecting identities shape individuals’ experiences of racism and bigotry. The field critically grapples with the various power structures and forms of oppression that continue to have social, emotional, cultural, economic, and political impacts. It also deals with the often-overlooked contributions to many areas of government, politics, the arts, medicine, economics, etc., made by people of color and provides examples of how collective social action can lead to a more equitable and just society in positive ways.

Beyond providing an important history of groups underrepresented in traditional accounts and an analysis of oppression and power, ethnic studies offers a dynamic inquiry-based approach to the study of Native People and communities of color that encourages utilizing transnational and comparative frameworks. Thus, the themes and topics discussed within the field are boundless, such as a study of Mexican American texts, the implications of war and imperialism on Southeast Asian refugees, African American social movements and modes of resistance, and Native American/Indigenous cultural retentions, to name a few.

…ethnic studies provides students with crucial interpersonal communication strategies, cultural competency, and equity driven skills (such as how to effectively listen to others, give people in need a voice, use shared power, be able to empathize, select relevant/effective change strategies, get feedback from those they are trying to help, know how to deliberate, know how to organize and build coalitions) and positive ways of expressing collective and collaborative power that are integral to effective and responsive civic engagement and collegiality, especially in a society that is rapidly diversifying.²

1. California Department of Education (July, 2017). History Social-Science Framework for California Public School: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve, Chapter 14.

2. California Department of Education (March, 2022). Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum