Ethnic Studies
13 courses · Allan Hancock College · 2026-2027 Catalog
Classes: Summer 2026 · Fall 2026 · Winter 2027 · Spring 2027
ES 101 Introduction to Racial and Ethnic Groups
- Units
- 3
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- SJS
Using sociological and interdisciplinary approaches, this course introduces students to major concepts, theories, processes, and events in the study of racial and ethnic groups. It focuses on the historical and contemporary experiences of Native Americans, Latino/a/x and Chicano/a Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans as a way of exploring ideas such as individual and systemic racisms, colonialism and decolonization, racial/ethnic stratification, marginalization, white privilege, and intersectionality. It also explores the ways in which these groups have resisted, adapted, and sometimes thrived in ways that have made significant and enduring contributions to our society. More broadly, the course also investigates the processes and circumstances that have led to the construction of race and racial categories in the modern world States. Finally, the course aims to provide a foundation for students to engage in practices that challenge racism and racial inequality. This course is not open to students who are enrolled in or have received credit for SOC 120.
ES 105 Race and Ethnicity in Fashion
- Units
- 3
- Transfers to
- CSU
- C-ID
- N/A
Fashion and race in the context of social, cultural, and environmental influences in the US. A focus is place on members of historically racialized groups in the US including Native American, African American, and/or Latino American communities who are active producers and consumers of apparel. Apparel and textiles will be critically examined with attention to racial formation discourses as they relate to ethnicity, race, nation, class, culture, social moments, environmental-health disparities, and policy.
ES 107 Indigenous People of California
- Units
- 3
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- N/A
Origins, social organization, geographic and political histories of Native Americans in California, and the effects of colonialism and settler colonialism. Exploration of the evolving relationship of Indigenous peoples and nations with settler colonial societies. Course surveys California Indigenous peoples,. selected tribal community histories, federal and state Indian policies, and California Indigenous history. This course is not open to students who are enrolled in or have received credit for ANTH 107.
ES 120 Chicano History
- Units
- 3
- Transfers to
- CSU
- C-ID
- CHS 103
A historical survey of the Chicano residing in the southwest United Sates. The course provides an interdisciplinary survey of the Mexican American/Chicano heritage with emphasis on the contemporary experience in the United States. The course will include an analysis of the economic, political, social, and intellectual elements of the culture of the Mexican American/Chicano community, and a study of the changing relationship of the community to the general society of the United States. This course is not open to students who are enrolled in or have received credit for HIST 120.
ES 121 African American History
- Units
- 3
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- N/A
This is a survey of the history of African Americans from their origins in Africa to the present covering the political, cultural, social, and economic experiences of African Americans. Students will encounter the social, economic, and legal institutions which characterized being black in the United States at various periods in the nation's history. Topics include African civilization, slavery, the Diaspora, abolition, reconstruction, segregation, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Movement, African Americans in politics, and race in Modern America. This course is not open to students who are enrolled in or have received credit for HIST 121.
ES 122 Race and Representation in American Cinema
- Units
- 3
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- N/A
In recent years, motion pictures have contributed greatly to the ongoing dialog surrounding issues of race in the United States. That said, American cinema’s history is populated with examples of exclusionist and racist practices that have disproportionately marginalized people of color. This course will look closely at the evolving portrayal and participation of African Americans, Asian Americans, Latina and Latino Americans, and Native Americans over the one hundred and twenty years of American cinema. This course will highlight the important work of filmmakers of color engaged in the struggle for justice and equality in representation. This course is not open to students who are enrolled in or have received credit for FILM 122.
ES 135 Poetry for the People’s Liberation Movements
- Units
- 3
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- N/A
Ethnic studies movements have been led by the words of poets, who possess the tools to embolden the masses. This course analyzes the historical and contemporary protest poetry written by scholars in the field of Black American, Asian Pacific American, Native American, and Latino/a American Studies, and is grounded in Ethnic Studies pedagogy, such as institutional oppression, immigrant survivalism, racial, gender and sexual identity. Course material will focus on the close reading of activism poetry, provide an interdisciplinary framework to understand power struggles in the United States, and will conclude with a required community-engaged literary event led by student poets that supports a local non-profit. This course is not open to students who have enrolled in or who have received credit for ENGL 135.
ES 137 Critical Geographies of Race/Ethnicity in the United States
- Units
- 3
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
This course offers a critical analysis of how the social and spatial construction of racial/ethnic categories, specifically African American, Asian American, Latino and Latina American, and Native American, shape places, societies, and every day lived-experiences in the United States. This course will apply interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives and key geographic concepts to analyze how these processes are produced through historic and contemporary geographies of power, privilege, and oppression; agency, liberation, resistance, and justice; and exclusion, containment, access, and mobility. This course will provide students with the lifelong knowledge and skills to navigate social, psychological, physiological, and spatial relations of racial/ethnic inequality and justice. The course is not open to students who received credit or are currently enrolled in GEOG 137.
ES 139 Ideas of Difference: Ethnic Studies Literature and Advocacy Composition
- Units
- 3
- Prerequisite
- ENGL C1000
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
Ethnic studies embodies solidarity and collective liberation, but liberation cannot be achieved without analyzing differences. This course explores— through the analysis of contemporary literature, in texts, film and multimedia—concepts of racial-ethnic discrimination experienced by the four minoritized populations—African and Black American, Asian and Pacific Island American, Native American and Latino/a American. Through the study of these ideas of differences, this course will explore the tensions, unity and intersectionality between these communities. The students will end the semester completing a community project that utilizes their skills of advocacy writing to support a non-profit organization that has an impact on the minoritized group studied. They will engage in the question: Would you rather have an enemy or a conversation? This course is not open to students who have enrolled in or who have received credit for ENGL 139.
ES 150 Asian American Literature
- Units
- 3
- Prerequisite
- ENGL C1000
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- n/a
This course critically examines the histories within the field of Asian American Studies as it is embodied within literary texts, emphasizing the intersectionalities of race, gender, class, sexual identity, and interethnic relations. Through an Asian American Studies lens, students will examine concepts of collective liberation, self-determination, sovereignty, and critical consciousness in celebrating Asian American narratives, ranging from China, Japan, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia. Asian American Studies concepts, such as identity and recognition, first and second generation assimilation, immigration and race-base exclusion policies, Orientalism, diaspora and transnationalism, will then be used towards a culminating student-organized event with a local non-profit that promotes Asian American awareness and celebration. This course is not open to students who have enrolled in or who have received credit for ENGL 150.
ES 151 African American and Black Literature
- Units
- 3
- Prerequisite
- ENGL C1000
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- NA
Critical examination of African American histories, cultures, intellectual traditions, lived experiences, and racial and social justice struggles within literary texts, including oral traditions, poetry, essays, drama, novels, and other genres. Uses African American Studies and Black Studies concepts to examine African American and Black literature as sites of cultural expression, intellectual tradition, and resistance. Focus is placed on the particular and collective roles of Black writers and thinkers in the shaping and development of culture and literature within U.S. society through the frameworks of Black Studies and African American Studies, with particular attention to concepts such as race and racism, racialization, white supremacy, self-determination, liberation, decolonization, and anti-racism. Readings and assignments highlight how Black writers and thinkers have shaped U.S. culture while contesting systemic oppression, and how their work addresses intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, and national identity. Through engagement with community-based movements and critical theories, students will connect African American cultural production to broader struggles for racial and social justice, solidarity, and liberation in the United States. This course is not open to students who are enrolled in or who have received credit for ENGL 151.
ES 152 Latina/o Literature
- Units
- 3
- Prerequisite
- ENGL C1000
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- N/A
Informed by the intersectionality of race, socioeconomic class, and gender; institutional racism and historic oppression; and borderland identity politics, this course critically examines historical, cultural, sociopolitical, and aesthetic attributes of Latina/o and Chicana/o literature and cultural production, and applies Latina/o Studies, Chicana/o Studies, and Ethnic Studies frameworks to the study of literature, emphasizing how writers engage concepts such as race, colonialism, resistance, decolonization, and social justice. Students will analyze contemporary and classic texts including memoir, fiction, poetry, film, essays, and other visual-verbal expressions with an emphasis on recognizing and affirming plural identities and advocating social justice and equity. Through the celebration of Latina/o narratives, students will gain an understanding of racial justice movements (e.g., El Movimiento, MEChA, farmworker unionization, and Central Coast community activism), which they will leverage towards activism and social transformation within their communities. This course is not open to students who are enrolled in or have received credit for ES 152.
ES 153 Native American Literature
- Units
- 3
- Prerequisite
- ENGL C1000
- Transfers to
- CSU, UC
- C-ID
- N/A
This course employs theoretical constructs within the field of Native American Studies, such as concepts of sovereignty, tribal nations and governance, colonialism and settler colonialism, Indigeneity, Land Back movements, treaties and legal rights, survivance, cultural continuity and revitalization, gender and sexuality, decolonization, historical trauma and healing, and intellectual trade. Using these frameworks and concepts, this course’s analyses of literature and cultural expression will account for the Native American response within the colonial borders of the United States to historical, political, and legal contexts, with emphasis on the specific religious, linguistic, historical, political and cultural context of Native American literary and cultural achievements. Focus is placed on the particular and collective roles of Native American writers and thinkers in the shaping and development of culture and literature within North America, with emphasis on the intersectionalities of race, gender, class, sexual identity, and interethnic relations. This course is not open to students who have enrolled in or who have received credit for ENGL 153.