What is race and ethnic studies?
In the race and ethnic studies minor, you’ll explore basic questions about race and ethnic categories while examining the diverse experiences of people in various cultures and historical eras. You’ll study the intersection of race relations with topics that range from literature and language to privilege and policy. This interdisciplinary minor draws on areas including anthropology, history,and women’s and gender studies. Combine a minor in race and ethnic studies with a major such as anthropology, health management and policy, political science, psychology or social work to enhance your future career opportunities or prepare for graduate studies.
Why study race and ethnic studies at UNH?
In this interdisciplinary minor in the College of Liberal Arts, you’ll benefit from a structured yet flexible undergraduate program that bridges theory and applied studies. Your course of study will be tailored to your interests. The College of Liberal Arts boasts an award-winning, internationally recognized faculty across its departments. You’ll receive excellent instruction as well as advising and mentoring to help you with career or graduate school preparation.
Potential career areas
- Business
- Communications
- Community advocacy
- Education
- Healthcare
- Immigration case management
- Law
- Journalism
- Nonprofit administration
- Social work
Curriculum & Requirements
The race and ethnic studies (RES) minor examines how racial and ethnic categories are created and maintained — politically, socially and culturally. RES uses critical, interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to study race relations as they intersect with factors including gender and sexuality, class, religion and immigration status. The minor prepares students for life and work in a world increasingly characterized by difference derived from racial and ethnic identities.
Learning Outcomes
Facilitate understanding of how the social constructions of race affect the social fabric of our historical and contemporary world; enhance students' abilities to appreciate differences and to actively and critically engage in civic responsibilities, especially with respect to social justice; prepare students to negotiate an increasingly interconnected world and apply their education in a wide range of occupations; gain exposure to the theories and methods of ethnic studies; and compare representations of borderlands, hybridity, migration and diaspora from different cultures to comprehend how national boundaries, as well as local, national, and transnational cultures and politics, affect the constitution of racial and ethnic categories.
Classes for the RES minor are housed in a variety of departments in the College of Liberal Arts, offering students a truly interdisciplinary experience. Please contact the Global Racial and Social Inequality Lab for minor advising.
The race and ethnic studies minor consists of five courses (20 credits). To complete a minor, students are required to:
- Enroll in an introductory-level course. (These are listed on the minor website each semester.)
- Enroll in at least one course at the 600/700-level.
- Earn a C- or better in each course and maintain a 2.0 grade-point average in courses taken for the minor.
- Understand that no more than 8 credits used to satisfy the requirements for a major may be used for a minor.
- Courses taken pass/fail may not be used toward a minor.
A relevant internship may be substituted for one of the electives.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Approved Courses | ||
| ANTH 500 | Peoples and Cultures of the World (when focus is Latin America, SubSaharan Africa or Middle East/North Africa) | 4 |
| ANTH 610 | Medical Anthropology: Illness and Healing | 4 |
| ANTH 625 | Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspectives | 4 |
| ANTH 697/ENGL 693 | Special Topics (American Roots Music) | 4 |
| ANTH #750 | Islam and Gender: Gendered Lives of Muslims | 4 |
| CMN 567 | Gender, Race, and Class in the Media | 4 |
| ENGL 550 | Introduction to the Literature and Culture of Race | 4 |
| ENGL 581 | Reading the Postcolonial Experience | 4 |
| ENGL 585 | Introduction to Women in Literature | 4 |
| ENGL 595 | Literary Topics (Intro/Caribbean Lit in English ONLINE) | 4 |
| ENGL 606 | Languages of the World | 4 |
| ENGL #609 | Ethnicity in America: The African American Experience in the 20th Century | 4 |
| ENGL #650 | I Hear America Singing: Studying American Literature and Culture (Latino/A Literature, Comics & Graphic Narratives, Consumer Culture) | 4 |
| ENGL 714 | Critical Skills (topic: On Race) | 4 |
| ENGL #739 | American Indian Literature | 4 |
| ENGL 778/WS 798 | Race and Gender in Film and Popular Culture | 4 |
| HIST 505 | African American History | 4 |
| HIST 532 | Modern Latin America | 4 |
| HIST 588 | History of Modern Africa: 1870 to the Present | 4 |
| HIST 632 | Latin American History: Topics | 4 |
| HUMA #730 | Special Studies (Race Theory) | 4 |
| POLT #546 | Wealth and Politics in Asia | 4 |
| POLT #565 | United States Policy in Latin America | 4 |
| PSYC 571 | Pioneers of Psychology | 4 |
| PSYC #791 | Special Topics (Psychology and Race) | 4 |
| SPAN 526 | Introduction to Latin American Cultures | 4 |
| SPAN 798 | Topics in Hispanic Linguistics and Cultural Studies (Language & Id in Spanish) | 4 |
| SW 697 | Special Topics in Social Welfare (Exploring Social Justice) | 4 |
| WS 401 | Introduction to Women's Studies | 4 |
| WS 405 | Gender, Power and Privilege | 4 |
| WS 444A | Race Matters | 4 |
| WS #444D | Cyborgs, Avatars, and Feminists: Gender in the Virtual World | 4 |
| WS 505 | Survey in Women's Studies (Only topics: Leadership for Social Change, Queer Cinema, Queer Sustainability, Gobal Sex Industry, Race, Gender and Enviromental Jutsice, Feminist Perspectives on Media) | 4 |
| WS 632 | Feminist Thought | 4 |
| WS 798 | Colloquium (Women in Prison) | 4 |
Additional Information
After completing the 20-credit sequence, the student submits the Certification of Completion of Minor form, available online or from the RES coordinator. Once this certification is approved by the RES coordinator and major advisor, the form goes to the college dean and the registrar to be recorded on the transcript. The certification form must be completed by the beginning of the student's final semester at the University.
