The Comparative Ethnic Studies Program offers both an undergraduate submajor through the Committee Interdisciplinary Major and an undergraduate certificate in comparative ethnic studies.

The Comparative Ethnic Studies submajor provides the opportunity for students to explore questions of social identity and power using an interdisciplinary lens. Taught within the program as well as in departments across the curriculum, Comparative Ethnic Studies courses address questions of race and ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality through a comparative frame. The submajor, although sharing the interdisciplinary character of the certificate program, allows students to explore these questions in depth, as students select an established track or create an individualized program in concert with the Comparative Ethnic Studies advisor.

Students who complete the submajor will be able to do the following:

• discuss the complexities of social identity for public policy as well as cultural formations;
• provide interdisciplinary explanations for historical and contemporary conflicts based in race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality;
• identify and assess different theoretical frameworks for explaining social change and relationships between actors, institutions, and ideas of identity.

The Committee Interdisciplinary Major in Comparative Ethnic Studies requires completion of at least 33 credits in approved Comparative Ethnic Studies and Comparative Ethnic-related courses. Students may count toward the major a maximum of 9 credits in a single curricular area outside of Comparative Ethnic Studies. A minimum of 18 credits must be completed in L&S courses, and at least 15 credits must be at the upper-division level (courses numbered 300 and above) taken in residence at UWM. Completion of the College’s research experience in the submajor is required. Ethnic 550 or another suitable course approved by the coordinator satisfies this requirement.

Program Contact

Rachael Ida Buff, Coordinator
Holton Hall, Room 342
rbuff@uwm.edu