Ethnic Studies Requirements and the Predominantly White Classroom

Abstract

As a professor specializing in minority American literatures, I often teach ethnic and gender studies courses with titles such as “Race and Ethnicity in the Lives of United States Women,” “Nineteenth-Century Literature by African-American Women,” and “Introduction to Native American Women’s Literature,” in a university where around 90% of students self-identify as “White.”¹ Because this lack of diversity can create an ethnocentric climate that, in turn, discourages minority-culture students from attending and graduating, the university has instituted what faculty and students alike generally refer to as the “Ethnic Studies Requirement” (ESR). This requirement was created in 1987, in response to Black Students’ protests of certain White fraternity gatherings at which members displayed caricatures of Black “Fiji Islanders.”² By instituting the ESR, administrators seek to contribute to a more hospitable university environment for minority-culture students, to help increase cultural diversity on campus, and to impart to all students skills that will be helpful in an increasingly diverse and international job market and society. The requirement mandates that undergraduates take at least one course devoted to the study of one or more ethnic groups in the United States, or organized to view a particular subject (literature, in my case), through the lens of United States ethnic relations in general. In this essay, I would like to share and interpret my experiences of teaching this university-wide ESR to a predominantly white student body, to convey some of what I have learned about what the requirement means to students, faculty, administration, and also to the larger community to which it is ultimately directed.