The Race and Ethnicity concentration enables students to examine the relationship between race and ethnicity and US cultures in a global and interdisciplinary framework. Through our two core requirements, students will develop both depth of knowledge, researching a specific racial or ethnic identity within the US, and also the breadth provided by a comparative approach, examining commonalities and differences across Asian American, African American, Latino/a American, American Indian, and other racial and ethnic cultural formations within the US and in other parts of the world. Only American Studies offers this comparative and global approach.
Recent students have examined Spanish-language popular music and television programming across the Americas, African Americans and the global popularity of hip hop and the blues, Black Power and Afrocentric movements in the US South, American Indians in Virginia, and images of Asian Americans in the last half century of Hollywood Cinema.
Faculty members with particular expertise in this area include Lawrie Balfour, Anna Brickhouse, Sylvia Chong, Marlene Daut, Camilla Fojas, Jennifer Greeson, Grace Hale, Jack Hamilton, Carmenita Higginbotham, Carmen Lamas, Sandhya Shukla.
Core Courses
Students concentrating in Race and Ethnicity must take at least one course from each of the following Core lists.
Single Race/Ethnicity:
- AAS 1010 Introduction to African American Studies I
- AAS 1020 Introduction to African American Studies II
- AAS 3500 Intermediate Seminar in African American and African Studies (Select Course Topics)
- AAS 3500 Black Women Make Movies
- AMST 2100 Introduction to Asian American Studies
- AMST 2231 Native American Pop Culture
- AMST 2559 – Intro to Native American Studies
- AMST 2300 Introduction to U.S. Latino Studies
- AMST 3180 Introduction to Asian American Studies
- AMST 3200 African American Political Thought
- AMST 3321 Race and Ethnicity in Latinx Literature
- AMST 4321 Caribbean Latinx
- ARTH 3559 New Course in History of Art (Select Course Topics)
- ARTH 3559 Native American Literatures
- ENAM 3559 New Course in American Literature (Select Course Topics)
- ENAM 3559 Native American Literatures
- ENGL 3740 Introduction to Asian American Studies
- PLPT 3200 African American Political Thought
Comparative Race/Ethnicity:
- AMST 2220 Race Identity in America
- AMST 2559 New Course in American Studies (Select Course Topics)
- AMST 2559 Intersectionality and the Media
- AMST 2559 Mixed Race Matters
- AMST 2559 Performing Race and Ethnicity
- AMST 3050 Critical Ethnic Studies
- AMST 3323 Hemispheric Latinx Literature and Culture
- AMST 3407 Racial Borders and American Cinema
- AMST 3463 Language and New Media
- AMST 3465 America and the Global South
- AMST 4500 Seminar in American Studies
- AMST 4500 Race and Sound
- AMST 4500 Race in American Places
- AMST 4559 New Course: American Studies
- AMST 4559 Politics and Literature
- AMST 4559 Race in American Places
- ANTH 2250 Nationalism, Racism, Multiculturalism
- ENAM 3559 New Course: ENAM
- ENAM 3559 America and the Global South
- ENGL 4561 Modern Literature and Culture Seminar
- ENGL 4561 Multiethnic American Fiction
- HIUS 3232 The South in the 20th Century
- PLAP 3700 Racial Politics
- PLPT 4060 Politics and Literature
- PLPT 4500 Special Topics
- PLPT 4500 Freedom, Empire, and Slavery
- SOC 3410 Race and Ethnic Relations
The remaining 4 electives may come from the Core class list and/or from the following list of approved courses specific to the Race and Ethnicity concentration. At least 2 of these 6 courses must be at the 3000 level or above.
Elective Courses
- AAS 1010 Introduction to African-American Studies I
- AAS 1020 Introduction to African American Studies II
- AAS 2224 Black Femininities and Masculinities in the U.S. Media
- AAS 2559 New Course: African and African American Studies (Select Course Topics)
- AAS 2559 Art in the Age of Black Lives Matter
- AAS 2559 History of Abolition
- AAS 3200 Martin, Malcolm and America
- AAS 3231 Rise and Fall of the Slave South
- AAS 3456 The Supreme Court and the Civil Rights Movement
- AAS 3500 Intermediate Seminar in African American and African Studies (Select Course Topics)
- AAS 3500 Afro-Brazilian History
- AAS 3500 Afro-Latino Literature
- AAS 3500 Black and Latinx Performance
- AAS 3500 Black Fire: African American Expression
- AAS 3500 Black Protest Narrative
- AAS 3500 Digital Caribbean Studies
- AAS 3500 Early Caribbean Writing
- AAS 3500 Framing the Civil Rights Movement
- AAS 3500 From Motown to Hip-Hop
- AAS 3500 History of the Civil Rights Movement
- AAS 3559 New Course in African American and African Studies (Select Course Topics)
- AAS 3559 America and the Age of Revolution
- AAS 3559 American Colonialism, Post-Colonial Theory
- AAS 3652 African American History Since 1865
- AAS 4109 Civil Rights Movement and the Media
- AAS 4500 Advanced Seminar in African American and African Studies (Select Course Topics)
- AAS 4500 Critical Race Theory
- AAS 4500 Fictions of Black Identity
- AAS 4500 Racial Geographies
- AAS 4501 Advanced Research Seminar in History and African American Studies (Select Course Topics)
- AAS 4501 Africa and the Atlantic
- AAS 4501 Black Power
- AAS 4570 Advanced Research Seminar in African American and African Studies (Select Course Topics)
- AAS 4570 Passing in African American Imagination
- AAS 4570 Time and African American Literature
- AAS 4845 Black Speculative Fiction
- AAS 5528 Topics in Race Theory
- AAS 5528 Queer Race Theory
- AMST 1050 Slavery and Its Legacies
- AMST 2155 Whiteness and Religion: Religious Foundations of a Racial Category
- AMST 2210 Arts Harlem Renaissance
- AMST 2220 Race Identity in America
- AMST 2231 Native American Pop Culture
- AMST 2233 Contemporary Native American Literature
- AMST 2300 Introduction to U.S. Latino Studies
- AMST 2321 Latinx Fiction and Film
- AMST 2422 Point of View Journalism
- AMST 2460 Language in the U.S.
- AMST 2500 Major Works for American Studies
- AMST 2500 American Photography Since 1945
- AMST 2500 Art of Disney
- AMST 2500 Chinese American Language, Culture and Identity
- AMST 2500 Christian America
- AMST 2500 Cultural Landscapes of the U.S.
- AMST 2500 Digital American Studies
- AMST 2500 Harlem Stories
- AMST 2500 Language in the U.S.
- AMST 2500 Point of View Journalism
- AMST 2500 The Big House
- AMST 2559 New Course in American Studies (Select Course Topics)
- AMST 2559 History of Abolition
- AMST 2559 Intersectionality and the Media
- AMST 2559 Mixed Race Matters
- AMST 2753 Arts and Cultures of the Slave South
- AMST 3050 Critical Ethnic Studies
- AMST 3180 Intro to Asian American Studies
- AMST 3200 African American Political Thought
- AMST 3221 Hands-On Public History
- AMST 3323 Hemispheric Latinx Literature and Culture
- AMST 3354 Race and Media
- AMST 3355 Border Media
- AMST 3407 Racial Borders and American Cinema
- AMST 3460 Reading America
- AMST 3462 Harlem Stories
- AMST 3463 Language and New Media
- AMST 3465 America and the Global South
- AMST 3559 New Course: AMST
- AMST 3559 America and the Age of Revolution
- AMST 3559 Asian American Media Cultures
- AMST 3559 Black Protest Narrative
- AMST 3559 Digital Caribbean Studies
- AMST 3559 Early Caribbean Writing
- AMST 3559 Jim Crow America
- AMST 3559 Latino Religions
- AMST 3559 Magic Tales
- AMST 3559 Race and Cartoons
- AMST 3559 Race, Inequality, and Cities
- AMST 3630 Vietnam War Literature & Film
- AMST 3641 Native America
- AMST 3740 Cultures of Hip-Hop
- AMST 4321 Caribbean Latinx
- AMST 4401 Literature of the Americas
- AMST 4403 Transamerican Encounters
- AMST 4474 Stardom and American Cinema
- AMST 4500 Seminar in American Studies
- AMST 4500 Autobiography and Nationalism
- AMST 4500 Cultural History of Hollywood
- AMST 4500 Politics of Reproduction in the U.S.
- AMST 4500 Race in American Places
- AMST 4500 Racial Geographies
- AMST 4500 Stardom and American Cinema
- AMST 4500 Theories of American Space
- AMST 4500 W.E.B. Du Bois
- AMST 4559 New Course: AMST
- AMST 4559 Politics and Literature
- AMST 4559 Race in American Places
- ANTH 2153 North American Indians
- ANTH 2250 Nationalism, Racism, Multiculturalism
- ANTH 2290 The Health of Black Folks
- ANTH 2365 Art and Anthropology
- ANTH 2500 Cultures, Regions and Civilizations (Select Course Topics)
- ANTH 2500 Anthropology of the Caribbean
- ANTH 2500 The Maya Today
- ANTH 2560 Hierarchy and Equality
- ANTH 2589 Topics in Archaeology (Select Course Topics)
- ANTH 2589 Ancient Maya, Aztec and Mixtec
- ANTH 2589 Puebloan SW: Past & Present)
- ANTH 2590 Social & Cultural Anthropology (Select Course Topics)
- ANTH 2590 White Privilege
- ANTH 3154 Indians of the American Southwest
- ANTH 3155 Anthropology of Everyday American Life
- ANTH 3175 Native American Art: The Astor Collection
- ANTH 3450 Native American Languages
- ANTH 3603 Archaeological Approaches to Atlantic Slavery
- ANTH 3830 North American Archaeology
- ANTH 3870 Archaeology of Virginia
- ANTH 3890 Archaeology of the American Southwest
- ANTH 4591 Senior Seminar in Anthropology (Select Course Topics)
- ANTH 4591 Anthropology in Virginia
- ANTH 4591 Native American Prehistory
- ANTH 5885 Architecture of Colonial Expansions
- ARH 4500 Special Topics in Architectural History (Select Course Topics)
- ARH 4500 UVa History: Race and Repair
- ARTH 2471 Art Since 1945
- ARTH 2745 African American Art
- ARTH 2751 American Art to the Civil War
- ARTH 2752 American Art Since Reconstruction
- ARTH 2753 Arts & Cultures of the Slave South
- ARTH 3559 Jacob Lawrence
- DRAM 3070 African American Theatre
- DRAM 3600 Modern American Drama
- DRAM 4559 New Courses in Drama (Select Course Topics)
- DRAM 4559: Hip-Hop Theatre
- ENAM 3160 Realism and Naturalism in America
- ENAM 3559 New Course: ENAM
- ENAM 3559 America and the Global South
- ENAM 3559 Cross-Cultures of Harlem
- ENAM 3559 The Long 1970s
- ENAM 3890 Mass Media and American Culture
- ENCR 5559 New Course: ENCR
- ENCR 5559 Queer Race Theory
- ENGL 2504 Major Authors of American Literature (Select Course Topics)
- ENGL 2504 Multi-Ethnic American Literature
- ENGL 2504 Race and Performance
- ENGL 2570 Modern American Authors (Select Course Topics)
- ENGL 2570 Protest Literature
- ENGL 2572 Black Writers in America (All Course Topics)
- ENGL 2599 Special Topics (Select Course Topics)
- ENGL 2599 Point of View Journalism
- ENGL 2900 Women and Media in the Global South
- ENGL 3430 American Literature to 1865
- ENGL 3434 The American Renaissance
- ENGL 3436 Sex and Sentiment
- ENGL 3440 African American Literature I
- ENGL 3560 Studies in Modern and Contemporary Literature (Select Course Topics)
- ENGL 3560 Contemporary Jewish Fiction
- ENGL 3572 Studies in African American Literature and Culture (All Course Topics)
- ENGL 3572 Black Protest Narrative
- ENGL 3671 Modern Drama I
- ENGL 3672 Modern Drama II
- ENGL 3701 American Literature Since 1865
- ENGL 3710 Literature of the South
- ENGL 3722 African American Literature II
- ENGL 3730 American Literature of the 20th Century
- ENGL 3740 Introduction to Asian-American Studies
- ENGL 3760 American Poetry
- ENGL 3762 Major African American Poets
- ENGL 3783 American Short Novel
- ENGL 3924 Vietnam War in Literature and Film
- ENGL 4500 Advanced Studies in American Literature (Select Course Topics)
- ENGL 4500 America's Greatest Hits
- ENGL 4500 Ethnic American Fiction
- ENGL 4500 Ethnic Women's Fiction
- ENGL 4500 Literature of the West
- ENGL 4500 W.E.B. Du Bois
- ENGL 4560 Advanced Studies in Modern and Contemporary Literature (Select Course Topics)
- ENGL 4560 Ethnic American Fiction
- ENGL 4560 Post-9/11 Culture
- ENGL 4561 Modern Literature and Culture Seminar (Select Course Topics)
- ENGL 4561 The Global City
- ENGL 4561 Multiethnic American Fiction
- ENGL 4580 Advanced Studies in Literary Criticism (Select Course Topics)
- ENGL 4580 Critical Race Theory
- ENGL 4580 Race in American Places
- ENGL 4580 Race, Space, Culture
- ENGL 4580 Theories of American Space
- ENGL 4710 Fictions of Black Identity
- ENGL 4720 Black Speculative Fiction
- ENGL 5700 Contemporary African American Literature
- ENMC 3559 New Course in Modern and Contemporary Literature
- ENMC 3559 Vietnam War in Literature and Film
- ENMC 4559 New Course: ENMC
- ENMC 4559 Vernaculars
- ENSP 4500 Advanced Studies in Special Topics in Literature (Select Course Topics)
- ENSP 4500 Censorship
- ENWR 3500 Black Women's Writing and Rhetoric
- ETP 4810 Class, Race and the Environment
- FREN 3585 Topics in Cultural Studies (Select Course Topics)
- FREN 3585 Francophone Caribbean
- FREN 3585 Haiti (Culture and Literature)
- HIAF 4501 Seminar in African History (Select Course Topics)
- HIAF 4501 Slave Society in the Atlantic World
- HIEA 3559 New Course in East Asian History (Select Course Topics)
- HIEA 3559 China and the United States
- HIEU 2102 Modern Jewish History
- HILA 2001 Colonial Latin America, 1500-1824
- HILA 2002 Modern Latin America, 1824 to Present
- HILA 3051 Modern Central America
- HILA 3061 History of Modern Brazil
- HILA 3071 History of Colonial Brazil
- HILA 3111 Public Life in Modern Latin America
- HILA 4501 Seminar in Latin American History (All Course Topics)
- HILA 4511 Colloquium in Latin American History (All Course Topics)
- HIST 3162 War and Society in the 20th Century
- HIST 3201 History Museums and Interpretation
- HIST 5920 History of Documentary Photos
- HIST 5559 Museums, Monuments, Media
- HIUS 2001 American History to 1865
- HIUS 2002 American History Since 1865
- HIUS 2053 American Slavery
- HIUS 3011 The Colonial Period of American History
- HIUS 3031 The Era of the American Revolution
- HIUS 3051 The Age of Jefferson and Jackson, 1789-1845
- HIUS 3071 The Coming of the Civil War
- HIUS 3072 The Civil War and Reconstruction
- HIUS 3131 Emergence of Modern America, 1870-1930
- HIUS 3151 United States Society and Politics, 1900-1945
- HIUS 3161 Viewing America, 1940-1980
- HIUS 3162 Digitizing America
- HIUS 3171 US Since 1945: People, Politics, Power
- HIUS 3231 Rise and Fall of the Slave South
- HIUS 3232 The South in the 20th Century
- HIUS 3262 Witnessing Slavery
- HIUS 3281 History of Virginia to 1900
- HIUS 3282 History of Virginia, 1900-2018
- HIUS 3471 History of American Labor
- HIUS 3490 From Motown to Hip-Hop
- HIUS 3491 Rural Poverty in Our Time
- HIUS 3559 New Course in United States History (Select Course Topics)
- HIUS 3559 From Motown to Hip-Hop
- HIUS 3559 Hands-On Public History
- HIUS 3559 Race and Real Estate in the U.S.
- HIUS 3559 Viewing the South
- HIUS 3611 Gender and Sexuality in America to 1865
- HIUS 3612 Gender and Sexuality in America Since 1865
- HIUS 3641 American Indian History
- HIUS 3651 Afro-American History to 1865
- HIUS 3652 Afro-American History Since 1865
- HIUS 3654 Black Fire
- HIUS 3671 History of the Civil Rights Movement
- HIUS 3752 History of Early American Law
- HIUS 3753 History of Modern American Law
- HIUS 3851 Intellectual and Cultural History of the United States to 1865
- HIUS 3852 Intellectual and Cultural History of the United States Since 1865
- HIUS 4501 Seminar in United States History (Select Course Topics)
- HIUS 4501 Black Freedom in the Age of Slavery
- HIUS 4501 Black Power
- HIUS 4501 The Civil War and the Constitution
- HIUS 4501 Coming of the Civil War
- HIUS 4501 Gender History of the Civil War Era
- HIUS 4501 The History of Crime in 20th Century America
- HIUS 4501 Slavery/Social Life at Early UVa
- HIUS 4559 New Course in United States History (Select Course Topics)
- HIUS 4559 Civil War Voices
- HIUS 4591 Topics in United States History (Select Course Topics)
- HIUS 4591 UVa History: Race and Repair
- LNGS 2220 Black English
- LNGS 2240 Southern American English
- MDST Courses (some courses restricted to MDST majors; check SIS)
- MDST 3105 Latina/o Media Studies
- MDST 3110 Hollywood Goes to Asia
- MDST 3140 Mass Media and American Politics
- MDST 3205 New Latin American Cinema
- MDST 3306 Gender, Class, Race in the Teen Film
- MDST 3406 The Wire
- MDST 3505 Special Topics in Diversity and Identity in Media (Select Course Topics)
- MDST 3505 Asian American Media Cultures
- MDST 3505 Race & Sound in American Culture
- MDST 3559 New Course in Media Studies (Select Course Topics)
- MDST 3559 The Wire
- MDST 3630 Screening Terrorism
- MDST 3640 American Gangster Film
- MDST 4105 Media and Citizenship
- MDST 4108 Media, Drugs, and Violence in Latin America
- MDST 4109 Civil Rights Movement and the Media
- MDST 4200 Sex and Gender Go to the Movies
- MDST 4559 New Course in Media Studies (Select Course Topics)
- MDST 4559 Media and Citizenship
- MDST 4559 New Brazillian Television
- MDST 4559 Vernaculars
- MUSI 2070 Popular Musics
- MUSI 2080 American Music
- MUSI 2120 History of Jazz Music
- MUSI 3120 Jazz Studies
- MUSI 4510 Cultural and Historical Studies (Select Course Topics)
- MUSI 4510 Music in Asian America
- MUSI 4512 Studies in Jazz Literature
- MUSI 4525 Music of Multicultural America
- PLAN 1010 Introduction to Urban and Environmental Planning
- PLAN 3500 Race, Inequality, and Cities
- PLAP 2500 Special Topics In American Politics (Select Course Topis)
- PLAP 2500 Politics of American Citizenship
- PLAP 3700 Racial Politics
- PLAP 3820 Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
- PLAP 4180 Political Advertising and Democracy
- PLAP 4500 Special Topics in American Politics (Select Course Topics)
- PLAP 4500 Contemporary Issues in American Politics
- PLAP 4500 U.S. Immigration Politics
- PLAP 4810 Class, Race, and the Environment
- PLAP 4841 Seminar in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
- PLCP 4500 Special Topics in Comparative Politics (Select Course Topics)
- PLCP 4500 Cuban Politics
- PLIR 4380 America in a World Economy
- PLPT 3200 African American Political Thought
- PLPT 4060 Politics and Literature
- PLPT 4500 Special Topics in Political Theory (Select Course Topics)
- PLPT 4500 Freedom, Empire, and Slavery
- PORT 4410 Brazillian Cultural Production I
- PORT 4420 Brazillian Cultural Production II
- RELA 2700 Festivals of the Americas
- RELA 2850 Afro-Creole Religion in the Americas
- RELA 3351 African Diaspora Religions
- RELB 3559 New Course: RELB
- RELB 3559 Buddhism in America
- RELC 2559 New Course: RELC
- RELC 2559 Kingdom of God in America
- RELC 3804 American Catholic Social Thought
- RELG 2150 Religion in America to 1865
- RELG 2155 Whiteness and Religion
- RELG 2160 Religion in America Since 1865
- RELG 2660 "Spiritual But Not Religious': Spirituality in America
- RELG 3200 Martin, Malcolm, and America
- RELG 3360 Conquests and Religions
- RELG 3780 Faulkner and the Bible
- RELG 3800 African American Religious History
- RELG 4220 American Religious Autobiography
- SOC 2220 Social Problems
- SOC 2320 Gender and Society
- SOC 2442 Systems of Inequality
- SOC 2950 "The Wire" - Sociology Through TV & Film
- SOC 3306 Gender, Class, Race in the Teen Film
- SOC 3410 Race and Ethnic Relations
- SOC 4100 Sociology of the African-American Community
- SOC 4550 Topics in Ethics and Society (Select Course Topics)
- SOC 4550 Race and Ethics
- SOC 4750 Racism
- SPAN 3420 Survey of Latin American Literature I (Colonial to 1900)
- SPAN 3430 Survey of Latin American Literature II (1900 to Present)
- SPAN 4310 Latin American Women Writers from 1900 to the Present
- SPAN 4319 Borges
- SPAN 4320 Contemporary Latin-American Short Fiction
- SPAN 4321 Contemporary Latin-American Novel
- SPAN 4500 Special Topics Seminar: Literature (Select Course Topics)
- SPAN 4500 Dictatorship in Latin American Literature
- SPAN 4500 Interpreting Colonial Latin America
- SPAN 4500 Latinidad
- SPAN 4520 Special Topics Seminar: Culture and Civilization (Select Course Topics)
- SPAN 4520 Hispano-Phillippine Studies
- SPAN 4621 Latin American Women Poets
- SPAN 4710 Latin American Culture and Civilization
- SPAN 4712 Travelers in Latin America
- SPAN 4715 Cuban Cinema
- SPTR 3850 Fiction of the Americas
- WGS 2224 Black Femininites and Masculinities in Media
- WGS 2897 Gender Violence and Social Justice
- WGS 3611 Gender and Sexuality in the United States to 1865
- WGS 3612 Gender and Sexuality in the United States, 1865-Present
- WGS 4200 Sex and Gender Go to the Movies
The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found at http://records.ureg.virginia.edu/index.php.