Ethnic Studies BA Degree Requirements

Please contact our undergraduate advisor for any questions regarding the following requirements.


Major Requirements

Students must complete 30 total credit hours with a minimum "C" grade (not "C-") in all selected ES courses.

ES Core: Introductory Courses (6 credit hours)

  • ES 101: Introduction to Ethnic Studies (3) DS
  • ES 380: Field Work in Ethnic Studies (V)

Group 1: History and Social Dynamics of Various Major Ethnic Groups (12 credit hours)

  • ES 221/SUST 222: Hawaiians (3) DS
  • ES 233: Filipinos in Diaspora (3) DS
  • ES 305: African American Experience I (3) DS
  • ES 306: African American Experience II (3) DS
  • ES 318: Asian America: Survey (3) DH
  • ES 330: Japanese in Hawaiʻi (3) DH
  • ES 331: Chinese America: History, Politics, and Representation (3) DH
  • ES 333: Filipinos in Hawaiʻi (3) DH
  • ES 338: American Indian Experience (3) DH
  • ES 365: Pacific/Asian Women in Hawaiʻi (3) DS
  • ES 373: Filipino Americans: History, Culture and Politics (3) DS
  • ES 440: Contemporary Diasporas in Comparative Perspective (3) DS
  • ES 443: Filipino Americans: Research Topics (3)
  • ES 470: Latinx Experience in Hawai‘i (3) DS
  • ES 486: Peoples of Hawaiʻi (3) DS

Group 2: History, Theories, and Problems of Ethnic Groups and Ethnicity on the Framework of Social, Economic, and Political Change (12 credit hours)

  • ES 213: Race, Class, Gender in Popular Culture (3) DS
  • ES 214: Introduction to Race and Ethnic Relations (3) DS
  • ES 301: Ethnic Identity (3) DS
  • ES 308: Race, Indigeneity, and Environmental Justice (3) DS
  • ES 310: Ethnicity and Community: Hawaiʻi (3) DS
  • ES 320/SUST 321 Hawaiʻi and the Pacific (3) DH
  • ES 340/SUST 341: Land Tenure and Use in Hawaiʻi (3) DH
  • ES 345: The Sounds of Race and Inequality (3) DH
  • ES 350/SUST 351: Economic Change and Hawaiʻi's People (3) DS
  • ES 360: Immigration to Hawaiʻi and US (3) DH
  • ES 370: Ethnic Literatures of Hawaiʻi (3) DL
  • ES 372: Asian American Literature (3) DL
  • ES 375: Issues of Diversity in Higher Education (3) DS
  • ES 381: Social Movements in Hawaiʻi (3) DS
  • ES 390: Gender and Race in US Society (3) DS
  • ES 391: Oceanic Gender, Sexual and Kinship Identities (3) DH
  • ES 392: Change in the Pacific—Polynesia (3) DS
  • ES 395: Multiethnic Popular Culture: Hip Hop (3)
  • ES 399: Directed Reading/Research (V)
  • ES 400: Ethnic Studies in the Digital World (3) DS
  • ES 410: Race, Class, and the Law (3) DS
  • ES 418: Women and Work (3) DS
  • ES 420: American Ethnic and Race Relations (3) DS
  • ES 422: Mixed Race Identities, Multiracial Experiences (3) DH
  • ES 425: Filming Social Change (3) DS
  • ES 450: Food, Culture, and Empire in U.S. and Hawai‘i (3) DS
  • ES 455: (B) Topics in Comparative Ethnic Conflict—Middle East (3) DS
  • ES 455/SUST 445: (C) Topics in Comparative Ethnic Conflict—Hawaiian sovereignty in Pacific context (3) DS
  • ES 456: Racism and Ethnicity in Hawaiʻi (3) DS
  • ES 457: Politics of Men and Masculinity in U.S. Culture (3) DS
  • ES 460/SUST 461: Global Ethnic Conflict (3)
  • ES 480: Oceanic Ethnic Studies: Theories and Methods (3) DS
  • ES 492: Politics of Multiculturalism (3) DS
  • ES 493: Oral History: Theory and Practice (3) DH
  • ES 495: Hawai‘i's Labor History (3) DH
  • ES 496: Special Topics in Ethnic Studies (3)

General Education Designations

  • DH: Diversification-Humanities
  • DL: Diversification-Literatures
  • DS: Diversification-Social Science

See the UH Catalog for more information.