Chicana/o/x Studies
Program Director
program web page
Degree
Minor–Chicana-Chicano Studies
Required courses in this program of study may have prerequisites. Reference the course description section for clarification.
Undergraduate Program
The Chicana/Chicano Studies Program (CCSP) employs a dual mission at Eastern Washington University (EWU). The program’s first mission is to significantly contribute toward enhancing opportunities for the participation of Chicana/o/x students in higher education. This mission is achieved by vigorously recruiting Chicana/o/x students and providing the essential support needed for experiencing a positive and successful academic career at Eastern Washington University. A parallel CCSP mission is augmenting EWU’s goal in addressing diversity by providing all students, regardless of ethnicity, with a critical Chicana/o/x Studies curriculum resulting in a comprehensive and holistic understanding and appreciation of Chicana/o/x communities. Furthermore, CCSP is committed to enacting initiatives that sustain the Program’s dual mission. The Chicana/Chicano Studies Program is therefore structurally divided into three distinct components.
Recruitment
The Chicana/Chicano Studies Program’s student recruitment efforts involve various activities aimed at encouraging Chicana/o/x students to pursue educational opportunities at EWU. Specific recruitment activities include visiting high schools and community colleges, staging university based student visitations, participating in educational and community career fairs, utilizing Spanish media (radio, television, and newspapers) to disseminate information about educational opportunities at EWU, networking with Chicana/o/x community organizations and other recruitment-focused initiatives.
Support Services
The Chicana/Chicano Studies Program also provides a variety of academic and non-academic support services for students. Such services include academic advising, scholarship information and awards, mentor relationships, culturally based initiatives, linkages for tutoring needs, a college orientation class, and other related student support services. More specifically, the CCSP assists student transition into the university by advocating on the students’ behalf with other university departments and offices (i.e., Admissions Office, Financial Aid, Housing and Residential Life). Through its bilingual (English/Spanish) website, the CSSP assists students and their families in becoming familiar with university practices, regulations, and culture.
The Chicana/Chicano Studies Program also closely collaborates and supports the CAMP Program (College Assistance Migrant Program), which is designed to recruit and retain migrant students during their first year of college at EWU.
Chicana/Chicano Studies
The CCSP offers a Chicana/Chicano Studies academic minor designed to provide all students, regardless of ethnicity, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and critical understanding and appreciation of Chicana/o/x communities. The CCSP focuses primarily on Chicana/o/x historical experiences of colonization and neo-colonization, economic and cultural contributions to US society, and historical and contemporary struggles, movements, and strategies of resistance and survival.
The CCSP’s offerings include lower and upper division coursework. The Chicana/Chicano Studies minor provides students with an inclusive and interdisciplinary understanding of Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x experiences in the U.S. Specifically, the minor prepares students for the rapidly changing demographic trends in the U.S. and provides critical knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to an ethnically and culturally diverse society. In tandem with this approach, the CCSP offers a rigorous academic program of study that prepares students for graduate and professional schools and employment in community based organizations or the non-profit industrial complex. While the minor is especially suited for those students applying to graduate school, teaching in K–12, educational administration including counseling psychology, social services positions, business, educational, and community organizing, the minor is appropriate for all major fields of study given the discipline’s interdisciplinary foundation. Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x are now the largest racial ethnic groups in the nation, and the Chicana/Chicano Studies minor will provide all students with an appreciation of the history, political, social, and cultural realities of Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x in contemporary U.S. society.
Refer to the required courses and course descriptions section for additional information about CCSP’s curriculum.
Other CCSP Activities
CCSP is committed to networking and establishing contacts with all communities throughout the state of Washington with a particular focus on educational related issues, initiatives, and policies. CCSP’s outreach efforts include public seminars, lectures, and cultural and art exhibitions. On a national level, CCSP actively participates with the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, a professional academic association, which promotes research and teaching relevant to the Chicana/Chicano community, and MALCS (Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social-Women Active in Letters and Social Change) the largest academic organization in the US for Chicanas, Latinas, and Indigenous students and faculty.
Chicana and Chicano Studies Courses
CHST 196. EXPERIMENTAL COURSE. 1-5 Credits.
Experimental.
CHST 199. DIRECTED STUDY. 1-5 Credits.
Directed Study.
CHST 201. LATINAS/OS IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN SOCIETY. 5 Credits.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Examines the experience of the other Latinos (Hispanics) in the United States: Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and Central Americans. The course presents a brief historical overview of their entrance in American Society and a demographic comparison of significant socio-economic variables of the groups. The primary focus is to examine the social and cultural profile of the Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Central American groups in the U.S.
CHST 202. INTRODUCTION TO CHICANA/O/X CULTURE. 5 Credits.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
A study of Chicano culture providing an initial overview of its roots and conflicts. Specific components discussed are cultural identity, customs, language, psychology and the arts.
CHST 204. WEALTH AND POVERTY IN LATINO COMMUNITIES. 5 Credits.
Introduces the political economic processes by which wealth and poverty are created and maintained in the U.S. with a particular focus on how they impact Chicano and Latino communities. The focus is comparative and transnational and critically examines theories used to explain poverty and wealth and trace the trajectory of capitalism’s impact on Latino communities.
CHST 218. CHICANO HISTORY. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: HIST 218.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
A study of Chicano history from the time of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, to the present. Specific themes discussed include the Mexican American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, the economic, political and social conditions after the Anglo-American conquest of the southwest, Mexican immigration to the U.S., Chicano labor history, the Chicano movement and other Chicano themes.
CHST 230. CHICANAS AND LATINAS IN THE U.S.. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: CHST 202.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Provides a description and analysis of the experience of Chicanas and Latinas in the United States. First, presents a review of Chicana studies scholarship and the evolution of Chicana feminist theory. Next, examines the historical, cultural, political and social-economic themes which define the experience of Chicanas/Latinas in the United States.
CHST 233. RACE, ETHNICITY, AND THE ECONOMY IN THE U.S. AND LATIN AMERICA. 5 Credits.
Satisfies: a BACR for social sciences.
Introduces how inequality is reflected, constructed, and reproduced through notions of race, class, and gender in the US and Latin America. This course asks: what are the forms of knowledge, practices, institutions, and values that have an informed power structure that influences the meaning of racial, ethnic, and economic relations in the U.S. and Latin American? What is power, and how does it help us understand how inequality between the U.S. and Latin America is structured?
CHST 310. CHICANX/LATINX IN THE U.S. MEDIA. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Survey of how Chicanx/Latinx have been depicted in film, news, television, and other media formats in the U.S. Examines Hollywood depictions of the Latino/a experience in the film industry from the early period of U.S. cinema to contemporary representations; the depictions of Latinx in television and the news; and the emergence of Chicanx/Latinx early documentary to the full length dramatic feature film.
CHST 320. CHICANX-LATINX POLITICS IN U.S. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Study of the political reality of Latinxs in the U.S.: a heterogeneous group made up largely of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban American origin and other groups (Central and South Americans). Examines the Latino population in terms of its orientation to the political system, its institutions, actors, and their participation in the electoral process.
CHST 325. SOCIAL CHANGE AND ACTIVISM THROUGH MEDIA. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: CHST 202 or CHST 218.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Introduces social liberation movements' theories and practices and struggles to be free through change. The focus is on the liberation struggles, movements, and social change of historically marginalized populations in the U.S. Examination of the role of media in today's political activism.
CHST 330. LATINO IMMIGRATION TO THE U.S.. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Historical overview of Latino immigration from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Special attention is given to the largest Latino sub groups in the United States. Examines the social phenomenon of labor migration and immigration from Latin America in the context of political, economic, and national inequalities. The transnational character of Latino immigrants and its political, economic, and cultural contributions to sending and receiving nations are covered.
CHST 331. LATINO FAMILY IN THE U.S.. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: CHST 202, CHST 218 or HIST 218, or permission of the instructor.
This course presents an overview of the general direction of current scholarship on the Chicano/Latino family, with a special focus on basic familial structure and the dynamics of change. First, the course examines traditional interpretations and methodologies and suggests alternative theoretical perspectives. Second, the course examines research issues such as familism, machismo, gender roles, parenting, divorce, family violence, aging, immigration and family, and public policy on family life.
CHST 335. GENDER REVOLUTION AND POLITICS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–global studies.
Provides a broad overview of the political mobilization of women in Latin American conflicts which challenged authoritarian regimes and other systems of power by exploring the participation of women in revolutionary movements as combatants and other supporting and leadership roles. Systems of oppression such as masculinity, patriarchy, militarism, and violence within the Latin American and U.S. context are examined.
CHST 378. SURVEY OF SPANGLISH LITERATURE. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: ENGL 378.
Notes: CHST 202 or CHST 218 recommended.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201 or equivalent.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Provides an overview of the historical development and current Spanglish literature trends produced by Latina/o/x communities in the U.S. and Latin America. Provides an understanding of the concept of Spanglish from a sociolinguistic perspective to, in turn, be able to analyze oral and written literary works. Expectation to read, discuss, and apply theoretical techniques through various written assignments.
CHST 396. EXPERIMENTAL. 1-5 Credits.
Experimental.
CHST 400. CHICANO AND LATINO HEALTH. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: CHST 201.
Provides an overview of current theories and research concerning the physical and mental health of Chicano/Latino populations in the US. Introduction to domains of health resilience and health risk in U.S. Latino populations and consider how social and political-economic context, cultural based beliefs, and health behaviors come together to influence health outcomes.
CHST 405. CHICANO AND LATINO EDUCATION. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: CHST 201.
Focuses on analyzing Chicano Latino Education within the context of the U.S. and its political-economic interests and system. Provides an understanding of how historical, social, and political economic forces impact the U.S. Chicano/Latino educational experience. In addition, connecting the historical condition of Chicano/Latino education in the U.S., with contemporary issues and trends.
CHST 462. HISTORY OF MEXICO. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: HIST 462.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201 or permission of instructor.
Addresses the history of Mexico in the national period, from the events immediately preceding the independence movement of 1810 to the present. Besides political and economic happenings, social and cultural processes are considered through diverse prisms, including: racial friction; religion; elite and popular society; labor; art; women's and family history; environmental challenges; and urbanization. Students also compose a substantial research paper.
CHST 495. INTERNSHIP/PRACTICUM. 1-5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: permission of the instructor, department chair and college dean.
Internship/Practicum.
CHST 496. EXPERIMENTAL COURSES. 1-5 Credits.
Experimental.
CHST 499. DIRECTED STUDY. 1-10 Credits.
Pre-requisites: permission of the instructor, department chair and college dean.
An in-depth, independent research project.