Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies is the interdisciplinary study that centers Asian American, Black/African American, and Chicanx/Latinx, and Native American* peoples who have experienced, survived, and resisted hegemonic systems and structures of oppression. Ethnic Studies courses in Santa Barbara Unified School District aim to educate students to be socially, politically, and economically conscious about their personal connections to local and (trans)national histories. Students in these courses will study race through the intersections of social identities such as ethnicity, culture, gender, sexuality, ability, language, immigrant status, and class. They will analyze indigeneity, aspects of (de)colonization, white supremacy, oppression and privilege, and work towards empowering themselves as anti-racist leaders who engage in social justice activism. Dialogue drives the learning and supports the belief that each person has important knowledge, experiences, and voices to share. Students will have the opportunity to cultivate intersectional solidarity with groups of people, locally and (trans)nationally, to foster active social engagement, radical healing, and critical hope.

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