General Information
About Us
The Ethnic Studies Department is an interdisciplinary unit with emphasis on undergraduate education. Initiated in 1970, Ethnic Studies combines traditional and contemporary methodologies with new perspectives on issues of race, ethnicity, and class. The focus is on Hawai'i, with its rich legacy of multiethnic heritages. The research, teaching, and service components, however, also involve the United States and comparative studies of societies around the globe.
The Department was founded in 1970 at the University of Hawai'i Manoa with a mandate to provide a research, institutional and community service unit which integrated the concerns of race, ethnicity and class. The program was established to develop a new curriculum and faculty expertise in a discipline that was then in its infancy. Permanent status was granted in 1977 and Ethnic Studies became a full-fledged department in 1995.
Ethnic Studies has developed a unique academic presence at Manoa. It is the only unit whose concentration is wholly upon race and ethnic relations, both in Hawai'i and the U.S., as well as comparative studies of groups around the world. The Ethnic Studies Department is also unique in that it maintains a research and teaching philosophy emphasizing praxis: the application of intellectual theories to the complex programs in our local communities.
This includes being committed to an ongoing interaction with local communities on the basis of mutual respect and a two-way exchange of learning and information. We have also continued to engage undergraduates as teaching assistants in our classes to provide peer instruction, a program has produced outstanding "publicly-oriented" citizens in a variety of fields including politics, law, labor, education, business, culture, and human services.
Our faculty has special expertise in the history of Native Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, African Americans, Native Americans and Caucasians; ethnic and race relations in the United States; political economy and ethnic issues in the Middle East, North America, and the Pacific Islands, and offers courses and conducts research in these areas.
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