American & Ethnic Studies

BACHELOR OF ARTS

On this page: Major description | Requirements | Learning objectives | Faculty & staff | Courses

Follow your passion for helping people, serving the community, and improving the lives of those in need!

The American & Ethnic Studies major at the University of Washington Bothell offers students the opportunity to study the relationships in American history and between minority and majority groups. Academic and other learning experiences enhance students’ ability for future work in human services, work in politics or community organizing for underrepresented populations, using critical thinking and decision making skills learned through the student of the American culture and beyond. Students will explore values, ideas, belief systems, and expression and will examine the relationship between everyday life, power structures, and cultural forms.

Do you want to explore a career in Diversity & Inclusion, Community Organizing or Education?
Do courses like Diversity, Leadership and Engagement and Human Rights in America sound exciting to you?

Learning objectives

The American & Ethnic Studies Curriculum advances the five core IAS learning objectives. Students taking courses and/or majoring in American & Ethnic Studies:

1. Think critically about the relationship between power, inequality, resistance, difference, and social and environmental justice in the United States and in relation to the larger world.
2. Explore how structures of power in the Americas have constituted and been constituted by diverse and intersecting categories such as race, place, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, nationality, and ability.
3. Research American cultures in both the past and the present using a variety of sources, including literary texts, historical archives, film, photographs, comics, newspapers, oral histories, sound recordings, and government documents.
4. Develop creative, collaborative, and intersectional approaches for the study of the Americas.
5. Apply critical and interdisciplinary knowledge within a range of academic, professional, and community-based settings.

Major Requirements

Recommended Preparation

Interested in exploring this major but not ready to commit? Consider taking one of the below courses! Any of these selections will help familiarize you with the academic program and prepare you for advanced coursework in the major.

• BIS 165 Introduction to Ethnic Studies
• BIS 167 People’s History of the US
• BIS 175 Introduction to American Goverment
• BIS 216 Introduction to Cultural Studies
• BIS 255 Critical Diversity Studies
• BIS 256 Introduction to African American Studies
• BIS 257 Introduction to Asian American Studies
• BIS 258 Introduction to United States Latina/Latino Studies

AES Major Declaration

While there are no official prerequisites for this major in the School of IAS. UW Bothell students in good standing can declare a major in American & Ethnic Studies at any time. Once ready to submit a declaration form follow this link to the IAS Major Declaration Form

Degree Requirements

The following degree requirements are required as of Autumn 2024 quarter. Student who enter the American & Ethnic Studies (AES) major prior to Autumn 2024 have different requirements. Please see your Academic Advisor for questions and academic planning.

• 10 credits of Composition Coursework
  • B WRIT 133 or B WRIT 134 or ENGL 131 or equivalent (5 credits)
  • B WRIT 135 or ENGL 141 or equivalent (5 credits)
• Interdisciplinary Writing Seminar: BIS 290 (5 credits) (Prerequisite of B WRIT 135 or ENGL 141)*
  • Requirement beginning Winter 2025 quarter
• AES Core Course: BISAES 305 Power, Dissent, and American Culture (5 credits)
  • Course is only taught in Autumn quarter
• BIS 312 Approaches to Social Research – min. 2.0 grade OR BIS 340 Approaches to Cultural Research – min. 2.0 grade (5 credits)
• AES Courses (30 credits) approved area course lists below
  • Historical and Social Inquiry (5 credits)
  • Textual Analysis and Interpretation (5 credits)
  • Critical Theory and Practice (5 credits)
  • AES Courses (15 credits from any of the 3 areas)
• Additional IAS Coursework (20 credits)
  • Any courses from the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

TOTAL = 75 Credits
*Recommended to take prior to AES Core Course
Note: Classes in this option are offered primarily during daytime hours.

School of IAS Requirements & Policies

• Residency Requirement: 30 credits must be completed in residency at UW Bothell
• Cumulative GPA Requirement: Major GPA must be at a cumulative of 2.00 or higher
• Interdisciplinary Practices & Reflection (IPR): The IPR requirement can overlap with 70 credit major coursework or it can be completed through elective credits. Please see the IPR page for course options.
• Upper Division Credit Policy: Of the credits applying to the major requirements, a minimum of 35 credits must be completed at the Upper Division (300-400) level.

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People

Faculty

Research Librarian

• Dani Rowland

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Courses

A. Introduction to American & Ethnic Studies (AES:CORE)

• BISAES 305 Power, Dissent, and American Culture

B. Skills & Methods (AES:METHODS)

• BIS 312 Approaches to Social Research (min grade of 2.0)
• BIS 340 Approaches to Cultural Research (min grade of 2.0)

C. Critical Theory and Practice (AES:CTP)

• BIS 162 Race, Gender, and Sexuality through Film & TV
• BIS 165 Introduction to Ethnic Studies
• BIS 167 People’s History of the US
• BIS 175 Introduction to American Government
• BIS 180 Introduction to Human Geography
• BIS 203 Economics of Gender
• BIS 216 Introduction to Cultural Studies
• BIS 219 The Politics of Sex Education
• BIS 224 Introduction to Feminist Studies
• BIS 227 Rad Women in the Global South
• BIS 242 Environmental Geography
• BIS 255 Critical Diversity Studies
• BIS 279 Introduction to Law and Society
• BIS 310 Women, Culture, and Development
• BIS 328 Diversity, Leadership and Engagement
• BIS 338 Political Institutions and Processes
• BIS 352 Mapping Communities
• BIS 353 Human Rights in Theory and Practice
• BIS 365 Institutions and Social Change (formerly BISSTA 304)
• BIS 369 Indigenous Psychology and Health
• BIS 372 Representation, Colonialism, and the Tropical World
• BIS 403 Washington D.C. Seminar on Human Rights
• BIS 410 Topics in Qualitative Inquiry
• BIS 414 Topics in Human Rights
• BIS 415 Public Policy and Law
• BIS 443 Educational Policy and the American Economy
• BIS 448 Social Policy
• BIS 455 Literature and Sexuality
• BIS 483 Community Organizing
• BISAES 364 Public Memory and Dissent in American Culture
• BISAES 367 Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration
• BISGWS 303 Approaches to Feminist Inquiry
• BISSTA 331 The Family in U.S. Society
• BISSTS 307 Science, Technology, and Society

D. Historical and Social Inquiry (AES:HSI)

• BIS 163 The Lives of Objects
• BIS 174 American Lives
• BIS 181 Introduction to Sociology
• BIS 224 Introduction to Feminist Studies
• BIS 230 Introduction to Disability Studies
• BIS 234 Media, Culture, and Capitalism
• BIS 249 Introduction to Labor Studies
• BIS 256 Introduction to African American Studies
• BIS 257 Introduction to Asian American Studies
• BIS 258 Introduction to Latino/Latina Studies
• BIS 266 United States History to 1865
• BIS 267 United States History from 1865
• BIS 280 U.S. Political Processes
• BIS 323 History of Photography
• BIS 335 Human Rights in America
• BIS 347 History of American Documentary Films
• BIS 357 Native American Religious and Philosophical Thought
• BIS 370 Nineteenth-Century American Literature
• BIS 371 Twentieth-Century American Literature
• BIS 372 Representation, Colonialism, and the Tropical World
• BIS 379 American Ethnic Literature
• BIS 406 Urban Planning & Geography
• BIS 443 Educational Policy and the American Economy
• BIS 466 Human Rights and Resistance
• BIS 483 Community Organizing
• BISAES 364 Public Memory and Dissent in American Culture
• BISAES 367 Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration
• BISGWS 302 Histories and Movements of Gender and Sexuality
• BISPSY 350 Intergroup Relations

E. Textual Analysis and Interpretation (AES:TAI)

• BIS 164 Introduction to World Literature
• BIS 216 Introduction to Cultural Studies
• BIS 233 Social Media in Context
• BIS 235 Critical Media Literacy
• BIS 238 Language, Identity, Culture and Power
• BIS 256 Introduction to African American Studies
• BIS 257 Introduction to Asian American Studies
• BIS 258 Introduction to Latino/Latina Studies
• BIS 335 Human Rights in America
• BIS 347 History of American Documentary Films
• BIS 361 Studies in American Literature
• BIS 370 Nineteenth-Century American Literature
• BIS 371 Twentieth-Century American Literature
• BIS 379 American Ethnic Literatures
• BIS 387 Women and American Literature
• BIS 407 Children’s Literature and Reader Response Criticism
• BIS 416 U.S. Constitutional Law
• BIS 466 Human Rights and Resistance
• BIS 470 Art, Politics, and Social Change
• BISAES 364 Public Memory and Dissent in American Culture
• BISAES 369 American Culture and Mass Media
• BISMCS 333 Media and Communication Studies

F. Topics Courses

Topics courses under the below course numbers may apply to the AES major depending on the subject and title. Please see the Time Schedule notes to determine how they count toward the major.

• BIS 293 Special Topics
• BIS 316 Topics in Psychology (Asian American Psychology)
• BIS 393 Special Topics
• BIS 490 Advanced Seminar
• BIS 493 Special Topics

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Petitions

IAS students may submit an online Major Petition form to request that alternate coursework satisfy a School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (IAS) major requirement. Students must be admitted or declared in an IAS major in order for the online petition to be reviewed.