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Courses for Undergraduates

Access General Catalog for detailed information.

Lower Division

CCS 100. Chicana and Chicano Heritage (3)
Cultural achievements and thought of Spanish-speaking peoples of North America; development of aesthetic and ethical values. North American intellectual history and influence of philosophical orientations of native and Mestizo peoples. Implications for social change.

CCS 110. Introduction to Chicana and Chicano Studies (3) 
Origins, evolution, and current status of Chicana and Chicano studies. Research, theories, methods, and debates in and impact of the field. Current intellectual trends, scholar activism, and societal developments with implications for the field. Career pathway possibilities.

CCS 111A. Oral Communication (3)
Training in oral expression. Chicana and Chicano Studies 111A is equivalent to Communication 103. Not open to students with credit in Africana Studies 140 or Communication 103 or 204.

CCS 111B. Written Communication (3)
Prerequisites: Satisfaction of the English Placement Test and Writing Competency requirements. (See Graduation Requirements section of catalog.) 
Training in written expression. English grammar and composition; the essay, the term paper. 

CCS 120A-120B. Chicana and Chicano Role in the American Political System (3 units each course)
Semester I: Relationship between Chicana/o/x communities and the American political system.
Semester II: Chicana/o/x communities in relation to city, county, and state institutions in California. 

CCS 141A-141B. History of the United States (3 units each course)
Semester I: Comparative development of the United States and Mexico to 1865.
Semester II: Mexican Americans in US history; US and Mexican national histories compared from 1865 to the present. 

CCS 150. Critical Issues in Chicana Studies (3) 
Critical themes in Chicana feminist scholarship: power and resistance; work, family, and culture; cultural representations and presentations; social and biological reproduction

CCS 200. Intermediate Expository Research and Writing (3)
Especially designed for bilingual/bicultural students.
Prerequisites: Satisfaction of the English Placement Test and Writing Competency requirements and Chicana and Chicano Studies 111B or Africana Studies 120 or American Indian Studies 120 or English 100 or Linguistics 100 or Rhetoric and Writing Studies 100 or 101. 
Intermediate composition. Practice in reading, writing, and critical thinking using interdisciplinary sources. Research skills using primary and secondary sources. Argumentative writing skills. 

CCS 220. Language in the Borderlands (3)
Chicana/o/x linguistic experience and cultural language-use. Cultural context, historical trends, Chicana/o/x English, Chicana/o/x Spanish, Indigenous languages, language contact, variation, racialization of language, issues of identity, linguistic resilience.

CCS 275. Sports and Race (3)
Intersection of sports and race as it impacts cultural, personal, and social development. Historical and contemporary controversies.Personal cultural experiences with sport as a racialized cultural institution.

CCS 280. Youth Studies in Racialized Contexts (3)
Two lectures and two hours of activity.
Youth experiences and adolescent development in a racially diverse world. Ways ethnicity, race, and other sociocultural factors impact experiences of youth and lifelong roles.
Note: This course satisfies the ethnic studies [ES] requirement

CCS 296. Experimental Topics (1-4) 
Selected topics. May be repeated with new content. See Class Schedule for specific content. Limit of nine units of any combination of 296, 496, 596 courses applicable to a bachelor’s degree.

Upper Division

CCS 300W. Theories and Concepts in Chicana and Chicano Studies (3)
Prerequisite(s): CCS 110 or upper division standing.
Survey of different theoretical approaches and concepts in field of Chicana and Chicano Studies. Advanced introduction to structures of knowledge (history and challenges); the ‘two-cultures’ debates (sciences v. humanities: quantitative v. qualitative methodologies); and mechanisms of position paper writing.
Note: W signifies writing-extensive course.

CCS 301. Political Economy of the Chicano People (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.B., Social and Behavioral Sciences required for nonmajors.
Recommended: Chicana and Chicano Studies 110. 
Political and economic roots of the oppression and exploitation of Chicana/o/xs from historical, institutional, and theoretical points of view. Comparative Chicana/o/x and other Latinx experiences

CCS 303. Chicana and Chicano Community Studies (3)
Recommended: Chicana and Chicano Studies 110. 
Chicana and Chicano communities from a comparative perspective. Systematic inquiry into methods and issues in community studies. Contemporary social, institutional, and political affairs.

CCS 306. Mexican Immigration (3) 
Immigration from Mexico in the context of US immigration history and policies. Comparative study of political, economic, and cultural factors. Undocumented immigration and current US law.

CCS 310. Mexican and Chicano Music (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.C., Humanities required for nonmajors.
Music of Mexico and the Southwest.

CCS 320. Chicana and Chicano Lifestyles (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.B., Social and Behavioral Sciences required for nonmajors. 
Social relations and culture in Chicana/o/a communities, gendered relationships, and family. Influence of Spanish-Mexican cultural heritage and US industrial-capitalist society. Comparative cross-cultural social science methodology.

CCS 335. Chicana and Chicano Literature (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.C., Humanities required for nonmajors.
Ideas, forms, history of significant Chicana and Chicano prose, poetry, and other literary genres.

CCS 340A. Gender, Sex, and Politics in Colonial Mexico (3) 
Recommended: Chicana and Chicano Studies 141A or 350A. 
History of Mexican women under Spanish colonial rule. Women’s agency and diversity of experiences, as they relate to class, race, religion, and sexuality. Nonheteronormative (LGBTQ) sexualities.

CCS 340B. Chicana Women’s History: 1848-Present (3) 
Recommended: Chicana and Chicano Studies 111B and upper division standing. 
History of Chicanas in the United States from 1848 to present, focusing on impact of Mexican American War, important female historical figures, and issues related to race, class, religion, and sexuality.

CCS 345. Postcolonial Masculinities (3)
Masculinity in post-colonial contexts, particularly Chicanx/Latinx and BIPOC communities. Intersections of masculinity and race, ethnicity, and culture, to include cultural and historical trends, social and institutional politics and practices, issues of self-identity, media narratives, sexuality, and social and interpersonal relationships. Formerly numbered CCS 240.

CCS 350A-350B. Chicana and Chicano History (3 units each course)
Prerequisite: Completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.C., Humanities required for nonmajors. 
Semester I: Review of indigenous origins; Hispanic institutions and northward expansion; the Mexican Republic; attention to women’s socioeconomic status and significance.
Semester II: US encroachment and the US-Mexican War; Chicana and Chicano contributions; the multilingual and multicultural Southwest.

CCS 355. The United States-Mexico International Border (3)
Prerequisites: Upper division standing and completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.B., Social and Behavioral Sciences required for nonmajors. 
History, culture, economics, and politics of US/Mexico border region. Theories and policy issues surrounding development of region; local regional problems and major agencies, institutions, organizations addressing these problems.

CCS 360. Culture of Fútbol: Chicana/os, Latina/os, and Soccer (3)
Cultural dynamics of fútbol (soccer), in the U.S./Mexico transborder context. Impact of class, ethnicity, gender, history, nationality, politics, and race on the culture of the sport, from youth and recreational participation to professional leagues and fandom.

CCS 375. US/Mexico Border History (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.C., Humanities required for nonmajors. Recommended: Chicana and Chicano Studies 110. 
Historical problems and movements in the US-Mexican border region, in particular those impacting Spanish-speaking populations on both sides of the border. Contemporary border issues from a historical perspective.

CCS 376. Chicana and Chicano Culture and Thought (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.C., Humanities required for nonmajors. 
Intellectual history of Chicanas and Chicanos as a synthesis of different cultural traditions and perspectives. Philosophical concepts from pre-Cortesian times to the present.

CCS 380. US/Mexico Borderlands Folklore (3)
Prerequisite: Completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.C., Humanities required for nonmajors. Recommended: Chicana and Chicano Studies 110. Border folklore, its complexities and dynamics via myths, rituals, legends, sayings, corridos (ballads), and literature of Chicanos and Mexicanos in the US-Mexican border region.

CCS 396W. Chicana and Chicano Prose (3) 
A writing workshop. Mutual criticism. Exploration of new form and content in Chicana/o/a prose. 

CCS 400. Mexican Images in Film (3)
Prerequisite: Upper division standing and completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.C., Humanities required for nonmajors. 
Comparative study of images presented by Hollywood, Mexican, and Chicano cinemas. Critical analysis and discussion of projected values. Comparison of themes in film and text.

CCS 402. Humanizing and Decolonizing Approaches to Theory and Research Methods (3)
Prerequisite: Upper division standing.
Interdisciplinary qualitative and quantitative research methods and theoretical frameworks through a decolonial lens. New innovations in applied humanities research.

CCS 405. Performing Transnational Citizenship (3)
Prerequisite: Upper division standing.
Civic, cultural, postnational, and social constructions of citizenship in a local, global, and transnational context. Citizenship and rights of Mexican undocumented migrant and immigrant groups.

CCS 450. Chicano and Latino Theatre (3) 
Prerequisites: Upper division standing and completion of the General Education requirement in Foundations of Learning II.C., Humanities required for nonmajors.
Contemporary Chicano/a/x theatre including works by people of Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and other Latin American origins in the United States.

CCS 456. Ethnic and Gender Studies in the Workplace (3)
Same As: AFRAS 456 and AMIND 456 and WMNST 456.
Prerequisite(s): Upper division standing.
History, institutions, and how systemic oppression operates in the professional sphere. Toolkits and strategies for advocacy and allyship in the workplace.

CCS 548. Race and Ethnicity in United States History (3)
Prerequisite: Upper division or graduate standing.
Race and ethnicity in the United States from colonial period through twentieth century to include historical construction of identity; colonization, slavery, state formation; labor, immigration, politics of whiteness; applicability of black/white binary of a multiethnic society.

CCS 554. United States-Mexico Transborder Populations and Globalization (3) 
Prerequisite: Upper division or graduate standing. 
An interdisciplinary analysis of the U.S.-Mexican border population. Demographic dynamics and social change in border communities. International migration and transmigration. Transborder families and transnational families. Gender, class, and racial systems in border communities.

CCS 572. From Haciendas and Plantations to Prisons (3)
Prerequisite(s): Upper division or graduate standing.
Spanish, British, French colonialism in Caribbean and Americas; Atlantic Slave Trade; encomienda, hacienda, plantation, coerced labor systems, to include history of captivity; sharecropping; 13th Amendment, prison industrial complex; convict labor, leasing and disenfranchisement; racialized incarceration; prison privatization and migrant detention.

CCS 580. Chicanas and Chicanos and the Schools (3)
Prerequisite(s): Prerequisite(s) recommended: CCS 110 or graduate standing. 
Experiences of Chicana and Chicano youth in the school system from preschool through high school. Historical and sociopolitical context of educational opportunities for Chicana and Chicano youth to include cultural, emotional, social growth, and development. Formerly numbered Chicana and Chicano Studies 480.

CCS 585. Methods in Ethnic Studies Teaching: Decolonial Pedagogies in K-12 Schools (3)
Same As: AFRAS 585, AMIND 585, and DLE 585
Prerequisite(s): CCS 580, AFRAS 421, AMIND 480, DLE 515, or graduate standing.
Approaches, methods, and theories of instruction and assessment to include decolonial, humanizing, and liberatory pedagogies. Development of ethnic studies curricula. Ethnicity, race, and racism.

CCS 596. Topics in Chicana and Chicano Studies (1-3) 
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. 
Advanced topics in Chicana and Chicano studies. See Class Schedule for specific content. 

Important Links

Undergraduate Adviser

Paola Martinez
Email: [email protected]