Cogut Institute for the Humanities

Origins and Afterlives of Ethnic Studies

Exploring the history of Ethnic Studies and its importance in a multiethnic and multiracial society

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Origins and Afterlives of Ethnic Studies

Exploring the history of Ethnic Studies and its importance in a multiethnic and multiracial society

This initiative foregrounds crucial questions about the role of humanistic liberal education in a multiethnic and multiracial society. Through examining the institutional and intellectual history of Ethnic Studies in the United States, from the 1960s to the present, the initiative issues a wide invitation to explore and understand relationships between the university and society, research and politics, and academics and culture.

Directed by Shelley Lee, W. Duncan MacMillan II Professor of American Studies, History, and Humanities and affiliate of Urban Studies.

Podcast

This academic year, the initiative will launch a new podcast titled “The Confluence: Ethnic Studies and the Public Good.”

Hosted by Shelley Lee and Gina Pérez (Comparative American Studies | Oberlin College), the podcast will explore Ethnic Studies as an insurgent intellectual movement, site of contestation, and driver of transformation. It will feature conversations with scholars and public intellectuals about how Ethnic Studies has reshaped higher education and impacted global politics and culture.

The podcast’s name reflects the convergence of ideas, disciplines, and communities that define Ethnic Studies, and how its insights have in turn changed the larger culture. At a moment when Ethnic Studies faces both attacks and growing recognition as essential for cultivating democratic citizenship in a diverse society, “The Confluence” explores how this field serves as a public good — transforming academia and the broader world while addressing contemporary challenges around race, migration, identity, and justice.