Comparative Ethnic Cultures

Purpose: To support research and instruction leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Comparative Ethnic Studies. Within the Comparative Ethnic Studies program, students have the option of concentrating study or pursuing a minor in one of the interdisciplinary component programs in Asian Pacific American Studies, African American Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies, and Native American Studies. Interest in publications pertinent to these programs is shared by the faculty and students in a number of M.A. and Ph.D. granting departments, and some collecting for these departments supplements collecting done for the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies. Among the sharing departments are Sociology and Anthropology, Education and Human Development, History and Political Science, English, Music and Fine Arts.

1. Languages: English is a primary language of collection in all programs. In the Chicano Studies Program, Spanish is also a primary language of collection.
2. Chronological Guidelines: Emphasis in all programs is on works dealing with 21^st Century events and conditions or with nineteenth century events or conditions which have significantly affected subsequent developments.
3. Geographical Guidelines: In all programs, study is centered on the United States, especially the Northwest, with secondary interest in areas pertinent to each program. In African-American Studies the areas of secondary interest are Africa and the Americas outside the U.S.; in Chicano Studies, Latin America, but particularly Mexico; in Asian-American Studies, Asia; and in Native American Studies, the Americas outside the U.S., but particularly Canada and Mexico.
4. Treatment of the Subject: Emphasis is on materials dealing with current political, economic, sociological, and legal conditions and developments. Historical works and works dealing with pertinent arts and literatures are important, as are, also, biographical and autobiographical works
5. Types of Material: Most acquisitions are in the form of books, but any scholarly or influential periodicals devoted primarily to any of these areas of study are acquired if funds permit. Older materials may occasionally e acquired in reprint or microform. Some government publications are also important. In addition, there is extensive coverage of the study areas of Comparative Ethnic Studies in over 1000 journals and magazines through the library’s full text databases, such as Ethnic NewsWatch and Lexis/Nexis. There is also a great deal of coverage of Asian Americans, African Americans, Chicanos, and Native Americans through using search engines for finding material on the World Wide Web.
6. Date of Publication: Emphasis is on current publications. Important older materials are acquired in reprint or in microform as funds permit.
7. Other General Considerations: A large percentage of the publications which are important to these four programs were bought primarily for one or the other of the M.A. or Ph.D. awarding departments which share the interest in Native American Studies, Asian-American Studies, Chicano Studies, and/or African American Studies. This is also true of most of the indexes which are useful to the students and faculty in these programs. This raises the support level of these programs above C(2).