Chicana and Chicano Studies
Mission Statement
The Chicana/o/x Studies Department at San Diego City College upholds the ideals of the Chicano movement and the continuity of la lucha from the classroom to the comunidad. The role of Chicana/o/x Studies is to center student identity, lived experience, and agency in the learning process. Chicana/o/x Studies education promotes a pedagogy of concientización, critical thinking, decolonization, self-determination, and liberation.
Chicana/o/x Studies is an inclusive and expansive field that embodies the histories, cultures, memories, and experiences of Mexican, Indigenous, Afro-descendant, Central American, Caribbean, and other peoples who have crossed—or have been crossed—by the border. Chicana/o/x Studies classes orient and activate students towards self-discovery, the recovery of cultural memory, the assertion of confident cultural awareness, social and political consciousness, and to continue an on-going legacy of resistance, struggle, and social justice and transformation.
Course Catalog Description
Click here for course description from Catalog
We offer an Associate in Arts degree in Chicano Studies.
Careers in Chicanx and Latinx Studies vary within the social science fields. Since Chicanx or Latinx Studies cannot be taught everywhere in the U.S., many consider it a program of social justice. In the need to educate others, positions can be found in advocacy for Chicanx and Latinx in areas such as in the workforce, civic and immigrant rights, education, legal rights, labor relations and healthcare, among many others. And, more broadly, careers can be found in a multitude of subjects, among them are history, sociology, engineering, psychology, social sciences, political science, law, social work, business, the arts and public administration.
Gainful Employment links:
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/labor-relations-specialists.htm
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/postsecondary-teachers.htm
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/kindergarten-and-elementary-school-teachers.htm
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/high-school-teachers.htm
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/legal/lawyers.htm
Program Emphasis
The department emphasizes the study of the international border between Mexico and the United States. Due to its geographic location, the department also offers a focus on the relationship between the communities of southern California and Baja California
Career Options
As a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary field, Chicana/o Studies contributes to all fields in the humanities and social sciences. The curriculum prepares students at the undergraduate level for a multitude of career options. Students earning a degree in Chicana and Chicano Studies may pursue careers in areas such as education, humanities, history, anthropology, ethnology, sociology, psychology, social sciences, political sciences, law, social work, business, the arts, and public administration
Program Learning Outcomes
Upon active engagement in course activities and processes the successful student will be able to:
- Attend educational, cultural, or political activities related to the Chicano/a Latino/a community's social issues.
- Express what the Mexican and Mexican American cultural experience are in a written, oral or artistic way.
- Express in a written, oral or artistic way some of the major obstacles that the Indigenous culture of Mexico have faced since having contact with European cultures.
- Express in a written, oral or artistic way some of the contributions that women have made to the development of the Mexican and Mexican-American experience.