Professors Discuss Ethnic Studies

Two professors stressed the importance of implementing an ethnic studies curriculum in a discussion at Sever Hall yesterday evening.

Seventeen students gathered to hear Glenda R. Carpio—an associate professor of African and African-American Studies—and Jigna Desai—a visiting associate professor in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Department—praise a newly-proposed ethnic studies program, which they said would allow students to discuss questions of racial and ethnic identity in an academic setting.

“People end up talking in dorm rooms or over this kind of food, which are very powerful media,” she said over a table of desserts from Finale’s. “But the idea of finding an academic home for these kinds of conversations is important.”

Both Carpio and Desai said that an ethnic studies curriculum would have to be interdisciplinary.

“I think that’s part of the richness of what ethnic studies could bring,” said Carpio. “I think it would be helpful to see what the African-American Studies Department brought to Harvard. It is an interdisciplinary approach.”

Both professors said that there would be challenges to implementing an ethnic studies program, including the possibility that such a curriculum would result in students simply studying their own cultures, and would therefore preclude meaningful academic pursuit.

“It’s not about numbers. It’s not about demographics. It’s not about feel-good narcissism,” Desai said.

“The charge of anti-intellectualism is something we need to expect as ethnic studies comes to Harvard,” Carpio added. “It’s an easy target. We have to be smart on how to expect the resistance.”

Quinnie Lin ’09—who helps coordinate the Ethnic Studies Coalition, a student group that advocates for an ethnic studies curriculum—said that she was pleased with the discussion.

“I think this conversation was great in that it was the first step in fostering student-faculty communication, and we really need students to work with faculty and administrators to establish a sustainable program in ethnic studies,” she said.

As for how to win over critics, Lin said the answer is education.

“I feel like this mostly stems from the fact that people don’t understand what ethnic studies is,” she said. “People who make those arguments haven’t delved into it in depth. It’s a very challenging field.”