Welcome to Chican@ Studies!

Established in Fall 1970, the Chicana/o Studies Department emerged from Black and Chicana/o student activism, most notably the North Hall building take-over in Fall 1968 and the El Plan de Santa Barbara conference held at the Francisco Torres residential hall in April 1969. 

The UCSB Chicana/o Studies Department was the first such unit in the entire UC system.  Chicanx/Latinx student organizing, namely the 1989 and 1994 hunger strikes, strengthened the Department over time, leading to the creation of the world's first doctoral program in Chicana/o Studies which began in 2003.  The Chicana/o Studies Department engages students in the interdisciplinary study of Chicana and Chicano history, culture, and politics. 

The Department is fully committed to social justice and uprooting all systems of inequality.  In partnership with affiliated faculty from across campus and Feminist and Black Studies Ph.D. emphasis programs, the Department's B.A./M.A./Ph.D. programs challenge students to link theory with practice, scholarship with teaching, and the academy with the community.

 

The Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies Statements:

An Afternoon with Damian: Nuclear Colonialism Through New Mexican Literature
Join Damian Yazzie, PhD student in Chicana/o/x Studies Department, for a community reading and discussion exploring the lasting impact of nuclear testing on New Mexico’s lands and peoples, through the powerful words of Leslie Marmon Silko, Simon Ortiz, and Rudolfo Anaya.
Professor Ralph Armbruster Sandoval: Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the ‘Harvest of American Empire’

Professor Ralph Armbruster-Sandoval’s latest op-ed examines the lasting impact of U.S. foreign interventions, focusing on the tragic story of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the enduring cycles of violence and displacement they have caused. He calls on the United States to confront and take responsibility for these consequences — read the full piece to learn more about this powerful and timely argument.

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