A collection of statements of solidarity from Black Studies and Ethnic Studies academic units and scholarly organizations in response to the murder of George Floyd, organized and curated by Natchee Blu Barnd, Associate Editor of the Ethnic Studies Review

A discussion facilitated by Jason Magabo Perez, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at California State University (CSU), San Marcos. Featuring commentary and analysis of the statements of solidarity curated by Natchee Blu Barnd included in this issue.

A commentary that situates the current violent repression of Portland protesters by federal agents in the context of United States government repression of activism in prior moments of social struggle.

A commentary discussing responses to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the Pacific Islands and the Pacific diaspora in which the author highlights in particular the widespread support for and solidarity with the BLM movement, while also addressing areas of tension and discomfort in this wide-ranging analysis of Pacific Islander points of view.

A commentary on the Black Lives Matter movement’s influence on France’s own debate over the idea of colorblindness within its universalist national project and the way in which the concept obscures the reality of racial discrimination, police violence, and the marginalization of ethnic communities in France.

An interview conducted by Ron Scapp, Contributing Editor to the Ethnic Studies Review , with Robert L. Perry and Ravi K. Perry in which the two scholars reflect upon their leadership roles within the field of Ethnic Studies as well as how the field has evolved from its early years to the present day.

On May 6, 2020, K. Wayne Yang participated in this webinar conversation hosted by Imagining America in which Wayne discusses his book, A Third University is Possible (under his pen name la paperson), and the work of decolonization in a conversation with Jack Tchen.

This article examines the University of California at Berkeley Chicana/o Studies Movement between 1968 and 1975. The first section contextualizes how the Free Speech Movement (1964) and the Third World Liberation Front (1968–1969) set the stage for the advancement of Ethnic and Chicana/o Studies. The second section offers a historical examination of the Chicana/o Studies Movement and explains political conflicts between the university administration and their internal struggles. The final section examines the role of the El Grito publication and how it impacted the development of the Chicana/o Studies discipline. Finally, this paper examines how the culture of empire utilized neocolonialists to destroy the radical student voice and prevented the creation of an autonomous Chicana/o Studies Department.

While the United States wrestles with a college completion crisis, the Division of Institutional Research at San Francisco State University found a high correlation between Ethnic Studies curriculum and increased student retention and graduation rates. Majors and minors in the College of Ethnic Studies graduated within six years at rates up to 92%. Those who were neither majors nor minors in Ethnic Studies also boosted their graduation rates by up to 72% by taking just a few courses in Africana Studies, American Indian Studies, Asian American Studies, Latina/Latino Studies, or Race and Resistance Studies. Faculty in the College of Ethnic Studies demonstrated significant levels of high impact instruction in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and senior exit surveys as compared with their colleagues across the university.

In recent times, the occurrence of conflicts between herders and farmers with unexplainable attacks by the Fulani herdsmen in Nigerian states has become worrisome; threatening the unity and security of the country with the fear of war and ethnic invasion. Governmental attempts to proffer solutions have not helped matters. Affected parties have rejected proposed policies, including cattle colonies, cattle routes, grazing reserves, and Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) settlements. Findings revealed that the reasons for rejections and counter reactions against policies are related to the fear of ethnic domination and suspicion among Nigerian stakeholders. This work affirms that the RUGA is a policy formulated amidst perceived and overwhelming ethnic prejudice. It concludes that there is need for collective and inclusive policy formulation and implementation that recognizes collective effort with a modern political economy policy for sustainable development.

An interview with the acclaimed Dominican artist Julio Valdez, conducted by Ron Scapp, contributing editor to the Ethnic Studies Review , in which the artist talks about his work by situating it within the personal and social-cultural context in which it was created.

This article offers insights into conceptual, pedagogical, and programmatic crossings and conflicts between the fields of Environmental Studies and Ethnic Studies. It highlights both the important intersections between the two fields and their potential value, while also addressing the challenges posed in the development of programmatic collaborations. Utilizing case studies drawn from the author’s own experiences, the article’s focus is on harnessing the strengths and limitations of both fields to promote transformative knowledge and action at multiple scales.

This article attempts to articulate the different reasons for needing to be diligent and rigorous regarding land claims. Many progressives are inclined to assert that there are multiple perspectives to everything. And, such a position may very well be, in fact, accurate (true). But it may also prove to be not very useful toward considering the complex and multi-layered story of indigenous land claims. What this article highlights is one particular story, the history of a “differend.”

In this article we investigate the role of parental and family characteristics as explanations for gender differences in children’s education using primary data collected from villages in West Bengal, India in 2007–08. We add to existing research by focusing on the importance of parental perceptions by distinguishing between the stated need for education in general and the need for education for girls to investigate the pathways through which girls’ education may be improved. Results show that while girls are being enrolled at the same rate as boys when young, they are being withdrawn at much higher rates as they get older, often for marriage or financial reasons. Multivariate analyses show significant gender bias in education among the older sample (17 years and over) and some important differences among predictors for male and female education for both samples. For the older sample, financial constraints are more important for curtailing a daughter’s education than a son’s education. Among the indicators of parental perception, the expectation of economic independence for girls has a positive effect on girls’ education, but parental expectation of the enhancement of traditional roles (as wives and mothers) through girls’ education has a beneficial effect on boys’ education.

Boko Haram insurgency is the most devastating experience encountered during Nigeria’s fourth republic. It is therefore imperative to investigate the root causes of Boko Haram insurgency in the country. To achieve the objective of the study, a total of ninety members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) operating in Maiduguri in Borno State were sampled through the use of a self-structured questionnaire, and key informants were interviewed in thirty-four cases to concretize data generated through the questionnaire. The study discovered that cultural practices ( x ̄ = 3.311 ), high rates of illiteracy ( x ̄ = 3.167 ), political interests of the elites ( x ̄ = 3.156 ), foreign influence ( x ̄ = 3.144 ), and bad governance ( x ̄ = 3.078 ) were the root causes of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. Thus, it is recommended that cultural practices capable of provoking violence should be reviewed and reshaped; leaders should be held accountable for their actions; quality and access to education should be provided; citizenship consciousness on leadership issues should be activated, and Nigeria’s foreign policy principles concerning her neighbors should be redefined to determine how the country will be looked upon in this critical stage of its democratic development.

Although affirmative action in college admissions is constitutionally permissible, several states prohibit it. We investigate whether bans push black and Latino students from in-state public selective colleges to other types of postsecondary institutions, thus contributing to talent loss among these groups. Unlike most other studies, we analyze national data (the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009) so that we can follow students across state lines. We find no evidence that students from ban states shift from one type of selective college to another; that is, from in-state public flagships to in-state private ones or selective colleges in other states. However, the odds of attending a nonselective college, instead of an in-state public selective college, are almost three times higher among blacks and Latinos in ban states compared with their counterparts in states without bans. We argue that bans on affirmative action may contribute to talent loss among black and Latino students.

This article deals with Bartolomé de Las Casas’ contribution to the notion of universal human rights. Though much study has been devoted to Las Casas’ work, what remains understudied is the Spanish philosopher’s conception of religion, which in many ways resembles what Kant called “the religion of reason.” For Las Casas, then, Christianity was conceived more as a rational system of ethics than as a compendium of Biblical and scholastic dogmas. Like the later Enlightenment philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Las Casas believed that all humans belonged to the same universal community of rational beings. By examining Las Casas together with Fichte, this article sheds further light on Las Casas’ anticipatory notions of moral agency, formal freedom, rational religion, and the rights of a free people against the use of coercion—regardless of their race, religion, or culture. They are the ideas underpinning his notion of universal human rights (Paulist and Thomist in nature), and his ethics of the Other, who “is just like me”: a rational, feeling human being, deserving of equal justice and rights.