Feeling the Power in the Ethnic Studies Debate

The problem that we Barnard students face today is two-fold and contradictory. There is far too much breadth in the Nine Ways of Knowing, and at the same time, there is not enough.

Though many courses satisfy our requirements, we seem to lose track as to why we are fulfilling them at all, or their relevance to the greater community. With the freedom of choice allotted by the Nine Ways, ambiguity has had its playground. Questions as to whether a course meets the “Cultures in Comparison” or “Social Analysis” requirement are often met with a shrugging of the shoulders. Is there a difference?

The Committee on Instruction’s response has been to correct this issue by conducting an overhaul of courses that are labeled as fulfilling the requirements, followed by a strict and rigorous reassignment process.

Problem solved? Not quite. There still remains the one issue of academic deprivation that has been taking up time in both COI and SGA meetings. Despite a recent SGA town hall, few know that the Barnard COI spent years cultivating what is affectionately referred to as the Nine Ways. Each “way,” as an insightful student stated at the town hall, is “a way to think about how to think.” Molded by academic discourse, each category offers a specific methodology with which to study the world.

However, in the vicissitudinous world in which we live, methodology must also adapt with the development of thought. Therefore, COI is currently evaluating changes in academic approach by considering ways to accommodate our need for a “new vocabulary on race and ethnicity.”

Our mission statement clearly states, “Barnard prepares its graduates to flourish in different cultural surroundings in an increasingly inter-connected world.” There is a “way” that seems to be working towards that. In “Social Analysis,” there should exist a space where “critically examining social structures and processes, and the roles of groups and individuals within them” is possible. Be that as it may, Barnard women time and time again have attested to this not being the case.

As the call has been made across the street for necessary support from the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, Barnard women have also picked up the 20-year battle for the recognition of the study on our campus. Unfortunately, they have been met with administrative hesitation.
Much of the indecision is rooted in fears that ethnic studies is not a discipline. Many professors and administrators are also unsettled by the traditionally American foundation of the study. However, when it comes down to it, the principle issue is funding for the discipline and deciding which programs would penalized financially due to its support.

For a college that has always been at the foreground of academic change and questioning, the reticence in acknowledging ethnic studies is troubling. However, we must not forget the incredibly slow process of women’s studies now receiving acceptance within our gender-conscious gates. It is difficult to admit that the very systems we take pride in destroying though critique, oftentimes bind our action.
However, let us take the knowledge brought to us by the 9 Ways as a form of liberating empowerment. One may ask how the law of syllogism would relate to the need for ethnic studies at Barnard, and as strong, beautiful, (must we state) intelligent, Barnard women, we would answer:

First, Barnard College’s mission is to offer students “the intellectual resources to take advantage of opportunities as new fields, new ideas, and new technologies emerge.” Continuing, Barnard students feel as if they have no language to discuss power dynamics. Barnard women might then suggest that ethnic studies is a new field with new ideas and new technology in which to study ethnicity, race, gender, and class as they shape power dynamics. And lastly, therefore, Barnard College should recognize ethnic studies as an intellectual field to study power.

We did learn something after all. And now it’s time for Barnard as a whole to exercise some praxis. Let us embrace our “responsibility to address issues of gender in all of their complexity and urgency,” as pledged in our mission. I know we feel the power, now let’s take it.

The author is a Barnard College senior majoring in Africana studies and economics. She is SGA’s academic affairs representative.