Land Recognition We want to acknowledge that we are presently occupying the traditional territory of the Lenni Lenape people. In making this land acknowledgment, we express our gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory we are on, and we honor the land, air and waterways of this region and the Indigenous people who have been living and working with the land from time immemorial. As we contemplate the histories, politics & pedagogies of critical racial/ethnic studies, we want to acknowledge the impossibility of justice and freedom unless we work to return the land. Course Description: Why and how critical racial/ethnic studies education? Why What is the state of racial/ethnic studies in US education today? This course is, first, an examination of the origins, theories, pedagogies, politics, and policies that have come to define ethnic studies in US education. What key historical events and struggles in U.S. society and education contributed to ethnic studies as a field and as curriculum. Colonialism, race, ethnicity, nationalism, diversity, inclusion, segregation, the school-prison nexus, community control, resistance, and survivance, are among the potential topics to be examined in relation to education policies and pedagogies in formal (N-Higher Ed) and informal settings (afterschools, CBOs, museums, social movements, etc). Coupled to this inquiry will be a field assignment where students will be collaborating with educators (Early Childhood-Higher Ed) in crafting or further developing curricular projects that apply an ethnic studies lens.