About
The Race, Indigeneity and Migration major (B.A.) aims to serve students who are interested in studying the making and meanings of comparative race, indigeneity and migration as they take shape in law, policy, economies, cultural spheres and in public education. It will also provide space for thinking about these issues as they intersect with the concepts of gender and sexuality. Geographically, the major will focus on the United States, but it will also offer courses with a global scope.
R.I.M. Faculty Director, Dr. Eric Tang
A Letter from Our Faculty Director
Thu, Oct 1, 2020
R.I.M. Faculty Director, Dr. Eric Tang
The Fall 2020 semester marks the official launching of a new, interdisciplinary major: Race, Indigeneity & Migration (RIM). The major is a collaboration between the African and African Diaspora Studies Department and the units which comprise the Diversity Committee of the College of Liberal Arts: Center for Asian American Studies, Center for Mexican American Studies, LGBTQ Studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. RIM draws upon these interdisciplinary and intersectional fields so that students can focus on the relational aspects of race, indigeneity and migration. Relational refers to how each of these three concepts is shaped by the others. It calls attention to how the plight of immigrants is most thoroughly understood by grasping the history of settler colonialism, and how antiblackness structures the racisms faced by nonblack groups. A thorough understanding of these concepts also requires recognizing how they are gendered, sexualized and classed—it is impossible to know them without rendering patriarchy and capitalism.
This major is possible because for more than fifty years, faculty, staff and students at UT-Austin have worked tirelessly to bring the fields of racial, ethnic, indigenous, gender and sexuality studies to campus. In the past decade, they have steadily added disability studies to the curriculum. Although RIM is a new major, it could more accurately be described as a statement on past achievements. Our hope is that students who major in RIM will double major in one of these foundational fields; indeed, the degree plan is designed to facilitate this.
We are living through a unique moment in world history where matters of racial justice, land and the environment, and borders have taken on a renewed sense of urgency. This moment feels decisive. It’s a turning point. RIM is meant to prepare students for these times. Graduates will find themselves in a variety of industries that require their expertise—law, health, government, and the non-profit sector. Others will make unique contributions as writers, filmmakers, visual artists and content producers who help us make sense of this complex era. And others still will take what they’ve learned to teach others: they will become secondary school teachers in race and ethnic studies (one of the RIM tracks is geared for this) or become university professors themselves.
Please take a moment to learn more about the major by reviewing the degree plan and its tracks. Also, feel free to contact, Tony K. Vo, the major’s advisor (in addition to being the Assistant Director of the Center for Asian American Studies) if you have additional questions. This is the building phase so your questions, ideas and feedback are formative.
Yours truly,
This caption describes the image above.
Eric Tang
Faculty Director of Race, Indigeneity, and Migration