[ C A f ES]  ][  The Collegiate Association for Ethnic Studies emerged from the first annual Ethnic Studies Now! Conference held at Columbia University [ Feb. 1-3, 2002 ]. In an effort to address the lack of ethnic studies programs across national schools, colleges and universities, CAfES seeks to promote communication between students from all types of institutions of higher learning.

      What is Ethnic Studies?  ][  The funciton of Ethnic Studies is to broaden the existing canon of knowledge, include experiences and contributions of groups historically excluded from such consideration, thereby analyzing new and reinterpreing existing paradigms through which the meaning of the human experience is apprehended.
     Despite the name of the field, scholars in Ethnic Studies recognize distinctions among race, ethnicity, and culture. Racially defined groups in the US have a social trajectory and outcome quite distinct from white or European ethnic, religous or cultural standards, such as Irish American, Jewish Americans, Italian Americans, and Polish Americans. Ethnic Studies scholars understand that race is not just another type of ethnicity, and that the social phenomenon of instituionalized racism mainstains a shardp divide between "whites" and "peoples of color"in the US. A related and crucial emphasis of the field concerns the rights to national sovereignty and self-determination of America's indigenous peoples. Ethnic Studies scholars also understand the intersection of class and gender with race, in that racial distinctions are reinforced by class divisions, and that racial definitions are also gendered. Therefore, employing the experiences of white ethnics as a guide to comprehend the experiences of racial minorities is both practically and theoretically incorrect. Such understandings provide Ethnic Studies with the central core disciplinary concepts of: race, ethnicity, and institutionalized racism; the intersections of race, class, and gender; and internal colonialism.
     The existence of Ethnic Studies includes a fundamental and explicit challenge to dominant paradigms and assumptions of academic practices , specifically texts produced by mainstream scholarship grounded in traditional Eurocentric history and assumptions. Ethnic Studies includes a scholarly commitment to "empowerment" and "human transformation." Critical ideas about culture, history, society, and human development can truly empower people who have experienced discrimination and social inequality. This task of Ethnic Studies scholars is to help nurture and foster a critical consciousness and constructive self awareness among communities of color, assiting individuals and groups to create the conditions for new human possibilities in daily life.
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