This textbook was developed by the “California Consortium for Equitable Change in Hispanic Serving Institutions OER” (CC ECHO), a project funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Open Textbook Pilot program. CC ECHO is developing openly licensed resources for twenty high-impact general education courses utilizing a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) framework to enhance outcomes at Hispanic Serving Institutions.
Published on August 10, 2022
This case study was written with Dr. Vera Kennedy and Professor Rowena Bermio, the authors of Our Lives: An Ethnic Studies Primer. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial (CC BY-NC) license, the text is available in three online formats:
A paperback version of the book is available on Lulu for the cost of printing.
In the fall of 2019, the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s office announced a new Ethnic Studies graduation requirement. Matriculating students starting in fall of 2021 must complete a three-unit Ethnic Studies course in General Education to gain deeper understanding and appreciation for the contributions of traditional racial-ethnic groups to the university system and society. It is now incumbent upon community colleges to offer an Ethnic Studies course for students transferring into the CSU system.
Following the announcement, the Social Justice and Equity task force at West Hills College Lemoore (WHCL), one of California’s 116 community colleges, recognized that they had the scholarly expertise, faculty interest, and lived experiences to develop an open educational resource (OER) to share the untold histories of people who built this country and fulfill the CSU requirement. Dr. Vera Kennedy, Sociology & Ethnic Studies professor and author of multiple openly licensed textbooks, and Rowena Bermio, History & Ethnic Studies professor, were selected as the primary authors for Our Lives: An Ethnic Studies Primer. They are both also lecturers at the CSU Fresno campus.
West Hills College Lemoore, a Hispanic Serving Institution, serves families who live and work in San Joaquin Valley, California’s leading agricultural region. Their recent launch of the CC ECHO program focused on creating OER through a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) lens provided a framework and ensured the critical funding necessary for the work of the primary authors, multiple contributing authors, and a comprehensive peer review cycle.
The text aligns with the five student learning outcomes and core competencies for the Ethnic Studies graduation requirement approved by the CSU Council on Ethnic Studies (GE Area F). Following the general timeline of most U.S. history survey courses, it focuses on the often omitted perspectives of the four traditional racial-ethnic communities: Native American, African American, Asian American, and Latinx American communities and the events that shaped their lives. Starting with an invitation, students are asked to reflect on their own histories and how their stories may have been misrepresented or simply left untold.
“By telling our stories and sharing our experiences, we acknowledge our existence and humanity. Because we have not retold or allowed some people to share their stories and experiences, we deprive them of this acknowledgment. We make some people less than human and justify it by keeping truths and facts hidden”
The authors had three main goals in writing the textbook:
“The historical narrative presented in this book is meant to assert voices once unheard, voices that believed and continue to believe in the possibilities of the American Dream, voices that embody a fierce spirit of freedom and opportunity. Together, they have been an integral part of the forging of this country. These are their stories.”
Composed of eight modules or chapters, each one begins with learning objectives and a set of terms that students are encouraged to define and interpret as they engage with the materials. Applications of the content are presented with external readings, videos, and prompts to encourage deeper thinking and understanding. Biographical reflections from contributing authors, and members of traditional racial/ethnic groups, are interspersed. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter are meant to assist students with processing their reactions as they read impactful histories which may trigger traumatic memories for some. Each chapter concludes with a brief summary, review questions, a self-reflection prompt, and references. The final self-reflection in each chapter, entitled “To My Future Self”, poses this question:
“From the module, what information and new knowledge did I find interesting or useful? How do I plan to use this information and new knowledge in my personal and professional development and improvement?”
Image: Jackson David; Pexels; CC-BY-4.0
Primary Authors:
Dr. Vera Kennedy, Sociology
Rowena Bermio, History
Contributing Authors:
Guadalupe Capozzi, Criminal Justice
Silas Cha, Political Science, Ethnic Studies
Daryl Johnson, Communications Instructor
Editor:
Neomi Daniels, English
Content Reviewers:
Katie Conklin
Greg Kennedy
Rene Paredes
Jacqui Shehorn
Kelsey Smith
The authors, editor, and content reviewers are all faculty at WHCL and teach in various disciplines including sociology, history, criminal justice, ethnic studies, political science, and communications. Dr. Kennedy and Professor Bermio, the primary authors, separately wrote different modules of the textbook in the Summer and Fall of 2021 but met frequently to share the most significant theories, themes, and stories to present and develop assessments. The authors used their lecture notes from related courses to guide their writing and conducted additional research in the discipline to further develop the manuscript. They sought out additional faculty as contributing authors to share their lived experiences as members of traditional racial-ethnic groups in the United States. These biographical reflections span their childhood thru adulthood and include perspectives on how they met and continue to meet societal challenges they encounter in their personal and professional lives.
In January of 2022, faculty peer reviewers including WHCL OER librarian, Kelsey Smith, convened to review the textbook content using the California Community Colleges Academic Senate’s OER Evaluation Rubric and the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) Audit Framework. The peer review process started with a one-week independent review of the text and concluded with two half-day virtual events where reviewers met synchronously to discuss their feedback and recommendations. The authors were invited to the end of synchronous sessions to hear and respond to feedback. A written summary compiled by the reviewers was delivered to the authors at the conclusion.
Many smaller community colleges do not have an ethnic studies department resulting in ethnic studies courses being taught by faculty credentialed in related disciplines such as sociology or history. Scholars and professors of ethnic studies may be concerned that this leads to less informed instructional materials and teaching. The authors recognize this concern and encourage scholars to review and improve upon this textbook. Its open license makes it possible for others to make adaptations to the text and share back into the commons.
“My hope is that the state requirement, along with student interest, garner more funding for colleges like ours to create Ethnic studies departments and programs to represent the discipline in full.”
Identity is an intensely personal concept and historic language labels used to categorize marginalized racial-ethnic groups have often been decided by those in positions of authority. The textbook authors recognize this inequity and have strived to align the terminology in the text with generally accepted academic terms of racial-ethnic groups along with currently accepted trends.
As mentioned earlier, the contributing authors were recruited from WHCL faculty who had discipline expertise and lived experience as a member of one of the traditional racial-ethnic groups. The team regrets that no faculty from the Native American community could be confirmed for this version of the textbook. It is hoped that this voice will be included in future revisions.
The primary content and applications presented in the text were piloted in related courses focusing on diversity in the U.S. and cultural sociology. For some students, the information was entirely new, particularly the terminology. Students expressed that they have had experiences and/or observations in the world that were discriminatory, but did not know the term for it. Others were familiar with the historical content but were hearing it from a different perspective. Student Byson Jeff explained:
“I felt like the curriculum was very, very inspirational to close-minded people. It can help them open up their minds even though it might be a little troublesome. I felt like it was an eye opener to a lot of different cultures in our world and we are not that different. Our practices and beliefs may be a little different, but I feel like everything that we do on a daily basis is on par with everybody else.”
The entire textbook was recently adopted and used in an introductory ethnic studies course taught this summer by Professor Bermio at WHCL. Student Ashley Ratcliff-Winn, felt that the text and course impacted her life significantly. She stated:
“I believe that this course will make students more culturally aware of things going on in society that need to be changed. There were a lot of things I learned in this class that were not taught in any history class I had ever taken. That alone makes me feel like this is definitely a step in the right direction for change in society. I myself have learned so much about the way that I see, interact and behave around certain people outside of my cultural circle and that will help me be a better person.”
Students overall expressed in different ways the weight of what they were learning, and how the knowledge has opened them up to being more empathetic in their own interactions with peers, co-workers, and even family. Student Olivia Chavez shared:
“This semester opened my eyes to society. People in the world may be struggling more than what we are struggling with. We may be too self-involved versus seeking positivity in the lives of others. What I learned in this class is that all people are beautiful.”
“The challenge to writing OER is time. Both Rowena and I teach at multiple colleges and we did not receive release time or a sabbatical to write the manuscript.”
Recruiting other faculty to write and share their stories was inspiring even though we had challenges finding a Native American contributor with the limited faculty on campus. Our efforts to recruit an indigenous author from the local community will take time as we develop relationships and build trust.
“Building trust and a clear vision with my co-author Vera Kennedy was invaluable for this project. We supported each other through the whole process and kept in contact throughout.”
The peer review process was effective and expeditious. Identifying a specific time for members to review the manuscript and videoconference ensured 100% participation and attendance. The synchronous meetings were facilitated by a faculty member and provided immediate feedback to the writing team keeping the development on track with the projected timeline. The format provided peer reviewers the opportunity to explain their feedback and recommendations so that comments made in writing and on the evaluation rubrics could be understood and interpreted correctly.
The overall objective of the text is to help students develop core competencies to meet the Ethnic Studies Graduation Requirement for the California State University in compliance with Assembly Bill 1460 and California Education Code 89032c.
Course data including achievement of student learning outcomes and student feedback from evaluations will be collected and analyzed to modify and adapt future editions of the manuscript. In addition, student testimonials will be gathered to measure learning experiences and understanding of the curriculum. These data will be published in a longitudinal study in concurrence with the curriculum’s five-year review and program review processes.
A cohort of eight college faculty and staff attended a 2021 summer pedagogical coaching course sampling some initial content and applications. Through anonymous feedback, one cohort member stated “Personal reflections and stories have such an impact. They illustrate so much more, in my opinion than anything else. The personal honesty is incredibly powerful, so those are the most interesting/emotionally insightful.” Another explained, “ It was a necessary reminder of the racism that still persists in our local areas but also of the good work of those working to overcome it.”
Professor Bermio closes with:
“The text allows students to explore a solid overview of untold histories; perspectives that do not get enough attention in most history courses. In addition, there is a curiosity left behind for students to seek out even more information, whether it be about a group they did not know much about, or more about their own ethnic history. Seeking and learning these histories can promote growth and empathy in a generation of students that are open to these discounted and unseen narratives.”
The contents of this case study were developed under an Open Textbooks Pilot grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
To learn more about CC ECHO, visit https://www.hancockcollege.edu/ccecho/index.php