About the Program

UMass Boston’s Critical Ethnic and Community Studies program (formerly Transnational, Cultural, and Community Studies, or TCCS) is a critical comparative ethnic studies graduate program with signature elements emphasizing transdisciplinarity and the recognition of transnational global–local connections. The Critical Ethnic and Community Studies program centers on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and other social categories related to power and privilege that impact the experiences of both U.S.-born and immigrant members of racialized communities in the United States. This transdisciplinary program brings together scholarly research, cultural expression, and meaningful community partnerships in order to understand the histories and contemporary lives of racialized communities in the United States, their experiences as part of diasporic communities with transnational linkages, and their agency and self-determination. As part of this learning, students engage in critical analysis of how migration—to, from, and within the United States—forms an integral part of the experiences of racially and economically marginalized communities.