In today’s world, one might be a black person of Caribbean descent who is born in London and then emigrates to the United States. The proliferation of "multiple identities" in a rapidly changing world demands that universities, and particularly ethnic studies programs, develop the tools to analyze changing societies and to teach students to function in a truly multicultural environment, said Michael Martin, chair of ethnic studies.

Martin discussed the development of ethnic studies and its implications for the University community as a whole during a recent President’s Lecture Series presentation.

"Ethnic studies is an interdisciplinary field that addresses the socio-economic and historical forces that have shaped the development of diverse population groups in the United States over the past 500 years," Martin explained.

Martin said President Sidney Ribeau has posed an important question for BGSU: "Is the University engaged with society to change it?" During the past six years, Bowling Green has set as institutional priorities the promotion of diversity and global awareness and increased attention to civic and social affairs.

However, Martin said, tolerance for others, competency for world citizenry, and social justice can be difficult to sustain in hard economic times, when self-interest competes with the common good for finite resources. In societies such as the United States, which have particular racial and ethnic hierarchies, resources have traditionally been allocated according to power. The trend toward growing conservatism also can result in rollbacks of policies committed to diversity.

But, he said, despite the difficulties involved, universities must hold to those priorities because, as the country’s demographics change, the balance of power is shifting as well. No longer can we think about population groups in simplistic terms such as black/white, Martin said. Hispanics and southeast Asians are the new "others." As more immigrants arrive, the ethnic composition of the country changes. The various diasporas constitute another area of concern, as do the "transnational" effects, or what happens when different cultures overlap and intersect.

Political alignments will change, as well as assumptions about race and ethnicity.

It thus becomes increasingly important to understand the changes happening around us and adjust the ways in which we think and teach about race and identity. Already, curricula in history, social psychology, and sociology, to name a few, have changed in light of world events, Martin said, and new pedagogies must arise.

However, he cautioned, even though these changes are happening across programs, he is not sure it is thought of as a "movement." More awareness of the relevance of ethnic studies to numerous academic areas would give it a "presence," he said, and it could become more consciously structured and integrated into other departments.

The revamped Ph.D. program in American culture studies, which will encompass women’s studies and ethnic studies, will be a step forward in the integration of curricula, Martin predicted.

He also sees ethnic studies’ role moving in the direction of relevance to and advocacy of social policy and as a resource for the rest of the University as it works toward its goal of creating a "principled society."