Insights From an Asian/American Faculty Administrator on Negotiating Modern Orientalism and Racialized Sexualization in the Workplace

• In Event: Asian/American Women Navigating Academia: Challenges, Opportunities, and New Perspectives

Abstract

With a decade of leadership experience as a department chair, faculty member, and program director at three Midwestern institutions of higher education (IHEs) including two private liberal-arts colleges and one four-year public university, I offer firsthand insights about the challenges of leading as an Asian/American woman at predominantly white IHEs that all have claim to embrace diversity and equity. Drawing from Asian/American feminist scholars (Grewal, 2005; Mohanty, Russo & Torres, 1991), and intersectional theorists who critique the prevalence of classism, heteronormativity/homophobia, linguicism, racism, and/or sexism with/in institutional structures (Bonilla-Silva, 2006; Landry, 2006; Leonardo, 2004; Sue et al., 2006), I thematically theorize the challenges that Asian/American women encounter in academic leadership positions by focusing on two themes rooted in my own experiences: negotiating: (a) modern forms of Orientalism manifested as racial micro-aggressions (Sue et al., 2006), and (b) racialized sexualization. Thus, the main goal is to offer aspiring Asian/American leaders a realistic portrait of the challenges and realities of serving in academic leadership positions where being the “Oriental Other” poses significant barriers to advancement that are difficult to remedy through traditional structures and systems.

To situate my experiences as a Woman of Color who, like Willis (2001), refuses to embrace the colorblind/universal-woman approach commonly employed by White feminists, I will share select primary sources including author-generated texts to counter/narrate how I define and negotiate leadership. In doing so, I complicate either-or binary definitions feminine/masculine leadership including assertive/aggressive, collaborative/competitive, or horizontal/vertical. Drawing on auto-ethnographic and interpretive narrative-based methods (Denzin, 1997; Conle, 1997; Neumann & Peterson, 1997; Yamaguchi, 2005), I employ content analysis to analyze author-generated primary sources including concept maps, double-entry journals, and poems. For this session, I will hone in on a few examples of both everyday micro-aggressions (Sue et al., 2006, Willis, 2001) and more serious incidents of racialized intimidation and sexualization that I have encountered by drawing on the above sources. As a first-generation college graduate and second-generation Japanese American woman, I specifically reflect on how modern forms of Orientalism (Shibusawa, 2006; Yoshihara, 2002), particularly racialized forms of sexualization, have shaped my everyday experiences, particularly in terms of negotiating interpersonal interactions that are almost always classed, gendered, racialized, and sexualized.

I conclude by asking how we move forward when “the institutional scripts…were written without the input or consideration of women of color” (Sule, 2011). Without structural reform with/in IHEs that could and should include accountability structures, faculty development, and substantial curriculum reform, the “institutional scripts” will continue to benefit and mirror the experiences of White administrators, faculty, staff, and students (Evans, 2007). Rather than offering absolute solutions, I will discuss how I have employed the following techniques as strategies for professional renewal and survival: (a) counter/narrating gendered and racialized stereotypes by employing culturally specific figurative language (referencing poems “Re/Orienting My/Self” and “Should I Have a Rice Day Today?”), and (b) forging solidarities with other administrators, faculty, and staff of color to voice opposition against oppressive institutional practices.

Author

• Rachel Endo, Hamline University