The Knowledge and Identity of an Asian American Teacher: Impact of China Study Abroad Experience

• In Event: 29.073 - Identity on Knowledge Landscapes

Abstract

This paper examines the ways culture and context shape the knowledge/identity of teacher, Shi Tan. It chronicles how Shi (诗), a child of Chinese immigrants, formed her “stories to live by” (Connelly & Clandinin, 1999). Included are tensions that surfaced between her parents’ traditional lifestyle and her family’s annual trips to China, on one hand, and what Shi came to know in the mid-southern U.S. context where she was born, on the other hand. A pivotal turning point occurs when Shi Tan participated in a China Study Abroad trip alongside mostly white educators. The work captures the complexities of being “betwixt and between” cultures/places and presents valuable insights into minority teaching and learning, including the harmonizing that occurs.

Authors

• Cheryl J. Craig, University of Houston

• Yali Zou, University of Houston

• Gayle A. Curtis, University of Houston