"It's Not Like the Movies, You Know?" Hmong Youth Representing High School Through a Theater Production

• In Event: 14.043 - Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: 14.043-17 - Equity and Issues of Ethnicity in Schools

Abstract

This paper draws on ethnographic research from a Hmong co-ethnic community-based organization to highlight the ways in which immigrant youth bring themselves into their artful work. We assert that youth are using these opportunities to share their views of growing up Hmong/Asian/young within the United States. The paper is guided by two questions: 1) How do theater arts programs serving immigrant youth provide opportunities for exploring issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and social class? 2) How do Hmong youth construct and reconstruct dominant representations as they make sense of their high school experiences? Our research makes the call for educators and researchers to consider how the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality, and age are considered in media, literacies and schooling.

Authors

• Jana LoBello, University of Minnesota

• Bic H. Ngo, University of Minnesota

• Erin Lee Dyke, University of Minnesota