Disruptions of Gender, Language, Traditional Ways of Knowing, and Schooling for Southeast Asian Immigrant Youth

• In Event: Roundtable Session 42
  In Roundtable Session: Orienting Asian Pacific Islander Research Through an Ethnic Lens

Abstract

This qualitative study documents the experiences of Southeast Asian immigrant girls with limited formal education as they negotiate language, race, gender and culture and school within the racialized urban context in North Carolina. The researcher used participant observation, semi-structured individual interviews, and focus groups to explore the ways that 10 girls from different Southeast Asian communities negotiate school, community, and home over fifteen months. Data supported how these participants were able to navigate systems of social and cultural expectations that have historically positioned them in the margins in their pursuits for education. Results revealed that the participants in this study found innovative and exciting ways to connect with, preserve, disrupt, and/or recreate traditional cultural practices and ways of knowing.

Author

• Lan Quach Kolano, University of North Carolina - Charlotte