Asian Pacific Islander American Youth and (a Critique of) the School-to-Prison Pipeline in a Postcolonial Context

• In Event: 45.092 - MTCC Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: 45.092-8 - Engaging Learners in Responsive Praxis

Abstract

The school-to-prison pipeline has garnered support from pundits and non-academics alike. Yet, a critical examination of this metaphor remains scarce. Additionally, Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) youth remain invisible in this area. In this conceptual paper, I argue that the pipeline is too limiting to study the ways that APIA youth are surveillanced and come into contact with the juvenile justice system. In centering this population, I recommend that the pipeline be contextualized as a postcolonial project to capture the racialization and criminalization in schools and prisons for APIA youth. I also suggest that the pipeline can perpetuate ideas that go against prison abolition, which would be key in eradicating systems of power that discipline and punish youth of color.

Author

• Annie Le, University of California - Los Angeles