Race, Identity, and Activism for Institutional Change

• In Event: 28.042 - A Critical Exploration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Resistance in Higher Education

Abstract

Purpose
This paper explores the experiences and perspectives of students who advocated for the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution (AANAPISI) legislation on their campuses during the early and mid-2000s. In order to gain a better understanding of the dynamics surrounding the politics and advocacy that eventually resulted in the federal recognition of AANAPISIs, it is pertinent to share the voices of the stakeholders that felt personally invested in the legislation: the students themselves. We highlight student activism around the AANAPISI legislation in order to better understand the significance of the legislation to AAPI identity and community formation.

Theoretical Perspectives
We examine the student campaign for AANAPISI legislation through linking three
Theories: racial formation, panethnicity, and collective action. Omi and Winant (1994) state: “A racial project is simultaneously an interpretation, representation, or explanation of racial dynamics, and an effort to reorganize and redistribute resources along particular racial lines” (p. 56). Arguably, the legislation itself is a racial project within a process of racial formation, seeking to redefine identity by challenging the model minority myth and contest the historically inconsistent status of Asian Americans as minorities and people of color. Theories of panethnicity (Espiritu, 1993) and collective action (Okamoto, 2014) are useful to articulate the specific mechanisms underlying group formation around a specific racial project, such as in the case of the student campaign for AANAPISIs.

Methods and Data
Interviews and document analysis were used to uncover racial meanings, perceptions, and motivations in order to examine the experiences of former student organizers who were involved in lobbying for the AANAPISI legislation in the early 2000s. The sample consists of 12 individuals who participated in a national campus organizing campaign to lobby for AANAPISI legislation.

Findings
In summary, the study’s findings demonstrate that the story behind student mobilization of the AANAPISI legislation is more than out initial anticipated linear progression of students being dissatisfied with their colleges; feeling like no one was responding to their grievances, and thus finding AANAPISIs an appealing cause to support. There were a number of other complicating factors that made the AAPISI legislation a meaningful cause for students to support, such as the desire to support a broader AAPI political movement, engage in activism, and work beyond self-interest. Students also juggled a consciousness of multiple needs for AAPI students, with almost all students recognizing the needs of specific AAPI subgroups but fewer students viewing subgroup needs as primary over broader pan-ethnic concerns.

Significance
One finding was how students expressed a greater alignment with other minority groups, as opposed to whites, and thus perceived the lack of an AAPI minority-serving institution as unfair. AAPI students sought institutional action similar to other communities of color. Thus, future research on AAPIs can accomplish two objectives: 1) document AAPI campus experiences and what best practices can effectively help AAPI students succeed holistically, not just academically; and 2) identify common areas of need to support cross-racial coalition-building for educational equity.

Authors

• Jude Paul Matias Dizon, University of Southern California

• Julie J. Park, University of Maryland - College Park