Pilipinx American Doctoral Student Experiences

• In Event: What Does Decolonizing Education Look Like in Asian American Spaces?

Abstract

The experiences and outcomes of Pilipinx American graduate students are important to understand given the various challenges for undergraduate institutions to recruit, support, and retain Pilipinx American students. Nadal et al., (2010) examined the experiences of Pilipinx American graduate students and similarly found that the liminality Pilipinx Americans exist in with regards to racial and ethnic identity further muddle the ways that they are supported by graduate programs. An unpublished study examined the experiences of Asian American and Pacific Islander doctoral students in higher education and found that culturally relevant experiences within a doctoral program are important to support racial identity development and doctoral student socialization (Talusan, 2016). Both Nadal et al. (2010) and Talusan (2016) suggest that it imperative for institutions to recognize the ways they need to support Pilipinx American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander students (respectively) through their identity development as graduate students.
I think back to this phrase that was on the bottom of the email of the Pilipinx American student organization I was a part of in college, and it said “Kung hindi mo alam kung saan ka nanggaling, hindi mo alam kung saan ka makakarating” which roughly translates to “If you do not know where you came from, you will not know where you are going”. It is this identity as a Pilipino American that has fueled my drive during my time as a student and working in higher education. It is with this understanding of my ethnic, and racial identity that I start this introspective journey. Though this is not my only identity, its salience informs the way that I show up in spaces, how I plan to utilize my scholarship, and the ways that my practice is manifest.
Nadal (2019) explains that there needs to be more research to understand the experiences of “Brown” Asians, individuals from South Asia, Southeast Asia and Philippine descent. Often the issues of Brown Asians are conflated or erased by the dominance of East Asian narratives. Similarly, Asian American narratives are sometimes left out of student of color narratives as well. Gildersleeve, Croom, & Vasquez (2011) examined how doctoral student of color made meaning of their experiences in doctoral programs in their piece which was titled “‘Am I going crazy?!: A Critical Race Analysis of Doctoral Education”. I looked for the ways that I as an Asian American could feel this phenomenon of “Am I going crazy?!”, however their study did not include Asian American students in their sample. . Though this was context specific to the aims of the researchers and their experiences, as a student it left me wondering in what ways does being a scholar/researcher allow you to uplift the voices of certain communities while excluding others, even if that is not the intent?

Author

• Aaron James Parayno, Tufts University