Representations of Asian Americans in Children's Literature

• In Event: What Is the "Truth" About Asian Americans? Interrogating Representations of Asian Americans in Literacies Research

Abstract

Objectives
This project systematically surveys all Asian/Pacific American Literature Award-(APALA) winning children’s picture books and “honorable mentions” for their quantity and quality of Asian American representation. Specifically, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association’s Rubric to Evaluate Asian American and Pacific Islander Youth Literature (2021) is used to assess quality of representation. The rubric pushes back against visual and cultural stereotypes and biased descriptions. This study interrogates which Asian ethnicities are privileged in regard to representation in picture books and how they are privileged.

Perspectives
The theoretical underpinning of this work is intersectionality in both literary analysis and identity. Taking an intersectional literary analysis framework (Author, 2016, 2018) and critical multicultural analysis (Botelho, 2004), this work seeks to uncover socio-historical, political, and power-related issues. Critical multicultural analysis assists in looking at who got to speak, in what way, and who had power (Botelho & Rudman, 2009; Short, 2017).

Methods and Data
I first coded the 34 APALA winning/honoree children’s picture books for ethnicities of the protagonists and genre, then identified whether the authors and illustrators are insiders of the cultural group, and finally coded for themes. The analysis primarily focuses on the quantitative trends by which Asian ethnicities are over- and underrepresented in Asian American children’s picture books and literature. In addition, I performed a qualitative analysis of how various Asian ethnicities are represented through close reading of the words/visuals of the texts, researching author biographies, and using the Rubric to Evaluate Asian American and Pacific Islander Youth Literature (Breslin et al., 2021) for quality of representation.

Results and Significance
The field of children’s literature and literacy is slowly moving towards diversity in positive ways in that recent mixed Asian American (MAA) children’s picture books have been written by cultural insiders (Wee et al., 2021). Another finding included racial mixings that prioritize whiteness and the dominant Asian identities that were centered were East, lighter-skinned Asians like the Japanese. The findings of this study reveal that within the 17 years (2005-2022) that the APALA has been awarding children’s picture books, only 3 were SEAA (Filipino, Vietnamese, and Thai) making East Asians (EA) privileged in representation. In fact, there were fewer Southeast Asian, South Asian and Asian American Pacific Islander winners combined than East Asians. Furthermore, within Asian American award-giving institutions, over 65% of prizes are awarded to EA authors and books. Relevant to the themes of the AERA 2023 conference, the implications from this research suggest the need to diversify our understandings and representations of who counts as “Asian.” The truth is that we still have work to do in dismantling the concept that Asians are a monolith, even among our own Asian organizations and institutions.

Author

• Victoria Gill, Lesley University
  Presenting Author